Week 7, Ravens Fast Five: Bye Week Starts Sunday Night. Not Sunday Afternoon

For all we know, in their heads it started last Sunday night when they made a statement with 34-6 drubbing of the talented L.A. Chargers. Did they drink their own Kool-Aid too much this week? Did they think, “same old Bengals?” Lamar Jackson is undefeated in October. Lamar Jackson is undefeated against the Bengals. Lamar Jackson will carry us. Is that what his teammates had in mind this week? Sure, looked like it. Here’s five thoughts on the statement loss that buries a statement win, 41-17, at the hands of the now first place Bengals.

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1. Finally got burned.

What we saw today was a little bit of the Kansas City game, a little bit of the Indy game, but without the everything breaking perfectly in order for the Ravens to make some historic plays in order to pull a win out of you know where. Eventually it turned into the Browns game here in Baltimore a couple years back where a close game turned into a second half blowout. Very humbling indeed.

What it really looked like was a team who took their opponent for granted after five straight wins. A team that came in complacent with upcoming vacation on their minds and executed as you would expect had you known that was the mentality. Lack of fundamental tackling. Huge plays in the run and passing game allowed on defense. Calling the worst timeout in football history. Not using the best kicker in history on long, but not even close to the edge of his range, field goals, opting to be conservative and punt. Throwing to the flat on 3rd and 13, then punting when you need to score. False start on 4th and 5, and again on 4th nd 10, bringing up 4th and 15 on your last gasp, and a halfhearted effort by a guy hanging onto this roster by a thread to convert.

In case the Ravens forgot while planning their weeks away, first place in the AFC North was on the line. So, they’ll go on vacation with blowing that opportunity on their minds, and then watch week 8 knowing there isn’t a damn thing they can do to improve their position until week 9.

And we as fans get to stew for two weeks as well, rather than have our minds changed next week.

2. Hope the bye week can heal Patrick Mekari’s ankle injury.

If there is one thing the team can ill afford, it’s yet another severe hit to the O-line already down Ronnie Stanley for the season, and Ben Cleveland until, who knows? I thought Lamar Jackson had some clean pockets to throw from early on today. But for most of the game after Mekari left, it looked a lot like the Raiders game in Week 1 out there. Alejandro Villanueva had his worst game since the opener, which has nothing to do with Mekari. Tyre Phillips didn’t look great either. I have faith the AV can regain form, perhaps he has a bad game a few times a year. Maybe a lingering knee issue bothered him today more than the last two games. Phillips, I’ve never been sold on as a real option.

3. Did Marlon Humphrey just have his worst game ever, and is he having his worst season ever?

I feel like Anthony Averett gets a lot of targets his way as teams try to avoid throwing in Humphrey’s direction. Just a week ago, Justin Herbert tested Humprhey a lot and he and the defense shut them down. Averett had a poor showing against the Colts, but has been solid for the rest of the season.

What’s worse? Having one real bad game, but a good season, or having pretty good games with one bad play in most of them? Humphrey is having the latter. He was fooled, not even ready, for the game sealing touchdown in Week 1. He was burned early by the Chiefs, what, eighth receiving option in Week 2 for a deep touchdown. Drug for over 20 yards by Javonte Williams, Broncos running back in week 4. Maybe I’m missing some, but today takes the cake. He couldn’t stick with Ja’Marr chase (to be fair, not many guys have) but also got completely embarrassed by C.J. Uzomah. A tight end. He caught all three of his targets for 91 yards and two scores.

You can’t even blame trying to force a fumble, because you have to be in the vicinity to do that. He was just plain beat.

I wouldn’t call his season his worst ever, yet. He’s not allowing many catches in his direction, only a 51.5% mark. Best since his rookie year. But he’s allowing the big plays. Which matters more. Entering the day he’s allowing 11.5 Y/R, which is also worst since his rookie year (12.8). He’s allowed 80 yards after catch, and that’s likely going to double once the stats are updated after today’s abomination. His now three TDs allowed are about par for the course for him, for a season. There are 10 games still to go folks. He’s allowed three touchdowns each of the last two seasons, and a career high four in 2018.

Before today, QBs had a passer rating of 89.8 when targeting him. A career worst that will assuredly eclipse 90.0, if not flirt with 100.0 now.

He did have an interception on a lame duck floater by Joe Burrow who could afford to take a shot. A ball that someone with frying pans for hands could also have caught. The Ravens defense enjoyed taking their team photo in celebration afterwards, trailing by 10, in the fourth quarter, when they hadn’t registered a stop since very early on. Wasn’t that fun?

4. Josh Bynes moving to the Mike, swapping with Patrick Queen, seems to be a hit.

The defense sucked. Let’s not get it twisted. They mentally checked out by the fourth quarter. But seeing Bynes have the confidence to make some calls, communicate alerts his teammates, take over as the Mike, or key inside linebacker the offense needs to focus on, was a breath of fresh air. For the first half anyway.

For the second week in a row Bynes, not Malik Harrison, started alongside Patrick Queen. But it was apparent today that Bynes was the key, and even alerted the defense to a QB sneak that Burrow tried on 3rd and 1 that was killed almost as soon as the snap went off. I’m surprised they even completed the snap without fumbling as fast as the defense jumped it.

There is a lot the defense needs to clean up. But putting Queen in a position where he doesn’t have to think as much (admittedly not being clear about the complicated Martindale playbook in training camp), let him rely on athleticism to blow up a play when alerted by the veteran alongside him, that’s one they can check off the list.

5. Where do you draw the line with regards to using Justin Tucker?

We know in perfect conditions; Tucker has a range of 66 yards. However, it is not ideal to just line up and kick 60, 64, 66 yards field goals when the opportunity comes. Amazing as Tucker is, the probability still gets lower as the distance goes up.

That said, it makes no sense to me to shackle him to the bench in favor of punting when facing a 55 yard try. Wind was no factor. The Bengals kicker at the time made from 52 with room to spare in the same direction. Despite all the missed extra points two weeks back, kickers these days are largely good enough that 40 yards should be close to automatic, 50 is the new 45, and 55 is the new 50. Tucker is good enough than any 4th down that going for a 1st down isn’t a smart option, and if the field goal try is under 60 yards, you run him out there. He’s a weapon that other teams don’t have. Use him as such.

Twice, John Harbaugh passed this opportunity up in favor of a punt. Chargers game aside, this offense starts slow as they try and fail to establish a running game (but you must try). They don’t need to keep potential points off the board by being extra conservative. Today seemed like about as perfect as conditions can be for an outdoor game in Baltimore.

They probably didn’t respect the Bengals, thought they would get their points elsewhere, and maybe were excited about the defensive effort displayed a week ago to put it in their hands to win a field position battle.

Bonus thought.

A Ravens win would have been the first time in franchise history that they started 6-1.

That sound you hear is a toilet flush.