John Harbaugh’s eyes darted back and forth as he dug into his memory for the answers. Four days removed from a distressing if not self-inflicted loss to the Chiefs, the Ravens coach was asked about his defense’s “communication issues” in Kansas City, where the phrase had clanked through the bowels of Arrowhead Stadium following the season-opening defeat to the same team that had ended Baltimore’s 2023 season seven months earlier.
There were many deficiencies, Harbaugh acknowledged, from a missed assignment that led to a decisive touchdown to how the Ravens performed against certain plays to using too many defensive substitution packages.
“They made the fewest mistakes, and that’s why they won the game,” he said. “You have your floor and your ceiling. How high is the ceiling [and] how high is the floor?
“The Chiefs’ floor was higher in that game than our [floor] was, and ultimately, that was probably the difference in the game.”
So was the middle of the field, where Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes again shredded the Ravens’ defense, just as he had in last season’s AFC championship game.
On passes between the hashes that traveled 15 yards or less, he completed 8 of 11 passes for 142 yards, according to Tru Media. Mahomes was intercepted by Roquan Smith on one of them, but the three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback spent a big chunk of the night torturing the All-Pro inside linebacker, as well as off-ball linebackers Trenton Simpson and Malik Harrison and All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton. All four defenders, along with free safety Marcus Williams, had grades of 49.7 or worse from Pro Football Focus, including Harrison’s team-low mark of 28.4 with Smith (29.4) not far behind.
They were justified.
Smith bore the brunt of the attack and stunningly got embarrassed. Targeted six times, he allowed five completions for 69 yards, 58 of which came after the catch, per PFF. Simpson, meanwhile, surrendered three catches and 37 yards on four targets, and Hamilton and Williams allowed two catches apiece for 45 and 46 yards, respectively.
“Obviously there were a lot of mistakes out there, and that’s not what we pride ourselves on, and that starts with me communicating each and every detail throughout to the guys and making sure that we’re all on the same page,” Smith said afterward. “If we’re all on the same page, we’re a tough defense to move the ball on. But, a lot of the things that happened were self-inflicted. … They made us pay for it.”
Twice in particular, including with a play — Hoss Y-Juke — that dates to the early days of the Patriots’ dynasty and was wildly successful in New England’s and Tom Brady’s 2019 Super Bowl victory over the Los Angeles Rams. Yet, despite its age it worked beautifully against Baltimore.
The idea is simple: Outside receivers run hitch routes, slot receivers run seam routes and a third receiver from the outside runs an option route against a linebacker.
So there it was that on the second play of the Chiefs’ second possession with just over 2 minutes remaining in the opening quarter that Smith found himself looking at a bet he could not win against speedy Rashee Rice. The star receiver easily juked the linebacker and caught a short pass over the middle for a 19-yard gain.
the Chiefs, who are in 21 personnel, move everyone but Worthy around and get Rice isolated on Roquan Smith.
Rice and Kelce flop spots. Steele goes from the slot to outside. Pacheco moves from the backfield to create an Empty formation. pic.twitter.com/nA3N5mFcwt
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) September 6, 2024
The drive ended in a punt, but it portended the night.
Using the same formation (but flipped to the other side of the field) midway through the third quarter and with a similar route design, it was Harrison’s turn. Rice gave him the same juke he’d used on Smith, caught a short pass over the middle and raced forward for a 15-yard gain.
That series, too, ended with a punt, but it only emboldened Kansas City to attack the heart of a Baltimore defense that a season ago led the league in sacks, takeaways and points allowed. After all, the Chiefs enjoyed success there before.
The last time the Chiefs and Ravens met, in that AFC title game at M&T Bank Stadium, Mahomes was 10-for-12 for 90 yards over the middle on passes that traveled 15 yards or less.
Like then, there were problems all over the middle of the field for Baltimore’s quarters defense — a formation in which the two deep safeties cover the inside quarter of the field, the two outside cornerbacks guard the outside and remaining three defenders split the underneath into thirds.
On Kansas City’s first offensive play of the game, Rice and rookie Xavier Worthy lined up staggered, with the former easily beating cornerback Marlon Humphrey to the inside for an 11-yard gain. Three plays later and in a trips formation, Rice did it again, this time with Smith helplessly giving chase on a 16-yard gain.
Then early in the third quarter, a pump fake by Mahomes got Williams to bite down and Smith to move over, leaving a gaping hole as Humphrey released Rice to the middle of the field unbeknownst there was no safety help behind him. Bang, 33 yards.
One play later, with Broderick Washington forcing a rolling Mahomes to readjust and shift to his second option, the quarterback found receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster wide-open again in the middle of the field, this time for 25 yards.
“We cleaned it up — we changed which side we were rolling the coverage to — and it cleaned up, so you do make those adjustments during the course of the game,” Harbaugh said. “You’re playing a team that game-plans really well, and they had the whole offseason to game-plan us, so they came up with a couple of — probably three — good ideas that were good.”
It didn’t help that tackling was also an issue for the Ravens.
They had 11 missed tackles, including three from Hamilton and two from Smith. Kansas City took advantage, scoring 17 points on drives where they directly attacked the middle of the field on at least one play.
“This is the worst we’ll play all season,” Smith said. “I can promise you that.”
If so, there’s at least promise in those words.
Despite all the Ravens’ defensive issues in the game, along with self-inflicted offensive wounds that included a string of illegal formation penalties, they were an Isaiah Likely toe away from potentially tying or winning the game.
“I’m not too worried about our ceiling,” Harbaugh said. “I know we have tremendous players, and we’ll make plays, but I want to see that floor come up a little bit and play a little more that way between Week 1 and Week 2.”