The Ravens had an excellent opportunity last week to take full control of the AFC North at the expense of a hated rival in Pittsburgh with a victory.
Instead, they squandered multiple opportunities to go undefeated against the division on the road and lost for the 6th time in the last 7 meetings against the Steelers.
This was a difficult game to watch as the Ravens couldn’t catch passes, 8 drops in total, two in the endzone and a third that would have left Nelson Agohlor walking in for six. They couldn’t manage a sure Field Goal attempt before halftime that would have increased the lead to 13-3. They also couldn’t score the Red Zone to seal the game late as Todd Monken inexplicably called for a fade route instead of doing what’s worked for the past 4 weeks.
These failures across the board are a recurring theme with this team going to back to the start of last season. They have trouble executing the entire game. They have difficulty closing out games with the lead. The sense is that many of the coaching decisions in game are about playing not to lose and many times that tentative nature tends to backfire. This all adds up to an underachieving team. There is no doubt in my mind that this team should be undefeated at this stage if they just didn’t beat themselves consistently.
The Steelers are not a good team. I wrote last week about their offensive struggles and those continued into the 4th quarter until George Pickens beat a gimpy Marlon Humphrey to score the Black and Gold’s first touchdown in 9 quarters. Pittsburgh did what they normally do, they kept things close and then made you pay for letting them hang around. The problem is that the Ravens let them have a chance to win by constant turnovers and poor play on their part in a game where they should have led by three scores.
This now brings me to John Harbaugh. He just won his 150th game two weeks ago. He’s been the coach here for 16 seasons. He has won one Super Bowl over a decade ago and while I think his players in general still play hard for him most times, it could be time to look for new leadership. They replaced the coordinators in hope of better production which leaves only one job left if the team misses the post season or goes one and done.
1) Wide Open – One of the reasons for the Ravens success this season has been due to the receivers making plays to supplement a strong running game. During the first four weeks Ravens receivers had zero drops. ZERO. After last week’s debacle that group was one of the league’s worst in holding on to the football.
Baltimore has spent draft picks and lots of money in assembling this group and arguably this may be the best receiver room in franchise history. But you have to wonder if the team will need to do another reassembly next season. Zay Flowers is the top targeted receiver so far (40) and he appears to have a bright future. Odell Beckham Jr. has been dealing with injuries and he’s on a one year contract. Former first round pick Rashoud Bateman has struggled with injuries and production, and I wonder if he may need a change of scenery at this stage in his career.
This means that we could be back in a very familiar position this off-season. Trying to find productive wide receivers.
2) London Calling – The NFL’s International season series continues with the Ravens making a return trip to the UK for the first time since they were embarrassed by the Jaguars 44-7 in the most lopsided game ever in London. So, John Harbaugh decided to pull a “Costanza” and do the opposite of what they did last time and promptly got on a plane Monday so he and his team could get used to their surroundings for Sunday. The Titans will fly out Thursday so time will tell which was the better option.
Either way the team hopes to bounce back against an opponent that they have some chippy history with in the Titans. Of course stopping Derrick Henry will be the first and last priority but he may finally be slowing down as he’s only averaging (3.8 per carry) so far this season. Ryan Tannehill is at his inconsistent best so forcing him into third and long situations will be important.
On the Ravens side limiting turnovers and better ball security would be a good start. Even though Lamar Jackson had some struggles in the 4th quarter last week he played quite well but was let down constantly by his supporting cast. I’m predicting a much better showing from him as he hasn’t lost back to back games since 2021 and in that span was (5-0 with 7 TDs and 2 INTs). I’d also like to see him running a bit less – he’s the leading rusher so far and I’d like him to last into the Winter. This fact makes me wonder why there is a reluctance to lean on Gus Edwards who hasn’t had more than 15 carries all season.
3) Who to Watch? – Everyone.
I’m not a fan of these international games and I didn’t feel any better this week when player reports coming out of Tottenham Stadium were extremely negative about the playing surface. One described it as if they threw a carpet over a parking lot?!! So just as the Ravens are starting to get as healthy as they’ve been in a long time all they need is a few season ending injuries due to poor playing conditions to make things “interesting”.
Happy Football everyone! Enjoy Week Six and Go Ravens!
Matt has lived in Maryland his entire life and is a graduate of Calvert Hall and Towson University. has always been an avid Baltimore sports fan. Since 2007, he has been writing and talking about Baltimore sports, especially the Ravens. His work has appeared on Ravens Gab, Russell Street Report, and he currently co-hosts a podcast “The Blitz- A Ravens podcast” with Brent Harris.