Yes, the refs should have made the call on the play to Zay Flowers. No, that wasn’t what cost the Ravens on this day. The Ravens cost the Ravens on this day.
Let’s take a look at some grades:
Offense
Overall: D
The Ravens looked to be cooking early. Their first possession of the game was a 12-play, 80-yard thing of beauty, resulting in an eight-yard touchdown run by Lamar Jackson. The second drive started with a nine-yard run by Gus Edwards, a 20-yard pass to Mark Andrews and a 24-yard catch-and-run to Kenyan Drake — who then fumbled the ball away, seemingly casting a spell on the offense the rest of the game. Two lost fumbles and a bunch of general sloppiness led to the poor score (along with four sacks, by the way).
Quarterback: C+
Jackson was under duress much of the game from the Colts defensive front, and his legs were incredibly valuable for the Ravens, as he compiled 101 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, to go with 22-31 and 202 through the air. But the fumbling continues to be a problem three games in this year, and the sack at the end of regulation was not ideal. He did a lot of good things out there, but the sloppiness hurt today.
Running backs: D
Gus Edwards ran like Gus Edwards — a rugby player with malice in his heart. But he left the field under the concussion protocol, and the run game was in the hands of Melvin Gordon and Drake. <Sigh> Drake’s fumble was a killer and might have changed the entire complexion of the game. Gordon picked up 32 yards on 10 carries, but his own fumbling issues didn’t inspire a ton of confidence at the end. This unit’s depth is being tested severely now.
Receivers: D+
Zay Flowers caught a bunch of short passes, putting up 48 yards on eight receptions. Mark Andrews was pretty quiet with four catches for 35 yards, and Nelson Agholor contributed 39 yards on four catches. That is not a great yards-to-catch ratio, by the way. Isaiah Likely flashed with a 20-yard catch, but dropped a big pass late that could have changed the game. Rashod Bateman continues to not do much, even with Odell Beckham’s absence. They weren’t bad, but nobody made a big, big play today.
Offensive Line: D
There were a few nice holes in the run game, including a very nice block by Sam Mustipher on Jackson’s first touchdown run. But Mustipher also got beat a few times inside and offered a terrible snap to Jackson on a big third down late in the first half to kill a drive. Pat Mekari got beaten on a sack early in the second quarter. It felt like Jackson was under heat much more quickly this week than last.
Defense
Overall: B-
The Ravens had a tough time with the Colts’ run game, allowing 139 yards — 122 by one Zack Moss. Moss had a giant run in overtime that really pushed the Colts into field goal range. There were some really good individual performances, but too many easy throws on third down when pressure didn’t get home.
Defensive Line: C+
Justin Madubuike had a really good game, with four solo tackles, one for loss. Travis Jones also flashed at times, and Jadaveon Clowney had another nice performance, though he did give up a little early on a play where Moss shook loose to turn a loss into a five-yard gain. Michael Pierce and Tavius Robinson also made a few plays out there. The injury to David Ojabo certainly didn’t help. It felt like the attrition is starting to impact this group. They looked tired at times.
Linebackers: B+
Roquan Smith had 13 tackles, half a sack, a pass deflection and a quarterback hit, and Patrick Queen had 11 tackles of his own. Jeremiah Moon also put up five tackles in extended action (though it would have been nice if he could have picked up that fumble at the end of the first half). Queen got beat on a touchdown pass to Moss (which could have been offensive PI), but they were pretty good all game today.
Defensive Backs: B
Kyle Hamilton was the best player on the field today. The hulking safety/nickel had nine tackles, three sacks, two tackles for loss, a pass deflection and three quarterback hits. All three of his sacks killed drives on third down, and he ended another with a third-down run stop. The corners held up well again today. Brandon Stephens was active again, with 11 tackles and two passes defensed. He also blew up that fourth-down attempt by the Colts in overtime. Ronald Darby has been better than expected, and Daryl Worley looked active.
Special Teams: B-
They gave up 48 yards on two punt returns today, continuing a disturbing trend this season. Justin Tucker missed a 61-yarder at the end of regulation, but he sure gave us all a fun ride during the flight, didn’t he? Devin Duvernay had a big punt return in overtime to midfield, but the Ravens’ offense squandered it. Jordan Stout is a much-improved player this year, and that punt to the 2-yard line at the end of regulation should have been one of the game’s biggest plays.
Coaching: D+
I loved the aggressiveness with Kyle Hamilton and Geno Stone early in the game. I thought the defense was coached well again, honestly. My bigger problems were with the offense and game management. I know the fumbles probably threw a wrench in the game plan that they never quite recovered from, but Jackson didn’t throw a pass in the second quarter? I also thought they didn’t spread out enough at times. The announcers were also nearly laughing at the predictability of the offense when the team brought out the sixth offensive lineman. Didn’t love the decision to punt on fourth-and-short on the opening possession of the second half, only because I felt like they needed a spark — even if it had to be manufactured.
The clock management was horrific for both teams at the end of the game.
12 Responses
Please, no way our QB gets a C+ and not even a C. You do not miss short passes to 4 wide open players in crunch time, take a sack and fumble trying to pull back his throw. He deserves a D. He lost the game.
He’s the only reason you were in this game, offensively.
I agree. We have to many injuries. Everything snowballed from turnovers, mental mistakes and sloppy play. We had plenty of opportunities to win. We just played poorly.
We have to give credit to the Colts for playing hard and going away with a victory. They are 2-1 and they are in the league for a reason. On any given Sunday.
Now we have to hope to get healthier, minimize the mental mistakes and turnovers and come away with a victory next week. It’s heartbreaking but it’s time to move. We have 14 games left and we control our destiny.
No excuses. Give credit where credit is due. We have to improve and we have to put away teams. Stop the mistakes. We sure can’t compete with the Dolphins and 49er’s playing like this.
Five starters already out on injuries. Three fumbles at crucial times. Jackson has never played well in rainy weather. Lost more players to injuries during the game. Also, the Colts’ QB was a quick, smart player.
The Ravens can’t depend on Tucker to bail them out all the time anymore. He is getting older too.
It remains to be seen if Jackson is worth all that money. That said, I think Andrews is playing hurt. Even the great Mahomes lost one without Travis Kelce. If you ask me, and I’m no expert, Todd Moncken isn’t doing anything new.
Still, it hurts when the Colts come to our house and win against us. It just feels wrong.
Kyle Hamilton was a one man gang today. The Irsays are not a good football team. Minchu has a good arm I have to think if he plays on a good team he’s better than decent. Turnovers changed the whole game and then a drop along with terrible clock management. Pretty much the same things on offense that occur every year now last 3 seasons. The good news is the whole league kinda stinks except 2 -3 teams.
No complaints over lack of flag for zay in late 4th down in ot. NFL refs have shown decade-long tendency not to make that call. It won game for Commanders last week. It has to be taken into account in play-calling. Throw into crowd and you are running a chance of getting shfted by it!
Contenders put away inferior teams. The ravens never do that, and this is why they cannot seriously be considered as contenders. They are currently a mediocre offense and an above average defense. I don’t want to hear about the injuries or the fact that it was a trap game. Good well coached teams don’t have trap games. They come prepared. The ravens were an embarrassment today and I am sick and tired of having 3-4 games like this EVERY YEAR
OK, offense was poorly called. We have all these playmakers and besides some jet motions we had no cross motion, short motions that can stress a defense regardless in zone or man. Extremely conservative play calling except when we go for it on 4th down. In my opinion was a very poor decision. Still over 3:50 left, with 2 timeouts if we dont burn it to prevent “delay of game” pin them deep and let defense get the stop. Our offense was not executing well late. Jackson’s throwing behind Flowers on easy slant route, Likely’s drop.
Bateman the bust!
F…..from top to bottom! Can’t blame it on Roman any more! But…….the one constant is John Harbaugh, who is the poster boy for bad game day coaches! So, despite coaching and personnel changes, nothing is really going to change with him as OC! As for Jackson, he’s fumbled 47 times during his career and has failed to throw a TD pas in two of the three games so far! Not the things expected from high paid franchise QBs! And, if he continues to run as he did today, just a matter of time before he’s injured…..again!
Clock management has been a problem since Harbaugh has been the head coach. Many things caused the loss however after the safety on Minshew,the subsequent clock abuse by the Ravens was glaring. It seems to happen every week at the worst possible moments.
My sister could strip Lamar Jackson if she got close enough. She is 74, but pretty spry and has a really good hand chop.
I agree with everything besides the QB. Top 5 paid QB playing like a bottom 5. Yea his running is incredible, but when we need him to make throws he’s inconsistent. He also makes critical mistakes and fumbles. I give him a C for the season D for this game. But a C is average and his pay is far above a average QB. Lamar is either on fire or ice cold. We can’t win play-off games if the QB is always inconsistent and making Chritcal rookie mistakes. The defense kept us in the game. If are defense was not a top 10 defense we would have lost by 20+ points yesterday. My biggest problem is the money and talent spent on that offense for it to let us down by not closing out that game. Lamar taking that sack making Justin Tucker kick that field goal from a farther distance was the nail in the coffin. At some point we need to hold Lamar accountable on the good and bad. The good things he did yesterday is tossed away when you make critical mistakes. If I work for a company and make the company $100,000 a year, but make mistakes costing the company $200,000 is it worth keeping me? No, because the good I do doesn’t mean anything if I make mistakes that cost us more in the end. That always seems to be Lamar’s story and that’s if he can finish the full year healthy, which again hasn’t been consistent either. We shall see I guess. I don’t hate Lamar, but if I made that many critical mistakes at my job I wouldn’t be getting a raise… I probably would be fired.