Ravens Fast Five: Improve to 5-1 in Ugly Fashion.

Discuss your thoughts on these topics from the Ravens 30-28 win over the Eagles on our message board.

Penalties almost killed them. Lack of discipline needs to be addressed.

I can handle tough plays that don’t go your way. I can handle not executing at times. No one is perfect. Throws go awry, balls get dropped, the other guy beats you in a moment here or there. It happens.  But penalties are largely discipline related. The Ravens had a ridiculous 12 penalties on the day. Most of them very preventable, some downright stupid. Some also game changing. Marcus Peters DPI in the latter stages gave the Eagles about 60 yards and set up the opportunity for a game tying score. A holding call when the Ravens are trying to run the clock out takes the Ravens out of a 3^rd and manageable situation and makes it 2^nd and 18 instead.

Bye week coming up. Use the time off to remove your heads from your rear ends and eliminate the preventable penalties.

Roller coaster kind of day on both sides of the ball.

The Ravens score 30 points, which is something they do more often than not. Yet there are still offensive criticisms.  The Mark Ingram injury leads to more Gus Edwards which we have been waiting for…Goes for only 26 yards on 14 carries. Though he did have a TD on the day for the up, to make up for the down. Couldn’t get J.K. Dobbins going though he earned nine carries and then four targets in the passing game. We’ve been wanting to see Lamar Jackson not lock in on Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown so much. But there was miscommunication with Miles Boykin. Willie Snead didn’t complete a route that lead to another incomplete. Of course, the penalties. Still ugly, but Jackson can score seemingly anytime he want’s when you see him take off and run past everyone like he did on the touchdown when the defense shows cover 1 or cover 0. Did the same in the Washington game.

The defense brought a bunch of pressure for the second straight week. Racked up six sacks, three by Calais Campbell. Forced four fumbles recovering three of them. But they still allowed a long run to Miles Sanders. A deep bomb to John Hightower. Who? Exactly! Carson Wentz scrambled for a run where he was stiff arming guys. Not one, but two, two-point conversions allowed which let this be a one score game with under 4 minutes to play. Ultimately the Eagles were nearly allowed to tie this game. Wentz was throwing ducks out there that were coming down in the hands of receivers or leading to pass interference.

Football games are 60 minutes. Have the Ravens forgotten?

Allowing the Eagles to creep back in this game had John Harbaugh throwing his hands up in the air. The Ravens have been getting away without their absolute best against some of the league’s absolute worst teams. What worked for the last three games will not work when the Steelers come here in two weeks.

The Ravens need a harsh reminder that football games are 60-minutes long, and maybe this was it. They have coasted by in a lot of games going back to last year. Robert Griffin III has probably gotten the most run for a backup quarterback who wasn’t playing because of injury or incompetence by the starter. They have been so successful for three quarters that they can take their foot off the gas for the fourth sometimes. But maybe they eased up when leading by 30 in the 4^th. Then maybe by 20. Today they eased up when up 16 and it was dangerously close to costing them. The only person it seemed that had their head in it for 60 minutes, was Lamar Jackson.

That easing up needs to stop. The Ravens gave up 22 fourth quarter points today. They were up 17-0, 24-6, and 30-14 at various times in this game. It should have never, ever, been a conversion away from being tied late in the fourth. I sense complacency seeping into this team of late. You will have to play the Steelers for 60 minutes, maybe more if it comes down to overtime like their first meeting a year ago. If the Ravens are leading by 40 in the 4^th quarter, I don’t want to see any let up. At least remind these guys how long a football game is.

Let Lamar Jackson do his thing.

Team game and all, but Lamar Jackson won this one. First half passing line was a little, meh. 6 of 13. But he picked it up in the second half going 10 for 14. 186 yards through the air. 108 on the ground to once again, lead the team. Two total touchdowns including what we never expected to be the game winning one.

I’m going to try not to get too wrapped up in the numbers this season and try not to compare him to others. Try not to compare him to himself last year as a unanimous MVP. I’m not gonna try to get too wrapped up in every pass being a little sidearm here, a tad off the mark there.

The guy can play football. He puts the Ravens in a position to win games just about every time out, and his record is damn good. We tell him not to rely on the run so much. No, run. It’s an asset no other QB has in spades the way he does. We tell him to involve other receivers. No. Andrews and Brown are you’re playmakers, and Devin Duvernay looks on his way into that conversation. If you can find those guys, do it.

Just do your thing man.

Look ahead at Pittsburgh, following the bye week

Pittsburgh remained undefeated (5-0) as they destroyed the Browns 38-7 today. Baker Mayfield was benched in the third quarter, but also was questionable to start the game. The lopsided affair made it easier to give him some rest. I’m not liking that Ben Roethlisberger is all of sudden making stars out of other receivers. Chase Claypool was an unknown three weeks ago. Now he’s an integral part of the recent Steelers run of success.

Linebacker Devin Bush tore his ACL in the game and will be out for the season. Robert Spillane replaced him in the game who had only played one snap in his NFL career. Expect a roster move there before the Ravens meeting in two weeks.

It’s the Steelers first win this season against a team with a winning record. A team the Ravens also dispatched very easily in week 1. They are going to play the game of the week in week 7 while the Ravens recover over the bye. It’s a trip to Tennessee to face the 5-0 Titans who rallied to beat the Texans in OT today, and has scored 42 points two weeks in a row. Should be an accurate measuring stick for what kind of Steelers team the Ravens can expect to come in here to kickoff November. However, history will tell you in this matchup to throw everything you know out the window. Struggling Steelers teams have beaten the best Ravens teams, and vice versa. Discipline wins this tough, violent, emotional, rivalry game. All the more reason the Ravens need to get right in a big way after todays showing