OTL: Ray & Ro at the Movies

How we doing this dreary Monday, Flock?

Yeah, not great. I hear ya. We’re all still in a bit of disbelief after the Ravens snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in yesterday’s rain-drenched 22-19 loss to the Indianapolis Irsays.

TL’s Good, Bad, and Ugly might be a bit cathartic for you.

Ravens Blow an Opportunity

Jay Feely, on the call for CBS yesterday, called the sequence after Gardner Minshew‘s Dan Orlovsky impersonation “unbelievable mismanagement of the clock.” On Glenn Clark’s show this morning, he doubled down:

.@jayfeely on #Ravens fair catching before 2 min warning: "You have to call a timeout there if you're the #Ravens. Have to communicate that to your returner. Then worst case, #Colts get the ball back with 20 sec left on their own 20. It was staggering how mis-managed that was."

— Glenn Clark (@GlennClarkRadio) September 25, 2023

I couldn’t agree more. If the Ravens don’t completely botch that entire thing, the Colts get the ball back with something like 20 seconds left, even if the Ravens go 3-and-out. Instead, they first handed Indy an extra timeout in the form of the two-minute warning, then ANOTHER by committing a penalty on their ensuing third-down failure.

Completely inexcusable indeed. But hey, what do you want from a 16th-year head coach?

Speaking of inexcusable, what the hell, refs?

no flag thrown pic.twitter.com/7i9FDo7eWh

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) September 24, 2023

Yanda would have never let this slide 💔💔 shit even Marcus Peters would’ve flown in from the sidelines pic.twitter.com/KrDimYNinI

— Cam (@CamJones997) September 25, 2023

Of course, the Ravens could have, yanno…not left it in the hands of the zebras by putting up more than 19 points, not fumbling four times in eight plays, etc. etc.

Ok, quick palate cleanser, then we’re onto Cleveland:

"Ain't too many hunters left."@RayLewis mentoring Roquan Smith in the film room is too cool 🙏 @Ravens pic.twitter.com/eBZ9o8r7aV

— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) September 22, 2023

Ray Lewis mentoring Roquan Smith in the film room? That’s the good stuff.

Ok, onto Cleveland. They’ve beaten the Bengals and Titans, sandwiched around an ugly loss of their own to the Steelers, a game they had no business losing. And Jim Schwarz’s defense is BALLING.

#Browns defense:

Total yards allowed per game: 163.7 (1st)
rushing yards allowed per game: 52 (1st)
Passing yards allowed per game: 111.7 (1st)
First downs allowed per game: 7 (1st)
3rd down PCT: 19.51% (1st)
Points allowed per game: 10.7 (1st)

— Brad Stainbrook (@StainbrookNFL) September 25, 2023

The Browns Defense is a PROBLEM. I said earlier in the offseason when they signed Za'darius Smith it was an issue for the AFC North. They're the #1 Defense giving up 163 YPG. That's absurd. Nearly 100 yards better than the next best team. Ravens will have to be ON POINT next week

— Noah Hose (@4theFlock) September 25, 2023

With the Ravens running into their own speed bumps on offense, and still missing a ton of key pieces like Tyler Linderbaum, Ronnie Stanley, and OBJ, and now potentially Gus Edwards and Rashod Bateman (both of whom sustained injuries in yesterday’s loss), this is looking like quite the daunting task heading into the Dawg Pound.

Todd Monken has his work cut out for him this week. Let’s hope he can bounce back in a big way. Two straight losses while staring down more road games in Pittsburgh and London isn’t a recipe for a happy Flock.