The Ravens face a mighty difficult schedule and are in the hole with an 0-2 start after 4th quarter collapse
The Baltimore Ravens enter uncharted territory in the Lamar Jackson era as they begin the 2024 season winless after two weeks. The Ravens were expected to dominate the Raiders, being heavily favored across the board, but failures in all aspects of the game put them at 0-2. Here are my my Winners & Losers.
Winners
OLB Odafe Oweh — The Ravens’ 2021 first-round edge rusher has been critiqued for being excellent at generating pressure but being incapable of finishing with sacks. Today, he finished his plays by sacking Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew 2.5 times, including a strip-sack (recovered by the Raiders) on the first play from scrimmage. Had this game ended differently, the talk of the day would be on how the pass rush, the expected weakness of the defense, was its strongest unit. In all, Oweh produced five tackles, 2.5 sacks, two tackles for loss, three quarterback hits and a forced fumble.
OLB Kyle Van Noy — In a similar vein, Van Noy brought the heat against the Raiders by sacking Minshew twice. Van Noy was questionable to play after missing all but Friday’s practice after suffering a fractured orbital bone 10 days ago against the Kansas City Chiefs. He excelled in getting after the quarterback and finished with two sacks, three tackles for loss and three quarterback hits.
DT Travis Jones — Just about every defender got in on the action in pressuring Minshew and Jones was no exception. He won his reps and as a result flushed Minshew from the pocket or into another defender.
WR Zay Flowers — The connection with Jackson and Flowers grows as the duo connected for 91 yards and a touchdown on Sunday.
Run Defense — The Ravens were mighty against the run, containing the Raiders offense to 27 yards on 17 carries. At the half, they had allowed just four yards on the ground.
Losers
Pass Defense — The expected strongest unit of the defense allowed the Raiders to go from 43 passing yards in the first half to finishing with 276 yards and a touchdown. In the second half, Minshew finished 16-of-23 for 229 yards and a touchdown, including six completions of 25+ yards.
Secondary— Yes, the defensive pass interference penalty on cornerback Brandon Stephens was bogus. Even CBS Sports Rules Analyst Gene Steratore said so. But that aside, the coverage was lacking. Gardner Minshew diced up a secondary many expected to be top five in the NFL this season. The cornerbacks did not execute in the second half. Safety play hasn’t been impactful. Both Marcus Williams and Kyle Hamilton haven’t made the impact plays expected of them through two weeks. The Ravens may be missing former defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson right about now.
Pass Protection, Linebackers — Through two games, the Ravens have been struggling against tight ends and slot receivers attacking Roquan Smith, Trenton Simpson and Malik Harrison. Chiefs’ Rashee Rice minced up the middle in Week 1. In Week 2, Raiders’ Brock Bowers went caught all nine of his targets for 98 yards yards. The back end has not played to their standard.
Interior offensive line — Two weeks in and the Ravens’ attempt to go young on the offensive line and believe in their development has not brought success. Glimpses have flashed as they contained pass rusher Maxx Crosby for the second and third quarter, but the game-wrecker came up strong in the first and fourth. Defenses are teeing off against their guards and cutting through the interior to pressure Jackson quickly. Henry is getting hit around the line of scrimmage with high frequency and it’s on the hopes of him being able to muscle through 300-pound defenders and make something happen.
Head Coach John Harbaugh — Two challenges, both upheld. The first didn’t look like it stood a chance and the second one from the replay on the video board looked like it wouldn’t win, either. The process to challenge these appears flawed as while Harbaugh said he can’t expect to be undefeated on challenges, he’s won just five of the past 18 challenges, according to Pro Football Reference.
Those lost challenges mean lost timeouts, something they could have used in this game both in the first and second half as they attempted to put points on the board. Instead, they were forced to be more conservative to close out the first half and have a greater difficulty in the fourth quarter to make a comeback.
Fourth Quarter Collapses — Four times in the Jackson era, with Jackson playing, the Ravens have blown 4th quarter double-digit leads. In 2022, they lost to the Dolphins and Giants. In 2023, it was against the Browns. Now, in 2024, they faltered against the Raiders after being up by 10 points. The Ravens should have the defense to hold a lead. They have the offensive playmakers to keep a lead. Their special teams unit should be talented enough to execute. But they all falter at inopportune times and their opponents capitalize. There is a lack of — and I hate this term — clutch factor.
Entering this game, the Raiders had lost 49 straight games when trailing by 10+ points in the fourth quarter. They were 1-75 since 2013 when trailing by 10+ points in the fourth quarter. They had not won a game with fewer rush yards (27) since the 1990s. They were outrushed by more than 100 yards, and in such games the Raiders were 9-119-1.
P Jordan Stout — The Ravens needed a field-flipping punt to keep the Raiders from an easy midfield march to take the lead. Instead, Stout delivered a 24-yard punt with 2:27 remaining, putting the Raiders in plus territory to begin their game-winning drive. It all collapsed in on itself and this was another costly error in the fourth quarter.