The extra John Harbaugh watched of the Ravens’ 24-20 loss Sunday to the New York Giants, the extra he mentioned he understood his crew and what it may be this season.
Their shortcomings? “Very, very correctable,” the coach mentioned Monday. But additionally very, very actual.
“Half of it makes you are feeling higher about it, as a result of you understand you will get it cleaned up, and half of it makes you are feeling worse about it, as a result of it’s like, ‘Why didn’t we've it already cleaned up?’” Harbaugh mentioned. “We’re in a spot in our growth proper now as a crew the place there are a selection of transferring components, and there are rising pains that we’re simply having.”
The Ravens are solely a handful of performs away from a 6-0 begin. As an alternative, they’re 3-3 coming into their Week 7 house sport towards the Cleveland Browns, and Sunday’s collapse inside MetLife Stadium provided one other reminder why. From questionable play-calling to poor execution to inopportune penalties, right here’s a have a look at what went incorrect in key spots towards the Giants.
Handed over
Over the primary half, the Ravens averaged 8.1 yards per carry. On their first drive of the second half, they ran twice for a mixed 32 yards.
However when the Ravens obtained to the Giants’ 5-yard line, seeking to lengthen a 10-7 lead, offensive coordinator Greg Roman went towards tendency. He referred to as three straight passes, all of which fell incomplete. The Ravens needed to accept a 23-yard area aim from kicker Justin Tucker as a substitute.
The offense had run into crowded bins all afternoon — working again Kenyan Drake confronted eight or extra defenders within the field on seven of his 10 carries, based on the NFL’s Subsequent Gen Stats — and Harbaugh mentioned Monday that close to the aim line, “that field begins to stack up somewhat bit.”
Nonetheless, the Ravens’ three red-zone drop-backs left a lot to be desired. On their first, the crossing routes took too lengthy to develop; quarterback Lamar Jackson short-armed a throw to huge receiver Devin Duvernay beneath heavy stress. On his second drop-back, Jackson stared down tight finish Mark Andrews and had his go to the again of the tip zone almost intercepted — twice. And on Jackson’s third and ultimate attempt, he missed tight finish Isaiah Possible on a possible landing go over the center, as a substitute wanting left, the place huge receiver Demarcus Robinson’s route by no means developed into something substantive.
“You may nonetheless run it, and you'll nonetheless attempt to run it and smash it up in there, and also you may pop it, you may get it, otherwise you may say, ‘You recognize what? I can throw towards this, and I’m going to set them up and throw,’" Harbaugh mentioned. “We’ve gone right down to the 1-yard line and run it down there and never gotten it in, as you understand — and why didn’t we throw it? So I simply assume that, sure, you settle for that, and also you have a look at it, and also you say, ‘Properly, perhaps we might’ve achieved one thing completely different,’ but additionally, we might’ve executed the go sport somewhat higher and scored, and we wouldn’t be having this dialog.”
The Ravens completed with 24 carries for 211 yards of their loss. Since 2019, when Jackson grew to become the full-time starter in Baltimore, they're 15-4 when speeding for 200-plus yards.
Protection collapse
The Giants’ most spectacular drive of the sport got here at a very powerful juncture of the sport. Andrews’ 12-yard rating had given the Ravens a 20-10 lead with just below 13 minutes remaining within the fourth quarter. The Giants answered with a 12-play, 75-yard drive of their very own, this one additionally ending with a decent finish’s end-zone seize.
However whereas Andrews’ catch was contested, Daniel Bellinger’s was comparatively easy. On the Giants’ second-and-7 play from the Ravens’ 8, the rookie had lined up subsequent to proper deal with Evan Neal. He bluffed a run block earlier than working a shallow right-to-left crossing sample together with wideout David Sills V, who’d lined up as an outdoor receiver. Tight finish Tanner Hudson, who’d lined up subsequent to left deal with Andrew Thomas, launched to the center of the sector earlier than bending his route again towards the left.
The Ravens, dropping into zone protection after quarterback Daniel Jones’ pretend handoff, had the numbers to deal with the flood of routes, however not the group. Security Geno Stone picked up Hudson as he headed to the again nook of the tip zone. Cornerback Marcus Peters handed off Sills’ path to inside linebacker Josh Bynes. However when Bynes handed off Bellinger to chop off Sills, nobody picked him up. Security Chuck Clark was too deep to crash down, and cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who’d lined up reverse Peters, appeared to lose sight of Bellinger amid the wave of our bodies headed to his half of the sector.
When Jones set his ft to throw on the Ravens’ 17, Bellinger was nonetheless greater than 5 yards away from Humphrey. Jones aimed the go excessive sufficient for the 6-foot-5 Bellinger to render Humphrey’s restoration pace a nonfactor.
“We simply didn’t play the protection proper,” Harbaugh mentioned. “The protection was misplayed beneath. … The way in which we play it, it wasn’t matched accurately. It’s simply one thing that we apply on a regular basis; we must be higher at it. It was a mistake. We are able to get that cleaned up and stuck.
“There are going to be issues within the sport on either side, there are errors that get made that get taken benefit of. Soccer’s not excellent. Guys match with the incorrect man typically, their eyes are within the incorrect spot typically, typically they overplay one thing and one thing else is available in behind them. … That’s the character of the sport. Typically you pay for it, and typically you don’t; typically they pay for it, and typically they don’t.”
Penalty issues
With simply over three minutes remaining, the Ravens led 20-17 and confronted a third-and-1 at their very own 44. Actually, they wanted lower than that; a easy quarterback sneak would suffice. However as Jackson plunged forward from beneath heart for the primary down, an official threw a flag. The Ravens had been referred to as for an illegal-formation penalty. On the next third-and-6, heart Tyler Linderbaum’s too-early snap to Jackson kicked off a series of occasions that led to a Giants interception and the go-ahead landing.
Within the locker room afterward, left deal with Ronnie Stanley was requested concerning the Ravens’ unlawful formation; referee Clay Martin had cited his quantity in explaining the decision. “I suppose somebody has to cowl me up on the road of scrimmage,” Stanley mentioned, “and nobody was protecting me up.”
Below NFL guidelines, the offensive crew will need to have at the very least seven gamers on the road of scrimmage on the snap. The Ravens had solely six: their 5 offensive linemen and tight finish Josh Oliver. Fullback Patrick Ricard, lined up beside Stanley, was off the road of scrimmage. As the one eligible receiver on the left facet of the road, he wanted to be on the road of scrimmage.
After the flag was thrown, Andrews appeared to gesture angrily to Ricard. The Ravens completed with 10 penalties for 74 yards, each season highs.
“A head coach seems to be at it and says, ‘How can that occur on a primary offensive play?’" mentioned Harbaugh, who didn't specify which participant or gamers had been accountable. “That’s nonetheless the one which I’m actually reeling over; that’s the one which’s actually churning me up. We get that achieved, there’s a excessive probability we go win that soccer sport. So it’s not acceptable.
“It's explainable whenever you dig in and also you see the chain of occasions that occurred, by way of how we lined up, after which somebody tries to make up for a way another person traces up. A mistake will get made, somebody tries to right it, that’s actually one other mistake, after which we don’t lastly repair it within the easy means that it’s taught to be fastened when one thing like that occurs, and you've got a horrible error. There’s no means that ought to occur; that’s one which I’m not in all probability going to recover from, however finally, it’s my accountability.”
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 1/2
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