The Ravens winning streak has ended, as they lost 28-27 to the Jaguars and are leaving Jacksonville 7-4 overall.
It was an incredibly frustrating game really from beginning to end, as the Ravens failed finish multiple drives early, and the defense was again unable to hold a late lead.
The Good:
1) As we will mention below you hated having to settle for Field Goals on the initial two drives, but they were good offensive series to grab initial control to begin the game.
2) Despite the fumble, it was good seeing Edwards back.
3) They made a larger effort to get Duvernay involved today.
4) Broderick Washington had an early sack, and has been regularly productive this year.
5) Can’t ever take Tucker’s brilliance for granted. See so many teams struggle weekly with their kicking game, and Tucker remains close to automatic on anything realistic. The fact that he wasn’t able to bail the Ravens out today on a 67 yard attempt to end things is not on him.
6) The Ravens are consistently winning time of possession. Today it was up over 32 minutes.
7) Nice tackle in space from Stephens. R. Smith also had a big tackle.
8) Jackson didn’t feel good last week and it showed. He ran more decisively today, and had more bounce in his step. Bailed the Ravens out several times with his runs. 14 carries for 89 yards.
9) 13th straight game with a takeaway. Bowser with the sack, and Peters with the fumble recovery.
10) The Ravens capitalized on the Peters fumble recovery, by punching it in for 6 on a Edwards TD run early in the 4th Quarter. Good second effort from Gus.
11) Another big game from Humphrey.
12) When a play was absolutely needed from the offense, Lamar and DeSean Jackson connected for 62 yards. That was followed by the TD to Oliver for the lead with 2 minutes left. The Ravens were able to score the 2 point conversion, when Andrews fought his way past the goal line.
13) Campbell’s 99th career sack came with the Ravens up 27-20, as he was just all over Lawrence. That should have been enough.
14) The Ravens were 8 of 14 on 3rd down on offense, and held Jacksonville to 4 of 13 on 3rd on defense.
The Bad:
1) The Ravens had another delay of game penalty today. Seems like this should be corrected by now. That early penalty was followed-up by several other close calls.
2) The Ravens had a couple of quality drives to start the game, but were unable to finish in the Red Zone, and had to settle for Field Goals. As is often the case, a failure to capitalize early, impacts you at the end.
3) Jackson sailed several of his passes, when his receivers had separation in the 1st half. Early in the 3rd, after connecting with Oliver for a good gain, he missed an open Oliver for 6 in the endzone.
4) The inability to finish in the RZ continued in the 2nd half, as the Ravens initial second half drive again fizzled.
5) With some of his teammates out earlier in the year, it felt like the Ravens were asking Oweh to do more than rush the passer, and he was struggling. With the return to health of several of his edge colleagues, I’ve been expecting Oweh to do more with things being simpler (just go get the QB) for him. That didn’t happen today, and that’s disappointing.
6) We mentioned Jackson missing several open targets. He also had drops from Andrews, Duvernay, and Drake.
7) Stout’s punting has not impressed.
8) Tough penalty on Mekari with 4:04 left in the 4th.
9) Jackson ran hard today. He had a couple of missed throws, and his receivers had a couple of drops. He was also without his LT, and obviously his best WR, and best RB – that’s all understood, and has to be considered. Still, he only hit 50% of his attempts today, and the Ravens needed him to further elevate the guys that were available.
The Ugly:
1) After a 4th and 1 fumble from Jackson, the Jaguars went right down the short-field and scored to take the 7-6 lead. If you were going to run there, I would have liked to have seen Edwards get the carry.
2) Greg Roman. Marty Mornhinweg. Marc Trestman. Gary Kubiak. Jim Caldwell. Cam Cameron. Rick Neuheisel. Jim Fassel. Matt Cavanaugh. Outside of Kubiak, has there been an OC the Ravens fanbase has liked? I’m not a Roman apologist. There are things I don’t think he’s great at, and I’m still scratching my head at the play-calling from the Ravens 2019 playoff loss; but I also think he is taking unnecessary blame week-to-week right now. The Ravens entered this weekend 5th overall in Offensive DVOA. That’s without much from Bateman. That’s with Stanley in and out of the lineup. With Dobbins and Edwards mostly being on the shelf. For the offense the Ravens want to run with Jackson, I’m not sure there is a better Coordinator than Roman. It’s a run first offense, which is going to utilize the TE’s and a FB. They aren’t going to spread the field with 4 and 5 WR sets. They are going to look to control possession, and wear teams down. The Red Zone production isn’t good enough, and that’s a fair critique. There are other fair critiques to be made, but overall the offense is comparatively productive and efficient vs. the rest of the league. My larger point here isn’t that I’m a Roman Stan, more just that disliking the OC seems like a regular pastime for Ravens fans. If you wanted to fire him tomorrow, just for a change – that seems a bit unfair to me given the overall production. Beyond that, it feels unreasonable given the Ravens have built their offense to run this offense. If a change is going to be made, that needs to come in the off-season in my opinion.
3) Up 19-10 with 13:07 left in the 4th Quarter, the Ravens allowed a 14 play, 75 yard drive over 7+ minutes which pulled the Jags within 2 points with just 6 minutes left.
4) Following that score, Edwards coughed the ball up, giving the Jags great field position with 5:42 left. This resulted in a Jags FG with 4:19 left, giving Jacksonville the 20-19 lead.
5) Campbell’s sack had Jacksonville facing 3rd and 21. They converted that, and Jacksonville then went down the field and scored a TD. The defense has played much better over the last month, but not being able to finish the game here was brutal to see. Too much soft zone on the drive. Then the defense had one more opportunity to get a stop for the win, and allowed the 2 point conversion to give Jacksonville the final score.
6) Frankly, if there is Ravens Coordinator that should be under more scrutiny right now, it’s Mike Macdonald.
What Others Had To Say:
Up Next:
The Ravens first game in December will be at home vs. the 3-8 Broncos. ESPN’s Match-up Predictor gives the Ravens a 83% chance of winning.
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