Frustrations boiled over for the Ravens in the final minutes of a frustrating loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters had to be restrained on the sideline after exchanging words with coach John Harbaugh.
It was the second time in three weeks the Ravens blew a double-digit lead at home.
Both the Ravens’ offense and defense faltered in the second half.
Harbaugh doesn’t expect any additional fallout from the exchange with Peters, but the Ravens have to do a better job finishing games, especially with the Cincinnati Bengals coming to town for a Week 5 primetime matchup.
“Marcus is an emotional guy; I’m an emotional guy,” Harbaugh said. “I’m not worried about that at all. We’ll be fine. What I said last night about Marcus stands, that’s how I feel about him. I don’t anticipate any issues at all. We’re here. Unless things have changed – and I’ll talk to him when the opportunity comes up – we’re going to be great friends for the rest of our lives. We’re going to look back, and when we see each other at the reunion one day, I’ll probably put him in a headlock.
“If you think it’s not going to be like that in these kinds of environments, then maybe it’s a perfect world, but I don’t worry about that stuff.”
Marcus Peters and Harbaugh got into it.pic.twitter.com/kE96L5XCa2
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 2, 2022
Perhaps more worrisome is that the Ravens have now dropped five consecutive games at home for the first time in team history.
Dating back to last season, the Ravens lost to Green Bay Packers 31-30, the Los Angeles Rams 20-19, the Pittsburgh Steelers 16-13 (OT), the Miami Dolphins 42-38, and the Buffalo Bills 23-20.
Those five games were decided by a total of 12 points.
However, the Ravens have not won a home game since beating the Cleveland Browns 16-10 on Nov. 28, 2021.
The Ravens had somewhat of an excuse last year because their roster was decimated by injuries in the final three losses at M&T Bank Stadium. Despite being short-handed, the Ravens still had a chance to win each of those games late in the fourth quarter.
This year, the Ravens jumped out to huge leads against the Dolphins and Bills only to falter down the stretch.
Baltimore led Miami 35-14 heading into the fourth quarter in Week 2. However, the Ravens’ secondary dealt with numerous communication breakdowns that helped Miami escape with the win.
The Ravens gave up 469 yards passing with six touchdowns to Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Tyreek Hill caught 11 passes for 190 yards with two touchdowns and Jaylen Waddle also had 11 receptions for 171 yards with two scores.
Collapses, lack of adjustments, #AndFootball@_QuoththeRavens's Good, Bad, & Ugly following more of the same from this iteration of the Ravens. https://t.co/7M6J5DpZR5
— Russell St. Report (@RussellStReport) October 3, 2022
“We’re fighting and trying to do the best we can to score more points and to get them stopped,” Harbaugh said after the game. “That’s a football game. That’s just the way it goes. It’s football.”
On Sunday against the Bills, the Ravens led 20-3 before giving up 20 unanswered points.
With the score tied late in the fourth quarter, Harbaugh decided to go for it on fourth down from the two as opposed to letting Justin Tucker kick the go-ahead field goal. Quarterback Lamar Jackson was intercepted by Bills safety Jordan Poyer for a touchback with 4:09 remaining. Buffalo got the ball on its own 25 and marched down the field for the game-winning 21-yard field goal by Tyler Bass.
There was also a controversy about whether the Ravens should have let the Bills score a quick touchdown to get the ball back and perhaps put together a game-winning drive but time ran out.
Now, the Ravens need to quickly regroup for a huge game against the Bengals for first place in the AFC North … drama aside.
“We start getting ready for the most important game of the season so far, which will be Sunday Night Football against the Bengals, our first division opponent,” Harbaugh said. “So, we’re excited about that; we’ll go to work, it will start tomorrow. It’s already started for the coaches, and that’s where we stand.”
One Response
Sorry, coach, it’s not a football game when you continuously rely on theoretical analytics to make decisions that require consideration of game day circumstances such as weather conditions, injuries, performance, etc. The outcome of every game you mention in the last 5 straight home losses were influenced by Harbaugh’s reliance on analytics, which do not take total game circumstances and situations into consideration! And, when you keep doing the same things over an over again and expecting different results, that’s the definition of…….insanity!