Ravens tight end Mark Andrews has been clearly agitated after three tough losses this season.
Andrews is usually expansive with his responses to questions following tough games, but he kept his answers short and seemed to be biting his tongue following losses to the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and New York Giants.
“I’m a dog,” Andrews said following the loss to Buffalo where the Ravens failed on a 4th-and-three late in the fourth quarter and led to the Bills’ game-winning field goal. “I like to attack.”
The Ravens could be 6-0 heading into this week’s divisional game against the Cleveland Browns. Instead, they are 3-3 and will have a dogfight to get into the playoffs for the fourth time in five years.
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— Tony Lombardi (@RSRLombardi) October 18, 2022
The losses have been especially excruciating.
The Ravens are the 39th team in NFL history to hold a double-digit lead in each of its first six games, and the only of those squads not to have a winning record, according to ESPN.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson asserts the team needs to cut down on the self-inflicted errors and then everything will turn around.
“It’s frustrating because we lost the way we lost those games, but we’re not going to let it shy away our season,” Jackson said. “It happened, it’s over with [and] we have to move on to the Browns. We just can’t keep beating ourselves up because that’s what it is; it’s not our opponent. Obviously, it’s an NFL team; they’re good, but I just feel like we’re just beating ourselves with little mistakes here and there.”
In Week 2, the Ravens were leading the Miami Dolphins, 35-14 in the fourth quarter but lost the game 42-38.
In Week 4, the Ravens ran out to a 20-3 lead over the Bill in the first half before losing 23-20 in Week 4.
Last week, the Ravens led the Giants 20-10 before allowing two touchdowns in the final quarter en route to a 24-20 loss.
In each of those games, the offense stalled in the second half and the defense could not hold onto the late lead.
“I think we just can’t hurt ourselves,” left tackle Ronnie Stanley said after the loss to the Giants. “Looking at this game, we’ll look back on it, and we’ll see that we’re our own biggest enemy. We just need to re-focus on ourselves and make sure we’re focused and locked in on what we need to do.”
Despite the struggles, the Ravens are in first place in AFC North by virtue of a win over the Bengals in Week 5.
Coach John Harbaugh has been encouraged by the fact that the team does still control its own destiny for the playoffs. He also sees a lot of mistakes that are correctable, and the Ravens are on the verge of getting some key players back, namely running back Gus Edwards, linebacker Tyus Bowser and rookie edge rusher David Ojabo, a second-round pick.
“We have to get better on third down, both sides of the ball,” he said. “We can’t make critical errors in critical fourth-down situations, both sides of the ball if we want to win games, and we do want to win games, and we are going to get that stuff right. You have to be forged a little bit, and we’re getting forged right now, that’s for sure.”
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Sorry to sound so redundant, but the problems start at the top! They have deliberately loaded up on TEs this year to bolster their stale, conservative, run oriented, ball control offensive philosophy in a decidedly pass happy NFL! And, they have yet to determine if they want to capitalize on Lamar’s obvious skill sets as a running QB or a prototype pocket passer! If they’re confused, imagine how their QB feels! This team relies on consistency and refuses to make adjustments and that’s a byproduct of…….coaching!