12 October 2023
It’s not just the offense that’s a work in progress — it’s the entire team.
The Ravens talked about being a playoff contender, and maybe they are, but it’s hard to take them seriously right now. They aren’t ready for prime time.
Two weeks ago, they lost to the Indianapolis Colts in a game they should have easily won. Then on Sunday, they lost, 17-10, to Pittsburgh in a game in which they should have buried the Steelers.
“It just felt like at times, that there was just too many things going wrong,” Ravens tight end Mark Andrews said. “It’s almost like a sleeping giant, man. We need to wake up.”
There aren’t enough fingers and toes to point out the problems. Coaches keep making bad decisions. Receivers can’t catch or stay healthy. The quarterback melts down under pressure. Offensive linemen can’t pass-block. The defense can’t come up with key third-down stops in crunchtime.
In the words of former New Orleans Saints coach Jim Mora, “Playoffs? Are you kidding me?”
OK, that’s a bit dramatic. But we’ve seen this act over the past couple of years. The Ravens talk about how good they are, but then they lose games they should easily win.
Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett was playing with a bruised knee and the Steelers were without starting tight end Pat Freiermuth and wide receiver Diontae Johnson because of injuries. They entered Sunday ranked 29th in total offense and 30th in defense.
Go figure.
Pittsburgh has the same proud tradition as Baltimore of being a strong defensive team, and the Steelers entered the game ranked 29th in rushing defense and 26th in pass defense.
And the Ravens still lost.
Where do we start?
Let’s begin with the field goal that wasn’t with 19 seconds left in the second quarter. The Ravens were ahead 10-3 and faced a fourth-and-2 at the Pittsburgh 23-yard line.
Instead of sending out Justin Tucker, the best field goal kicker in NFL history, the Ravens tried to draw the Steelers offside. Instead, center Tyler Linderbaum snapped the ball to quarterback Lamar Jackson, who threw a pass to an unprepared Zay Flowers.
“We were planning on kicking the field goal there,” Harbaugh said. “The idea was to run the clock down and not leave them time to come the other way and then just call a timeout and kick the field goal. But we had just a miscommunication — [in the] heat of battle. We weren’t on the same page. They jumped the neutral zone, and guys thought they were in the neutral zone and went ahead and snapped it.
“So, that wasn’t what we were planning on doing. You see Lamar was surprised by the snap, so that was just one of those things operationally that we just have to get better at. That’s kind of an example really of where we’re at. We just have to get better at operational things and just clean stuff up and make those plays.”
Spare me, please. I understand the logic behind it, but the Ravens were already in disarray. They had dropped several touchdown passes, and their offense was out of sync.
Meanwhile, their defense was playing well and had held the Steelers to 87 yards of total offense in the first half. Why not just kick the field goal, leave 16 seconds remaining and go into halftime with a 13-3 lead instead of 10-3?
But instead, the Ravens were too cute. They wanted to be aggressive, but sometimes a team just needs to keep it simple, especially against a team that doesn’t know if it’s in Cleveland or Pittsburgh.
Harbaugh has done this before, going for 2-point conversions to win a game instead of settling for an extra point to tie the game and send it into overtime.
The Ravens struggled all game. Flowers dropped a possible touchdown pass, and so did Nelson Agholor. Ditto for Rashod Bateman and even the most reliable receiver on the team, Andrews.
During the offseason, the Ravens loaded up with free agent receivers Agholor and Odell Beckham Jr. They were supposed to deliver big plays, but Agholor got a case of the drops on a deep pass down the right sideline in the third quarter and Beckham spent more time on the sideline with apparent injuries than on the field.
Jackson didn’t help himself in the fourth quarter. He threw an interception in the end zone on a pass to Beckham with 4:06 remaining after the Ravens recovered a fumbled punt return at the Pittsburgh 7, and then was stripped while attempting to pass nearly three minutes later from the Ravens’ 44.
Jackson needs to feel the pressure coming in that moment. Besides the inaccuracy, here is the other knock on Jackson: He doesn’t win a lot of games in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
It’s one thing to be good, but another to become great by winning close games, especially in the postseason.
The Ravens, though, aren’t a team built for comebacks. They’re good when the run game is working and the play-action pass is effective, but they struggle with pass-blocking.
The Ravens gave up four sacks, including two in the fourth quarter when they were outscored 14-0. Their weaknesses got exposed, especially an injury-riddled secondary that allowed Pickett to complete a game-winning 41-yard touchdown pass to receiver George Pickens down the right sideline with 1:17 left.
By then, the Ravens were down to their third option at right tackle in Daniel Faalele, who was having as much success as left tackle Ronnie Stanley trying to block the Steelers, particularly outside linebackers T.J. Watt, Kwon Alexander and Alex Highsmith.
It’s a game the Ravens should have won; the expectations are different this season. But the Ravens fumbled twice and lost both of them. They allowed Pittsburgh to block a punt for a safety in the fourth quarter.
It’s still the same old Ravens.
They have 12 more games to prove otherwise.
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