Pass rush woes and 4 more things we learned from Ravens’ loss to Browns

More questions than answers were revealed in disappointing performance on Sunday.

In an AFC North showdown between two teams heading in different directions, the Baltimore Ravens were upset in gut-wrenching fashion by the Cleveland Browns in a 29-24 loss. They not only had their five-game winning streak snapped, the result ended a five-game skid by their division rivals who notched just their second win of the season.

There were several concerning performances by players and units on both sides of the ball who played pivotal roles in the Ravens’ overall record dropping to 5-3. With the loss, they temporarily fall to second place in the AFC North standings pending the results of the Pittsburgh Steelers interconference matchup with the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.

Here are five of the main things that can be learned from Monday’s disappointing loss at Huntington Bank Field on Sunday.

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Drops on both sides of the ball doomed Ravens

The most seismic deciding factors in the outcome of this game were the multitude of plays on the ball that were there to be made but weren’t on offense and defense. Lamar Jackson would’ve come close or likely even surpassed his single-game season-high in passing yardage and led the offense on more scoring drives had it not been for several crucial drops by some of his wide receivers on a handful of third downs that resulted in punts instead of clutch drive-extending plays. Veteran Nelson Agholor had a bad one on the Ravens’ first drive of the third quarter but fourth-year wideout Rashod Bateman had two with the most gut-wrenching being a 50-plus-yard bomb he let bounce off his chest in the fourth quarter on third and long with the Ravens trailing by three points. While it appeared as if he lost track of the ball in the air due to the sun being in his eyes, there is still no excuse for not coming down with the incredibly accurate pass from his quarterback that would’ve moved the ball past midfield.

On defense, safeties Eddie Jackson and Kyle Hamilton both had prime opportunities to come down with game-changing interceptions but each of them failed to make the clutch play. Jackson had two shots, the first of which would’ve thwarted an eventual scoring drive for the Browns in the first half and taken a field goal off the board had he come down with it in the end zone. His second came in the fourth quarter and would’ve given the Ravens the ball closer to midfield but instead, Cleveland punted two plays later and pinned Jackson and the offense back to their six-yard line which set up Bateman’s massive eventual disappointment.

Hamilton made the biggest defensive play of the first half when he came up with a crucial strip-sack of Browns quarterback Jameis Winston late in the second quarter that was recovered by inside linebacker Trenton Simpson and led to a two-play scoring drive to give the Ravens their first lead of the game. With the Ravens leading by a point with 68 seconds left in the game and the Browns already in range for a long field goal attempt, the First Team All Pro selection had a chance to be the hero of the game and seal the game with a perfectly gift-wrapped interception on an inexplicably errant pass from Winston. After initially corralling the ball, he didn’t control it, resulting in an incompletion and on the very next play, Jackson got beat for a touchdown for the second time to give Cleveland the lead back with 64 seconds left in the game.

Pass rush was woefully inconsistent and ineffective at times

The Ravens’ defense entered this game tied for the fourth-most sacks (22) and third-most quarterback hits (53) and were going up against a blocking unit that had allowed the most of both through seven games by a wide margin. On paper and based on previous performances, Baltimore had a clear advantage in the trenches. But once the game started, they failed to generate pressure on Winston with any consistency. They only sacked him twice, both of which came late in the second quarter on Hamilton’s big play and the last play of the first half when outside linebackers Tavius Robinson and Yannick Ngakoue combined for the sack.

While the Ravens were able to record eight quarterback hits, there were far too many occasions where Winston had ample time to read the defense, find open targets and deliver the ball from clean pockets. The lack of interior pressure from the defensive tackle tandem of Pro Bowler Nnamdi Madubuike and emerging breakout stud Travis Jones was especially disappointing given how consistently disruptive they were through the first six games of the season. On a day when their secondary was missing some key pieces, the Ravens needed their front seven to step up in the pass rush department and they didn’t answer the call. If they hope to turn things around on that side of the ball, the rush and coverage need to work together more harmoniously no matter who is in or out of the lineup.

Secondary depth more shallow than expected

The Ravens came into the 2024 season boasting what many believed was the deepest and most talented defensive backfield in the entire league after reinforcing their depth at cornerback with the drafting of two highly touted rookies and signing Jackson who is a former two-time Pro Bowler with a wealth of starting experience. Through the first eight games, they have fallen woefully short of those lofty expectations and have instead been consistently shredded and carved up through the air, allowing the most plays of 20-plus yards in the league with 21.

With three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey out with a knee injury and standout first-round rookie Nate Wiggins out with an illness, the Ravens turned to fourth-year pro Brandon Stephens and third-year pro Jalyn Armour-Davis to start on the outside. Both struggled mightily to limit a Browns’ much-maligned wide receiver corps that saw Amari Cooper get traded away two weeks ago. They played a significant role in the Browns passing offense having its most prolific outing of the season as all three of Cedric Tillman, Elijah Moore and Jerry Jeudy to record five-plus receptions and eclipse 75 receiving yards a piece. Veteran nickel Arthur Maulet didn’t fair much better in his regular season debut after opening the season on injured reserve as he gave up some 10-plus-yard completions for first downs as well.

Derrick Henry didn’t get the ball enough

At no point in this game did the Ravens trail by more than one score and with the exception of the final drive of the game, the clock was never a deterrent for running the ball yet their star bellcow back only carried the ball 11 times and finished with 77 yards from scrimmage. Henry averaged 6.6 yards per carry and even though the bulk of his team-leading 73 rushing yards came on a 39-yard run in the first half, he still ripped off a handful of solid gains of five-plus yards.

The Ravens winning formula is simple and straightforward, the more Henry touches the ball, the more likely they are to prevail. In games he touches the ball fewer than 20 times, the team is 1-3 with the lone exception being a 41-38 overtime shootout with the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 5 that could’ve gone either way. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s play calling and sequencing in this game was head-scratching at times in this game but nothing made less sense than not utilizing his unit’s most reliable and lethal weapon second only to Jackson.

Justin Tucker still isn’t automatic from long distance

After successfully nailing all seven of his field goal attempts in the Ravens previous three games including a pair from 50-plus yards out, it appeared as if the future Hall of Famer’s woes from longer distances was behind him. Unfortunately, in a game where so many things were going wrong, Tucker was not exempt from struggling with consistency either. He squeaked in a 49-yarder through the uprights in the second quarter for the Ravens’ first points of the game but his wide-left miss from 50 yards early in the fourth quarter proved pivotal in the end. The Ravens would’ve just needed a field goal on the final drive to win the game instead of a touchdown and given that it stalled out at the Cleveland 24-yard line, a potential game-winning attempt would’ve been from inside 50 yards.