Lamar Jackson giveth and he taketh away. The Ravens quarterback tried to make one thing out of nothing when he picked up an errant snap late within the fourth quarter and heaved the ball towards fullback Patrick Ricard, however the ensuing interception proved to be the most expensive of many errors in an ugly 24-20 loss to the New York Giants.
The Ravens have been accountable for each sport they’ve performed this season, however they’re 3-3 and greedy for solutions after they left the door wide-open in opposition to a scrappy opponent. Listed below are 5 issues we realized from their newest collapse:
The Ravens have underachieved.
The Ravens have jumped to a lead in each sport they’ve performed this season and have led within the fourth quarter in 5 of six. One of the best analytics say they’re one of many league’s prime groups on a per-play foundation. Now we have but to observe an opponent cleanly outplay them. They're 3-3.
If that math doesn't compute for you, know that it doesn't compute for the gamers and coaches both. They give the impression of being within the mirror and see a contender. Their report says in any other case, which is an issue.
Blame has to fall on the toes of an important folks within the locker room.
Jackson is a marvel, and the Ravens could be an odd group with out his bewitching runs and daring throws. However he let his creativity get the higher of him in opposition to the Giants when he tried to pluck a skidding snap from rookie Tyler Linderbaum off the turf and discover Ricard in site visitors with the sport hanging within the stability. Security Julian Love’s interception put the Giants a mere 13 yards from the landing that might ship the Ravens dwelling in distress.
Nice as he was over the primary three weeks of the season, Jackson has been much less so during the last three, averaging 176 passing yards per sport with three touchdowns and 4 interceptions in that span. He misses the big-play upside of vast receiver Rashod Bateman, who harm his foot in Week 4 and has not practiced since. For all of the terrific performs we’ve seen from Devin Duvernay and for all of Mark Andrews’ regular excellence, we have now to fault the Ravens’ entrance workplace for not bringing in one other productive cross catcher to spherical out an undermanned corps.
We additionally should ask John Harbaugh and his employees why the Ravens hamstrung themselves with presnap penalties from the primary quarter to the fourth? How might they line up incorrectly on a easy quarterback keeper that might have given them a primary down the play earlier than Jackson threw his misbegotten interception? The psychological errors appear to return from completely different locations every time; recall the deadly miscommunication within the secondary in opposition to the Miami Dolphins or the missed blocks that left Jackson unprotected on that decisive fourth-down play in opposition to the Buffalo Payments. However the overarching query is similar: the place is that this group’s precision when it’s time to place a sport away?
The Ravens did many issues properly in opposition to the Giants, simply as they've completed many issues properly all season. Their floor sport is buzzing once more, with a peppy Kenyan Drake all of the sudden within the image and the offensive line discovering its footing with Ronnie Stanley again at left sort out. Their protection will catch hell for surrendering two touchdowns within the fourth quarter however did a superb job limiting Saquon Barkley and didn't quit a play longer than 18 yards all afternoon.
The parts of a winner are in place, however the Ravens aren't enjoying successful soccer on third downs and late-game possessions. The group that led the league in scoring margin in 2019 and 2020 is nowhere to be discovered. Peril lurks round each nook, even once they’re cruising down the sector with a lead of their pockets.
“It seems like we’re beating ourselves,” Jackson mentioned.
Sure, it does, and for now, the Ravens don’t appear to know why.
The Ravens tossed away too many factors due to sloppy execution on key downs.
We are able to’t say the offense struggled. Actually, the Ravens put collectively drives extra persistently than that they had in any earlier sport, piling up 406 yards, together with a season-high 211 on the bottom. They averaged seven yards per play in comparison with 3.8 for the Giants.
However they left so many factors on the desk due to poor execution on third down, a pattern that began properly earlier than the disastrous penalty-interception couplet that price them their lead on the finish.
On the Ravens’ opening drive, Jackson fell down for a 6-yard loss on third down after the Giants clogged his escape lanes. The misplaced yardage knocked the Ravens out of field-goal vary.
They backed themselves into hassle once more on their subsequent drive, when a false-start penalty (their third of the sport), a 1-yard loss by J.Ok. Dobbins and an errant swing cross from Jackson pressured Justin Tucker to aim a 56-yard discipline purpose, which he clanked off the left upright.
The Ravens outgained the Giants 94-22 and managed the ball for nearly 11 minutes of the primary quarter however had nothing to point out for it. They led by simply three at halftime after accumulating 256 yards of offense and holding Barkley in examine. They may as properly have waived an indication at their underdog opponent: “We’re providing you with life.”
The Ravens rumbled down the sector once more the primary time that they had the ball within the second half, transferring to first-and-goal from the Giants’ 5-yard line. That they had killed the Giants on the bottom all afternoon however tried three passes, none of which discovered its mark. Andrews had the most effective shot at a landing however couldn't alter to drag in a tipped ball.
The Ravens led by 10 after Andrews caught a landing cross early within the fourth quarter, however that margin might simply have been 17 or 20.
Jackson will spend the week stewing on his turnovers and offline throws whereas his blockers will lament a string of presnap penalties that regularly set the Ravens again. The offense had each probability to place this sport away and couldn't.
The long run is vivid for a defensive entrance led by Justin Madubuike and Travis Jones.
It was not tough to search out followers carping on social media about coordinator Mike Macdonald’s protection. Macdonald was within the highlight together with his predecessor, Don “Wink” Martindale, on the opposite sideline, and his crew did enable the Giants to drive 12 performs for 75 yards to chop the result in 20-17. However let’s preserve this in perspective: the Ravens defended properly sufficient to win the sport.
Their chief mission was to maintain Barkley from operating wild they usually did it, limiting him to three.8 yards per carry with a longest achieve of 8. Their secondary mission was to maintain Daniel Jones from escaping the pocket. He gained simply 6 yards on six carries and didn't full a cross longer than 18 yards. Sure, the Ravens want to have again just a few of these third-and-longs on which Jones discovered an open receiver. However their run protection had been an issue via 5 weeks and it held up admirably in opposition to one of many league’s best floor assaults. They maintained a stable wall on the line of scrimmage and didn't let Barkley and Jones run via tackles.
Their younger inside playmakers, Madubuike and Travis Jones, excelled on the tip of the spear together with elder statesman Calais Campbell. The trio mixed for 13 tackles, three sacks and 5 quarterback hits — stellar manufacturing by any measure.
The Ravens’ cross rush bothered Jones early as he confronted third-and-long on every of the Giants’ first two collection. Travis Jones bulled up the center for his first skilled sack, a promising signal for a group that has struggled to mount inside stress in latest seasons.
On the primary drive of the second half, Madubuike dropped Jones within the open discipline for a sack because the Ravens despatched the Giants off the sector three-and-out. We spent two years questioning when the 2020 third-round decide would flash his eye-popping explosiveness greater than often. In his third season, Madubuike appears to hit the stat sheet with a significant play each week.
In every week positive to be stuffed with soul-searching, the Ravens ought to take some solace from the very fact their protection has not repeated its disastrous efficiency from that Week 2 collapse in opposition to the Dolphins.
Andrews’ skill to provide when he’s Jackson’s solely scary goal is one thing to see.
The Giants knew Andrews was Jackson’s probably first possibility on each third down and red-zone snap, however their linebackers and defensive backs had little hope of retaining the All-Professional tight finish from one other stellar stat line — seven catches on 11 targets for 106 yards and a landing.
Andrews didn't even play his greatest sport. He in all probability felt he ought to have caught one other landing cross on that deflected ball, which modified trajectory on him on the final second. However he was Jackson’s solely constant downfield goal and his greatest guess to make a contested catch, identical to he was the week earlier than in a razor-thin 19-17 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Andrews is greater than 30 targets, 20 catches and 200 yards forward of another cross catcher on the group. He’s proper up there with Cooper Kupp of the Los Angeles Rams relating to being the singular focus of his group’s passing offense. Nonetheless, he finds a option to get via contact on the line of scrimmage, glide into open patches and snatch the ball in entrance of overpowered defenders. He and Kansas Metropolis’s Travis Kelce reside in their very own golden neighborhood above the remainder of the league’s tight ends.
The Ravens’ uneven outcomes weigh on Andrews as a lot as anybody. We see it in his flinty expression as he provides curt solutions about how they need to end off opponents. However we must always not let the broader frustrations of the group obscure what we’re seeing from No. 89, one of many biggest gamers in franchise historical past in his prime.
For all their missed alternatives, the Ravens are nonetheless in positive place.
They might have put an early stranglehold on the AFC North, they usually’re absolutely aggravated that their divisional margin vanished only a week after they outlasted the defending champion Bengals. But when they’re going to start out 3-3, they could as properly do it in mediocre firm. And that’s what the AFC North is correct now: mediocre.
The Bengals pulled out a victory in New Orleans on a 60-yard cross from Joe Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase, and the Pittsburgh Steelers upset the all of the sudden odd Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However the New England Patriots mauled the Browns in Cleveland, and it appears no AFC North group can preserve traction from one week to the following.
The Ravens maintain a win over Cincinnati, the opposite 3-3 group within the bunch, they usually face by far the best schedule going ahead, in response to Soccer Outsiders. They’re anticipating to get a raft of key gamers again over the following month, from Bateman to operating again Gus Edwards to outdoors linebackers Tyus Bowser, Justin Houston and David Ojabo. Stanley has performed properly since coming back from the ankle damage that sidelined him for almost two years, and the Ravens dodged a bullet Sunday when proper sort out Morgan Moses’ heel damage was not critical. They now not really feel just like the most injury-scarred group in soccer.
None of that is to say the Ravens ought to shrug off their fourth-quarter woes or, heck, their incapability to win two video games in arrow. They're enmeshed in an id disaster as they grasp for solutions to what ails them. However none of their massive targets are out the window. We’re in for an extended, anxious season.
Week 7
BROWNS@RAVENS
Sunday, 1 p.m.
TV: Chs. 13, 9
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
Line: Ravens by 6
()