The Good, Bad, & Ugly: It’s September All Over Again

Wow. What is there to say after that nightmare? This article is called “good, bad, and ugly”, but this week it was a whole lot of the latter two that vastly overshadowed the small slivers of good we saw from the Ravens in Jacksonville.

Two blown fourth quarter leads, an offense that’s finally turning back into a pumpkin due to a severe lack of playmakers after the hot start, and yet another week riddled with numerous mental errors. This wasn’t a trap game, they put on the exact same performance last week against Carolina, but this time it wasn’t Baker Mayfield on the opposing sideline and as a result they paid for their deficiencies. Deficiencies that they’ll continue to pay for this year if they aren’t corrected in short order.

It’s gross, and none of us are looking forward to it, but let’s break it all down.

THE GOOD

The Ravens got out of the game without suffering any major injuries. That’s it. Anything they did well otherwise was solely in response to a hole they dug themselves into. Whether it was the defense having a strong first half to compensate for the offense settling for field goals, or the late surge of two touchdowns by the offense after the defense finally caved and began allowing Trevor Lawrence to carve them up, none of them are worthy of dedicating an entire section of this article to.

Had the defense been able to make one last stand at the end of the game maybe we’d be having a different discussion, but ultimately the minimal good from today did nothing but highlight the consistent inconsistency from both sides of the ball.

THE BAD

RED ZONE DEAD ZONE

The Ravens’ red zone woes continued yet again this week. Of their first five possessions excluding the kneel down before half, four of them stalled in Jaguars territory (most of them inside the 20), and the other was a failed fourth down conversion on what was just a dreadful play call, a pseudo-quarterback sneak that was really just Lamar Jackson praying to find an opening behind one of his offensive linemen. A play call that still took them the full 40 seconds of play clock to get off, but more on that in a bit…

Speaking of dreadful play calls, that’s seemingly been the biggest bane of the Ravens’ existence in this issue. When the field gets condensed, and teams don’t have to worry about Lamar going for 40 yards up the middle on them, it falls on Greg Roman to call creative plays that get guys open. What we’re seeing is something more akin to the standard Madden playbook.

3rd and goal from the 10? Let’s just run four verticals and hope there’s a hole in the coverage somewhere as Lamar creates time with his legs.

Ravens HC John Harbaugh on red zone woes on offense:

We got stopped. We called our best plays. We didn’t do a good job in the red zone. Touchdowns are what you’re looking for. #RavensFlock pic.twitter.com/o8tlL9kBN6

— Melissa Y. Kim (@melissaykim) November 27, 2022

With that said, the pass catchers aren’t doing them any favors either. Over the last couple weeks we’ve seen the entire unit have a case of the drops, and today even Mark Andrews let a couple bounce off his hands, one of which would have been an easy TD. Devin Duvernay also had his first drop of the entire season in this one.

To be fair, they did convert their last two red zone possessions into touchdowns, but by then the damage had already been done. Once again a game that, on paper, should’ve been over early, was a back-and-forth affair thanks to consistently settling for three instead of taking seven.

“We just missed opportunities.” pic.twitter.com/49jX78Fppw

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) November 27, 2022

EXPIRED JUICE?

Seeing Marcus Peters try to defend opposing wide receivers since returning from injury has been hard to watch. In his defense, he still seems to have that turnover knack as he recovered yet another fumble this week, but like the rest of the good today, it was overshadowed immensely.

#Jaguars Trevor Lawrence finds JaMycal Hasty for the touchdown. pic.twitter.com/idKoSwiUBR

— NFL Unlimited (@NFLUnlimited) November 27, 2022

It began with the Jaguars’ first points of the day, where JaMycal Hasty (a running back) burned him on a fade route down the sideline. Perhaps most concerning was his body language after Hasty got past him, something that’s become a trademark of Peters on plays where he gets torched. The second he gets beat he gives up on the play entirely and begins to all but mope around.

From that point on any time the Jaguars needed a big play, whether it was a 3rd down and long or ultimately the game-winning touchdown, Peters was usually the go-to target for Trevor Lawrence. Where it’s a mental or physical issue due to the injury he missed all of last year with, something clearly isn’t right with Peters. All we can hope is that he’s able to better find his footing down the stretch, but there hasn’t been much to inspire confidence that he will. It doesn’t help when he’s also the guy screaming at the coach when things don’t go right. Today, he was the one who deserved an ear full.

THE UGLY

DELAY OF GAME, OFFENSE

Sorry if I triggered anyone with that heading, but it’s a phrase we’ve become all too familiar with this year. The Ravens once again found themselves consistently being lucky to get the snap off before the play clock hit zeros on Sunday, and at this point the issue is almost laughable.

This week the inevitable and crushing false start was right on Jacksonville’s doorstep during the opening drive of the game, one that ultimately led to the first of many field goals over touchdowns. It just doesn’t make any sense.

There’s a clear communication issue somewhere in the pecking order, whether it’s Greg Roman getting the play in to Lamar, or Lamar relaying them to the team in the huddle. Given that a lot of the time it seems like Lamar isn’t even talking to the team until there’s 15 seconds on the play clock, it appears to be the former. Also supporting that notion is the history of Roman’s offenses that have been plagued with similar problems.

Whatever the issue though, it’s happened almost all year and yet nothing has changed. Like the old saying goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. If the Ravens’ goal is to keep shooting themselves in the foot and creating disadvantageous situations for the offense, they’re doing a heck of a job.

THE MARGOT ROBBIE

ALMOST A PERFECT HOMECOMING

JOSH OLIVER! RAVENS LEAD! pic.twitter.com/Emd5n6Q8dr

— PFF BAL Ravens (@PFF_Ravens) November 27, 2022

Josh Oliver has quietly improved his game in a big way this season, most notably as a blocker in the run game. On Sunday though, he finally got a chance to turn that hard work into results on the stat sheet, posting four catches for 76 yards and a go-ahead fourth quarter touchdown against his old team. You know it had to feel good for Oliver to make the Jaguars eat a bit of crow after they traded him to Baltimore for a conditional 7th round pick, the lowest possible return one can receive in a trade. In a tight end room that’s going to be quite crowded once Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar return from injury, Oliver has done enough this year to still earn himself a nice share of the snaps for the rest of the season.

WRAP UP

Well, that’s that. It seems at this point that the biggest issues surrounding the Ravens are all pretty easily diagnosable. Easily fixable? Well, that’s another story entirely. They’ll have another chance to do so next week against a very beatable opponent in the Denver Broncos. An opponent that there will be absolutely zero excuse for not coming away with a win against when looking at their recent efforts.

Thanks for sticking with us through this ugly post-mortem, and here’s to hoping that next week we’re discussing things a little more positively for the Ravens.