What is needed by the Ravens to make it to the Super Bowl?
Almost six weeks ago, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX, 40-22. The Baltimore Ravens were hopeful and projected to be a contender to make the Super Bowl, but were ousted in the Divisional Round against the Buffalo Bills three weeks prior in a 27-25 loss.
Today’s Question of the Day is:
What do the Ravens need to match the success of the Chiefs, Eagles?
My answer: Ceasing turnovers, generating takeaways.
The Ravens are three remedies from true contention. First, and most importantly, is ceasing turnovers on offense.
The Ravens have the offensive firepower to go toe-to-toe with the best of them. They’ve proved it in-season repeatedly. And in their playoff games this season against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills, they scored 25 or more points. But they’ve become the mistake-prone in the playoffs.
Lamar Jackson lost possession twice, once with an interception on a miscommunication with wide receiver Rashod Bateman that regardless appeared to be an overthrow and a stripped/dropped ball in the backfield recovered by the Bills. Then, painfully, a third turnover came in the form of tight end Mark Andrews having the ball punched out. Their mistakes ultimately cost the season-ending loss.
Since 2018, the Ravens have appeared in nine playoff games. In that time, the offense has committed 16 turnovers. Only twice they’ve been turnover free.
This brings me to the second prong of generating turnovers. Over the same span, the Ravens have three takeaways; their last coming four playoff games ago in the 24-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
In nine high-stakes games, the Ravens defense has been superb, allowing an average of 19.2 points per game. They’ve held their opponents to an average of 254.5 total yards per game. But they’ve not grasped the critical element of winning games by generating takeaways.
Denying your opponents from scoring, giving the offense extra possessions to score or to further gain an advantage on time of possession all greatly benefit a team’s potential to win. They’ve failed to do so.
The issue is, there’s no simple fix. If it was, “they need better blocking” or “they have to improve their run defense” you could pursue players to improve in such areas. Instead, it’s something that’s a blend of chasing perfection and capitalizing on opponent’s errors. It’s not necessarily quantifiable — which is likely why there’s such frustration in the fanbase and visible from the players when it occurs. Take Lamar Jackson’s post-game press conference against the Bills, where he was upset and cursing because the mistakes are the difference, and simply “not making mistakes” isn’t something you can just add or subtract from the roster.