A despondent Michael Crabtree stood in front of his locker and took full responsibility for the loss to the Cleveland Browns.
The wide receiver had a chance to corral the game-winning touchdown with just under a minute to play in regulation. Crabtree dove but could not hold onto the football, and the Ravens settled for a game-tying field goal from Justin Tucker that sent the game into overtime.
The Ravens had plenty of opportunities to take control of the game in the extra period, but the offense sputtered. Cleveland finally won the see-saw battle 12-9 on Greg Joseph‘s low, 37-yard field goal with 2 seconds remaining.
While there was plenty of blame to go around on this latest setback, Crabtree accepted full blame.
“Put this game on me,” he said. “I had a game-winner I could have caught. I put that on me,” Crabtree said. “I’m going to have to get back in the lab and get back to the basics. You know what I’m saying? That’s just what’s going on.”
The missed opportunity would be easier to overlook if Crabtree had not been struggling with drops all season. He had two more mishandles against the Browns that proved to be costly.
He now leads the NFL with six drops on the season. To his credit, Crabtree is ready to work and solve the problem and said he is prepared to catch “2,000” balls in practice this week if needed.
The accountability is one of the few positive signs coming out of a disheartening loss.
“I’m a team player,” Crabtree said. “I know you guys know that. Letting them down, you know what I’m saying, that kind of hurt me. I have to go back to the drawing board, man, and get my shit together.”
On the day, Crabtree led the team with six catches for 66 yards. John Brown had four catches for 58 yards and Willie Snead caught five passes for 55 yards.
Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco had a careless interception on the Browns 2-yard line with his team leading 3-0. Flacco was 29 of 56 for 298 yards and a season-low 60.0 passer rating.
Overall, it was a frustrating day. Ravens coach John Harbaugh expects Crabtree to bounce back from the drops.
“These guys are pros,” Harbaugh said. “These guys are the best players in the world, so they go to work on that every day. Michael will work on that. All of our players will work on that.”
The Ravens fell to 3-2 and are in second place behind the Cincinnati Bengals, who rallied past Miami 27-17, after trailing 17-0. The Ravens play the final of three straight road games Sunday at Tennessee and going 2-1 over that stretch would be respectable.
“Don’t get too low. It was a hard fought game,” linebacker Terrell Suggs said. “It was an AFC North division football game. They played a really good game. [Browns Head Coach] Hue Jackson’s got them playing inspired football and you have to respect that. We tip our hat to them.
“We’re quick to get over wins, and we have to be quick to get over losses. We’re going to get back to the drawing board and come Wednesday, this one’s going to be behind us. We’re going to be ready for Tennessee.”
