Report Card: Missed Opportunities Will Haunt Ravens

The Ravens came into this one as a convincing underdog, proved exactly why in the first quarter and then showed the world they were indeed a worthy opponent before ultimately falling short in the most gut-wrenching of ways.

There was a lot to like out there tonight, and we’ll try to give out flowers when appropriate during this exercise. But what will be remembered was a game-changing play and some clock-management gaffes that left the Ravens looking to pack up their lockers and get into off-season mode.

Let’s look at some grades:

Offense

Overall: C+

It wasn’t an offensive explosion out there, but the Ravens did (gasp) produce two touchdowns, 364 yards and big plays on the ground and in the air. But two turnovers resulted in 13 points for the Bengals, and some missed red-zone opportunities will haunt the team this offseason.

It was better than I anticipated heading into the game, but the lows were pretty darn low. Going 3-for-11 on third downs is not a winning formula.

Quarterback: C+

This is a hard grade to give. Tyler Huntley did some great things out there, but made some horrible turnovers. The first interception was an ill-advised, and lately-thrown ball — a combination that rarely works in the NFL. The fumble on the sneak was awful, both because of the final result and the decision to go up high (which we later heard was his alone). It was also far-too reminiscent of a Lamar Jackson play against Cleveland in 2018 for comfort. But he made some very impressive throws on the run, including that great job picking up the fumbled snap, scrambling and hitting Josh Oliver. He also put that deep ball to Demarcus Robinson right on him, which isn’t always easy to a wide-open target. He also had a huge 35-yard run in the fourth quarter, and almost had another right before that when he stumbled running to daylight.

Running Backs: B-

JK Dobbins had 62 yards on 13 carries, added another 43 and a touchdown on four catches and looked fast and decisive, especially on that 27-yard catch and run down the sideline. Gus Edwards struggled a little more, but did spring a 13-yard catch and nine-yard run in the third quarter. I expected a few big runs in this one against a stacked defense, but the Bengals did a nice job sealing down the edges as the game went on. Justice Hill had a nice play on a catch-and-run at the end of the first half, and a fine run as the game wound down that could have made thing end differently if not for a hold call on Kevin Zeitler.

Receivers: C

Mark Andrews came up big in this one, picking up 73 yards on five catches. The 29-yard catch on the fade to start the fourth quarter was big, and he seemed to get open in big moments time and time again. He is not, however, a running back. More on that later. Josh Oliver had that great connection with Huntley on the improvised play, and made a sweet bobbling catch in the first quarter. Demarcus Robinson destroyed Eli Apple on the 41-yard touchdown. James Proche nearly added a legendary moment on the last-ditch pass to the end zone, but, kind of like the rest of his 2022 season, it just didn’t happen for him.

They didn’t do a lot to help out the quarterback tonight, but there were some plays made. Not a bad showing.

Offensive Line: C-

They only gave up two sacks on the day, and the team had 155 yards rushing at 4.4 yards per clip. Those are good counting numbers, but Huntley’s mobility saved a few sacks, and his 35-yard run skewed the stats a bit. Tyler Linderbaum had a strong start to the game, but appeared to struggle after that. He launched the high snap to Huntley that started an otherwise-exciting play, got blocked into Dobbins on a stretch run to blow it up and got beat back with Ben Powers to allow the BJ Hill sack in the fourth quarter. Zeitler was solid, but that holding call in the last 30 seconds of the game really hampered any comeback chance with this passing offense. Ronnie Stanley looked better than he did last Sunday, and Morgan Moses finished off a good season with some solid blocks again.

They weren’t what they’ve been most of the season, but they didn’t kill the team tonight like they have in some recent playoff losses.

Defense

Overall: B+

The Ravens gave up 234 yards of offense and only 4.3 yards per play against a very-good Bengals offense on the road. There were some open receivers in different zones, a few missed tackles and some reps with far too much time for Joe Burrow to go through his reads.

But, like we said, the Bengals are good. That happens. They held Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine to 42 yards on 13 carries, had eight quarterback hits and got four sacks. They also got the ball back to the offense at the end when they absolutely needed to — and that’s what good defenses do.

Defensive Line: B

I thought they played better as the game went on, after giving up some easy runs at the start of the game. Broderick Washington finished off a very good season with style, putting up three tackles, a hit and half a sack. Calais Campbell was active throughout, and drew a big holding call in the fourth quarter. Justin Madubuike had a big run stop in the fourth quarter and had a pair of tackles.

Linebackers: B+

Roquan Smith wasn’t the force of nature he was last week, but he did have eight tackles on the game, and had a big stuff on Mixon in the third quarter. He did let Burrow escape a sack and run for a first in the third quarter, and him and Patrick Queen had a miscommunication of some sort (from my amateur eye) on the Chase touchdown catch. Queen did force Burrow into a sack in the first quarter, and later chased him out of bounds on a scramble for a one-yard gain.

Now… Odafe Oweh. The second-year player had his best game of the season. He had a great sack on a bull rush late in the first half, forced an incompletion in the fourth quarter by getting in Burrow’s eye line and chased down Burrow on a scramble to get the ball back to the Ravens for that final drive. It approached the kind of game-wrecking performance we’d hoped to see from him all season. Here’s hoping he builds off it next year.

Justin Houston and Tyus Bowser also picked up sacks, and Jason Pierre-Paul shared one with Washington.

Defensive Backs: B

There were some soft spots in the zones, and a few costly penalties and missed coverages, but they did a great job overall against a dangerous passing offense. Kyle Hamilton had a big game, compiling nine tackles, and forcing and recovering a fumble on our old friend Hayden Hurst. He did get beat by Tee Higgins on a third-and-seven late in the first half, but that was about his only blemish. He ended his rookie campaign on a high note.

Marcus Peters had a rough return, picking up a couple costly flags, and getting beat by Chase on a third-and-10 in the first quarter. He did have tight coverage late on Higgins to end a drive, and had a great run stop on Mixon before getting flagged for taunting. Marlon Humphrey got beat for a few third-down completions, but also was great in run support. He finished with six stops. Chuck Clark got beat by Hurst on a catch initially ruled a touchdown, but changed to being down at the half-inch line.

Special Teams: B

Justin Tucker made all his kicks, and Jordan Stout had one of his better performances to end his rookie season. The punter averaged 47.3 yards on three punts, and landed two inside the 20. Justice Hill looks to be a dangerous kick returner, and he had a nice 29-yarder on his first attempt, but was pretty pedestrian his next two efforts. Proche had 26 yards on two punt returns, including a 16-yarder to set up the Ravens’ final drive. The Bengals had a 26-yard return that looked far too easy, but they only averaged 4.5 yards on two punt returns. Geno Stone got flagged for roughing the punter late, and they couldn’t get home on that or another all-out rush the next attempt.

Coaching: C-

There was a lot I liked. Defensively, I thought they had a nice game plan, particularly after playing them a week ago. They made the Bengals earn their way downfield, and then stiffened in the red zone…mostly. They took advantage of the Bengals’ depleted line by attacking their depth, and there was almost always a defender right behind any missed tackles. They were ready for the Bengals’ offense.

On the other side of the ball, well, I liked the run-pass balance. I liked hitting the backs with seven completions, and the third-and-one pass down the sideline to Andrews was a gutsy call. However, I hated the handoff to Andrews out of shotgun on third-and-one. Just put him under center if you want him to run it. I also hated that misdirection back-across-the-field pass to Andrews on the doorstep of a touchdown, then two more rollouts that cut the field in half for Huntley. It was reminiscent of the end of the Rams’ game last season. Why not run it with the backs who are the backbone of this current offense? Or with Huntley, who is physical at the point of contact?

And I hated the clock management at the end. I heard John Harbaugh’s reasoning after the game, and I get what he’s saying about trying to milk the clock, but… score. Tying it up (or going for two… who knows?) should have been the one and only focus. As for the sneak, this is based solely on my observation from my couch: It looked like the blockers were set up behind him to push Huntley across the goal line, and he should have stayed low. I’m not going to ding the coaches on that, now that we know from Harbaugh that it was indeed Huntley’s call to go high.

The team fought and would have won the game if not for some big mistakes. Still, the coaching could have helped a bit more in different instances.