The Ravens lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 28-27, in Week 12. RSR staff react to the loss here.
Darin McCann
The Jaguars got themselves a great win today, and I feel like they should have some respect pointed their way. They deserved it.
That being said, the Ravens missed opportunity after opportunity to put this game away on offense, and their defense couldn’t remember to cover everybody all too often, while getting flat-out beat on other reps. The Ravens blew this one, but I do tip my cap to the Jaguars. They took it.
Kevin McNelis
Sharpen the axes, I’m ready for Greg Roman to get marched to the chopping block.
What a disaster. With the way the defense had been playing lately, it didn’t seem like much of a concern that Justin Tucker had been carrying the Ravens in scoring for the majority of the game. Irritating, yes, but once they found the end zone, it looked like they were going to put it away. After that, just a monumental collapse. How did THIS defensive unit make Zay Jones look like Randy Moss all day?
The ruling on the final Jags touchdown was brutal, but if we didn’t want it to come down to that call, we shouldn’t have allowed a touchdown and a two-point conversion in the two-minute drill to the freaking Jaguars.
Worst of all, the Bengals now pick up ground in the division. If we end up getting overtaken by Cincy in the division race, lots of fingers will be pointed at this game.
Derek Arnold
I’m glad Tucker didn’t bail this team out with a last-minute miracle. While it would have been cool for the Goat, it would just further paper over the glaring issues this team has. During their four-game winning streak, they were terrible on offense and dreadful in the red zone for long stretches, but did just enough, thanks in large part to the outstanding play of the defense.
The lethargic pace, head-scratching play calls, and inconsistency have been there all along, but Harbs & Co. could avert their eyes as long as the wins were stacking. Now they face, hopefully, a wake-up call. They can’t hope to win every game on the back of the defense; NFL offenses will put together fourth quarters like the one the Jags did today. They’ll do it more often if you don’t have a great pass rush, but hey, David Ojabo can’t suit up because…reasons.
Like many of you, I bought into this defense. Maybe they just had an off day. Hopefully getting Marcus Williams and Kyle Hamilton back soon will help. But that was unacceptable.
As for the offense, the game plan is extremely confusing as a fan. They come out on the first play of each half with a wonderfully designed chunk play, then those kinds of plays disappear. The announcers make a comment that the Jags defense looks gassed just after Gus Edwards picks up a first down on the ground, and the next three plays are three incomplete passes followed by a punt. These strange option calls inside the red zone aren’t fooling anybody. The inevitable delay of game, of course, came in a goal-to-go situation. How is this STILL happening every week?
Devin Duvernay had his worst game as a returner, looking nothing like an All-Pro. Head-scratching decisions to not field punts, and a horrible sideways kick return that gave his team the ball on the six-yard line, setting up Gus’s ill-timed fumble. Jordan Stout continues to be a huge disappointment.
Changes, the Ravens need them. Or it’ll be a quick January exit yet again.
Chad Racine
It felt like the game was over when Gus Edwards fumbled giving the Jags the ball in the red zone. Then after the penalty putting the Ravens at 2nd and 20, DeSean Jackson shows up in the biggest possible moment of the game. However it wouldn’t be enough even after the Josh Oliver touchdown. It’s hard to stop four-down football.
Even though the Ravens have a favorable schedule in the 2nd half I still expected a loss or two. Games like these provide motivation and add more fuel to the fire. The Ravens are not the team they want to be right now and have some work to do.
Chris Schisler
It’s easy to call this the worst loss of the season. At least when the team crumbled against the Miami Dolphins, the Dolphins went on to be a force to be reckoned with. The Ravens just lost to a three-win (now four) team and looked like a winless team. I’m sorry; there’s nothing nice to say.
The offense left points on the field. The defense gave up early completions in critical situations. The Ravens deserve this loss. They tempted fate. They settled for four field goals then asked Justin Tucker for a miraculous game winner. Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable.
Lamar Jackson hit DeSean Jackson on a big play down the field. Great. He missed a handful of throws that could have changed this game. The Ravens limitations without a clear number one receiver were fully on display. Most of the day there was not much available for Jackson. He had to hit the throws that were there for him. For the most part he didn’t.
The defense gave this game up at the end. They crumbled. Call a spade a spade here. The defense has been great for almost two months of football, but didn’t do the job today. Ravens fans can get mad that the Jaguars last touchdown should have been ruled an incomplete pass. It absolutely should have been an incomplete pass. Guess what, the Ravens could have stopped the two-point try. They didn’t.
The Ravens lost this game. The Jaguars gave an emotional and inspired performance. This at the end of the day was a total team loss. A total team disappointment. There’s nothing nice to say. Absolutely nothing. The Bengals are now tied, and the Ravens look broken. Let’s hope they can get things turned around. There’s hope for tomorrow but there’s nothing nice to say today.
Nikhil Mehta
The Ravens didn’t deserve to have Justin Tucker make a 67-yard field goal to win that game. Not with their inability to convert in the red zone, and not with the rough day overall from the defense. Marlon Humphrey is still playing great ball, but the Jags had both Marcus Peters and Brandon Stephens to pick on all game. And Lamar kept the offense moving throughout the game, but neither his arm nor his receiver’s hands could come up in the red zone early on, and you can never get those opportunities back.
This is life without your best offensive lineman, best running back and best receiver. Jackson has to hit almost every pass and the receivers can’t drop anything. When that doesn’t happen, it’s all on your defense against a good offense that they held off for most of the game. The Ravens bet on that defense by acquiring Roquan Smith, and it couldn’t win the game today.
Jacksonville’s gonna Jacksonville, I guess.
Rob Shields
I knew this was going to be a tough game to win. Jacksonville is a lot better than their record. That said, for most of the game, the Ravens controlled the Jags offense, let up nothing on the ground and moved it on offense.
They even took the lead and put the game in the hands of their vaunted defense and they choked.
But getting past that, they lost because of horrible coaching and mistakes all over the field.  Lamar was masterful in the last drive and threw that great ball to DJax but he was inaccurate again and missed multiple TDs.  And on that last drive, Josh Oliver has to have awareness and get down. Take the clock all the way down, kick the FG and give them almost no time. It was just another mental error. There were drops, costly penalties (again, this team can’t get to the line and get a snap off) and mental mistakes all over the place.
I find it funny that people feel this team is going to be so dangerous in the playoffs. Why? Yea, they may win the division because of their schedule and the schedule Cinci has, but Cinci is a better team. They are more dangerous and can play with the top teams.
There is nothing about this Ravens team that should give anyone confidence. Special teams has been subpar recently (Jordan Stout continues to struggle), the pass defense choked today and is completely dependent on Humphrey and the offense has almost no explosion in it.
Ron Toothe
Two blown fourth quarter leads, an offense that’s finally turning back into a pumpkin due to a lack of playmakers, and yet another game riddled with mental errors. The Ravens still have the benefit of a light schedule going forward, but you really just have to wonder if this team’s ceiling has already been established compared to the likes of Kansas City, Buffalo, and Miami. This isn’t a trap game loss, the same issues they faced today plagued them all of last week on their home turf.
Something has to change, like…yesterday.
Jared Pinder
There are no words for this team right now.Today was a total team failure, and finding positives seems impossible. I don’t care if the Ravens had won this game on a miraculous Justin Tucker kick again; this team needs changes.
If you continue to defend this team and act like changes don’t need to be made, you are part of the problem.
The Ravens’ offense was terrible today; I don’t care about the 27 points. Outside of Lamar’s first-quarter miss to Demarcus Robinson, he played fine. These receivers dropping footballs is disgusting to watch. I counted at least five drops today, bad plays, particularly that messed up dive Robinson had in the end zone, and Mark Andrews, who was terrible today. I have had it. Roman, the problems with this offense aren’t going away, and I don’t know how he can come in and show his face in the Castle, nor how John can allow this mess to continue.
But don’t worry, the defense isn’t getting out of this either. That 2-minute drive was the most pathetic defense I have seen from the Ravens in a long time. Marcus Peters and Bradon Stephens are not good Corners at this point. Patrick Queen went back to missing tackles, the pass rush was nonexistent, and if anyone finds Odafe Oweh, please let me know.
When you play like that on Offense and allow teams to hang around, this is what happens. This is pathetic, and if you think this is just another game and no changes need to be made, then I hope you are ok with the fate of this team right now, sitting on the couch watching other more successful teams with their amazing offenses go at it for 60 minutes.
The Ravens aren’t built like that, which may be the issue here.
I am tired of expecting horrible play calling and players making constant mistakes and acting like it is ok. I need changes.
5 Responses
So what they say about the panthers curse continues to be true (teams lose the week after they play the panthers) I think Lamar is playing hurt and scared and really has no room for error. The defense will bounce back. Need more receivers. Calling Kolar? Hopefully Humphrey is back soon. We need Ronnie and JK back. This will be a fight to the end.
High expectations continue to be a huge letdown.
Eventually, winning ugly catches up with you! And, all the recent plaudits for the DC and defense appear to have been a tad too early! Without a consistent pass rush, better QBs will shred this secondary…….
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