Whether arrogance or patience, Ravens’ approach to offensive struggles could cost more than just wins

The hubris about already failed experiments isn’t a sword worth falling on and can have disastrous consequences.

One of the biggest points of consternation from the outside looking in regarding the Baltimore Ravens in 2024 was the offensive line. After the team vowed to rebuild the unit and moved on from three starters, it was on the biggest storyline entering training camp and throughout the preseason.

Through the first two weeks of the regular season, the Ravens find themselves looking up at a winless record for the fifth time in franchise history and the first in nearly a decade.

As the pundits and Ravens fans feared, the right side of the starting offensive line has been the most glaring weakness and arguably the most significant contributing factor to their inability to win a game heading into Week 3.

While veteran Patrick Mekari has struggled at times in pass protection and fared better in the run game, the greatest source of ire from fans and media has been right guard Daniel Faalele. His performances have been wildly inconsistent and lapses in pass blocking have resulted in devastating negative results for the Ravens offense.

As bad as the 2022 fourth-rounder has played, he shouldn’t totally be at fault because this is his first year playing guard after being a career tackle in high school, college and his first two years as a pro. At 6-foot-8 and 380 pounds, he is the biggest interior offensive lineman in the league and it shows in all the wrong ways. At times he is not able to get to spots and make pulls fast enough in the run game, which disrupts the flow and timing of his running backs and fellow offensive linemen. As a pass blocker, he often looks lost and has had a hard time picking up stunts and twists which led to the huge nine-yard sack he gave up in Week 2 that derailed a late offensive drive in the fourth quarter.

Despite all of the clear and obvious struggles of the right side, when asked if the team was considering making any personnel changes up front, Harbaugh admitted the play of the unit has been “randomly inconsistent,” but was non-committal about potential changes.

“We’ll look at every possibility as the week goes on,” Harbaugh said on Monday. “I think we’re always going to be searching for ways to make our team better. There’s a lot of variables here and there. It’s not just in like, who’s starting and who’s not starting, it’s in who’s playing in what groups, how many reps guys play, what plays they play in.”

The facts are the starting combination of Faalele and Mekari on the right side is not working and is an Achilles heel opposing defenses —namely elite pass rushers — are targeting and teeing off on. In Week 1, it was five-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Chris Jones who wreaked havoc from the right side. In Week 2 it was three-time Pro Bowl defensive end Maxx Crosby, who earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors for how he wrecked shop.

If the Ravens had no viable internal options to turn to at either spot, their unwillingness to make a change for change’s sake wouldn’t be as mindboggling for fans to come to terms with. However, the fact they do have potential upgrades both with proven — albeit limited —sample sizes, makes sticking with what hasn’t been working seem like coaching malpractice, in a sense.

The most popular player in town and on Ravens’ Twitter the past two weeks as Faalele has cost the team dearly in crucial situations has been fourth-year pro Ben Cleveland. A third-rounder in 2021 out of Georgia, Cleveland is not only a natural guard but has played well when called up in spot or rational duty during his first three years in the NFL, including the last two weeks of the regular season in 2023 when he was among Pro Football Focus’ highest graded linemen.

Prior to the Ravens deciding to experiment with Faalele at guard and give him the bulk of the first-team reps in training camp and the preseason to get him better acquainted with the switch, Cleveland was projected to replace 2023 Pro Bowler Kevin Zeitler.

“If Ben [Cleveland] had earned at the job at right guard, he’d be the starting right guard,” Harbaugh said. “So, [when] you look at the tape, he didn’t beat out Daniel [Faalele] or anybody. I think Ben is a good player. I like Ben. I want Ben to take the next step. He’s in the … What year is he in – third year or fourth year? He’s in his fourth year. Ben knows what he needs to do. If he wants playing time, he knows how he needs to play, and he knows how he needs to practice, when he gets that chance.

“Our evaluation right now is that Daniel outplayed Ben – just a fact, straight up, matter of fact. If we had thought Ben had outplayed Daniel, he’d be the starting right guard. So, when I see – if I see – that Ben is playing better than Daniel, then Ben will be the starting right guard, and he practices every day. It’s just like I tell all the guys: show me. We’re talking about Ben, because that’s the question. I love Ben, and I think Ben can be a great player; I want to see it, just like I want to see it with Daniel, just like I want to see it with all the players. So, we’ll keep fighting for that, and those guys will keep fighting for that. We coach our guys, and our guys compete, and we’re going to continue to improve.”

While Harbaugh claims Faalele outplayed Cleveland, and he is more privy to the practice tapes than anyone outside of the organization, the fourth-year pro also spent most of the summer and training camp being cross-trained at different positions. He took the most reps at center while Pro Bowl starter Tyler Linderbaum was dealing with a neck injury.

“There weren’t a whole lot of right guard reps taken by me during camp just because of injury and all the above, so just staying ready for when my number gets called to go in and play,” Cleveland told The Baltimore Sun’s Sam Cohn after Harbaugh’s comments. “I feel like I’ve been my most consistent and most proactive throughout camp. It’s been a struggle having to move around positions with injuries and stuff like that. But as far as adapting to other positions and just playing where I’m asked, I feel like I’ve been extremely consistent and competitive.”

Even if Cleveland hasn’t proven to be the best practice player in the eyes of his coaches, it is clear to whoever lines up against the Raven’s offense or tunes into their games that Faalele is a detriment to the success, sustainability and consistency of the unit right now. While he might have shown them enough to win the job, he hasn’t shown nearly enough to warrant keeping it, and not at least try pivoting to a more experienced and competent option.

As for right tackle, second-round rookie Roger Rosengarten has shown tremendous growth and promise in limited rotational action to start the regular season. He played just 20 offensive snaps in Week 1 and snaps 18 in Week 2, with the only sack he gave up coming on his very first snap against Jones. Since then, he has impressed. Rosengarten fared much better than Mekari in one-on-one pass protection against Crosby on Sunday, and while they weren’t dominant, he got the job done and bought his quarterback the time he needed to make a play.

Harbaugh praised Rosengarten’s growth from the season opener to Week 2 and even said Rosengarten made “major improvement,” but remains committed to rotating him with Mekari, who he believes is “playing well, too.”

“It’s a good thing to have them both; it’s a positive thing, and I want to get to the point where the whole offensive line is playing at a consistent level,” Harbaugh said. “That’s what we have to fight for – that we’re playing at a consistent level across the board with the offensive line.”

The Ravens’ struggles up front in the offensive trenches have been more than just the “growing pains” and “hiccups” they anticipated experiencing when they opted to give their young players a chance to prove themselves. Whether it is an act of extreme patience and unwavering faith in the combination of Faalele and Mekari, or arrogance in believing it will work itself out eventually, their approach to this revamped unit has already cost them two winnable games. It could prove to be the case again in Week 3, going up against two-time First-Team All Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys.

As bleak as falling into a zero-and-three record is to begin a season — and one they came entered with sky-high expectations — the risk they are putting franchise quarterback Lamar Jackson in by sticking to their guns is concerning. The only time the reigning league MVP has had to miss time in his career due to injury has resulted from lapses in pass protection where he was taken down behind the line of scrimmage.

The Ravens have been fortunate to this point that none of the sacks or near-instantaneous pressures the right side of the offensive line have resulted in the worst-case scenario, but the longer they hold out hope for things to get improve, the greater the risk their entire season and immediate future of the franchise could get derailed.