The Ravens lost again, this time 23-16 to the Pittsburgh Steelers at home. RSR staff react to the loss here…
Chad Racine
Maybe Jason LaCanfora was right. This team had me fooled, but not after three straight losses. There is so much wrong with the Ravens right now and it probably won’t be fixed any time soon.
The question is when does Harbaugh get fired? Brace yourself Ravens fans, because change is coming.
Derek Arnold
For all John Harbaugh’s faults (and there are many), I’ve always given him this: he can get his teams to respond to adversity. Well, not today. With everything on the line, it was yet another listless performance on both sides of the ball.
The defense allowed the Steelers to convert a ridiculous 9/15 on third down, and again failed to record a single turnover. Their only sack came late in the game when Fat Ben took one on purpose in order to keep the clock moving. The slant routes were wide open all day, and tackling was atrocious. And that was even with Marlon Humphrey back in the fold. Wink’s unit are paper tigers, and are absolutely undeserving of that #1 ranking.
On offense, they moved the ball decently, but two first half field goals with goal to go really hurt them, and those failures were both in large part thanks to inexplicable “Lamar Package” insertion down there. I’m fine with using the LJ package in the middle of the field, or on 2nd down in the red zone. But putting him in on 3rd and goal? Just asinine. John Brown had just three catches for 17 yards. What the hell is THAT? Mark Andrews played well, but had several chances to body out smaller defenders for touchdowns and completely failed to do so. Still, he’s shown out much better than fellow rookie TE Hayden Hurst, whose selection when other options were still on the board looks worse and worse every week.
The season is effectively over. Many Ravens fans are calling for John Harbaugh’s head. While I don’t disagree that he should be gone, I just don’t see Stevie Biscuits humiliating his boy with an in-season canning. Could Marty be fired? Maybe, but that would be just another offensive coordinator scapegoated for Johnny Boy. The guess here is nobody is canned.
The injury excuse is good enough to save everyone’s jobs for now, but this pretty much did it – the John/Joe era in Baltimore is, in essence, over.
John Darcey
While there is a TON of blame to go around, everyone say it with me: THE DEFENSE IS AVERAGE AT BEST!!!! And even that may be giving them too much praise.
Yet another game with no sacks or turnovers. Are we still going to use the narrative of this is the “League’s number one defense?” They let a back-up QB come off the bench, who was cold, and allowed a 22-yard play. A defense that is the league’s best would not allow that to happen. Secondary once again showed their true colors by being a abused by a quality offense. Imagine what the Chiefs will do to them! Maybe it wasn’t Dean, but rather the less then stellar talent or is Wink just not qualified to be a DC?
The offense is uninspiring at best. Yes, I know Lamar was wide open, but does anyone really think he was the 1st, 2nd or 3rd read? And that was confirmed by Joe and Lamar both. Joe missed plenty of throws which falls directly on him. That coupled with the less-then Vanilla offense that Marty employs makes us miss the days of September! Its time for a change here in Baltimore.
And while I have been driving the “Fire Harbs” train, I have a feeling he convinces Steve that he can turn it around just like 2012, once he fires Marty tomorrow, who becomes the latest John Harbaugh scapegoat.
The one silver lining to all of this is they are now on a bye and when they return to the field against Cincy on November 18, A.J. Green may be out.
Carey Stevenson
I pegged this as a 7-9 win team before the season began. Even at my most optimistic couldn’t budge on that projection because “Ravens gon’ Ravens” and man are they Ravening.
At this point I’m just waiting for the last post-game presser where John Harbaugh pulls off his mask and reveals that it was actually Jeff Fisher who’s been coaching this team the last five years. I don’t think it’ll happen in season but I do believe the Harbaugh era is reaching its conclusion. There really are no other feasible adjustments that can be made to make this work.
Now, this isn’t all on Harbs. The front office has failed him in the skill position department for much of this extended mediocre stretch. They’ve also overpaid defenders who haven’t made the type of impact their cap numbers would suggest.
Those are things that new head decision-maker Eric DeCosta will have to answer for but as far as coaching goes? it’s time to move on, and they will.
Brian McFarland
I’m very patient.
But….been saying for a couple of yrs, they need a (total) reboot. Clear the Cap and move forward. No guarantees obviously, but time for something new. Too much time wasted “trying” the same.
It’s time.
