You could feel it coming. It was 10-0. Then it was 10-3, 10-5, 10-8. It was a Paul Simon song.
Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away
The destination could have been complete control of the AFC North. But that’s not how John Harbaugh’s Ravens work. They don’t know how to put teams away. The Steelers looked like a team willing to surrender. They were there for the taking. The Ravens don’t take. They don’t possess a killer instinct. The only thing they kill is themselves.
The Ravens are 5-0…if you count the two times they’ve beaten themselves!
— Tony Lombardi (@RSRLombardi) October 8, 2023
Years ago, I was told a story of how during halftime of a Ravens v. Steelers game in Baltimore that the Ravens had controlled, Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin implored his team to continue to play hard because “we know the Ravens don’t play a full four quarters.”
The Steelers would go on to win that game, a comeback victory. Some things never change. The Ravens have now dropped six of their last 7 contests against their archrival. It has become embarrassing – well at least to fans and those covering the team. The Ravens brush it off as just a bad day at the office. Just a little miscommunication is all it was, right John? Right Lamar?
“We were planning on kicking the field goal there. The idea was to run the clock down and not leave them time to come the other way and then just call a timeout and kick the field goal. But we had just a miscommunication – [in the] heat of battle. ~ John Harbaugh
“[It was] just [a] miscommunication, [like] what Coach [Harbaugh] said. We thought … Well, [Tyler Linderbaum] thought the guy had jumped in the neutral zone, so I thought we had a free play right there. Just a miscommunication – that’s all.” ~ Lamar Jackson
Just a miscommunication.
Well, that and 8 dropped passes – three of which could have been touchdowns. Then there were those two lost fumbles. And then there was the fumble that they managed to force in punt coverage, which was returned to the Steelers 7 yard-line by Kevon Seymour, only to be gifted right back to Pittsburgh 3 plays later when Jackson tossed a mind-numbing interception to Joey Porter, Jr.
“You see Lamar [Jackson] was surprised by the snap, so that was just one of those things operationally that we just have to get better at. That’s kind of an example really of where we’re at. We just have to get better at operational things and just clean stuff up and make those plays.”
“Where we’re at”.
“Operational things”.
Please!
You snap the ball before the play clock winds to zero. You catch the snap. You run the play. It’s not that complicated. But that’s where we’re at. And I guess somewhere along the line that’s an acceptable answer to someone. It calls to mind this scene from the movie Bull Durham.
THE GOOD
Lamar Jackson had his moments, until he didn’t. Obviously, the drops aren’t on him. He made a terrific throw to Nelson Agholor that should have gone for six. He bought time outside of the pocket to escape pressure and make plays downfield either with his arm or legs. Other times he did a nice job of stepping up into the pocket and into his throws…Justice Hill had a good thing going until he didn’t, until his fumble cost the Ravens momentum and led to a field goal by the Steelers’ Chris Boswell. Hill scored the Ravens only touchdown.
Brent Urban flashed. He had a sack, a tackle-for-loss (“TFL”) and another two tackles. He was menacing in Mike Macdonald’s rotation across the defensive front…Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen both had productive games – again. They led the charge for the Ravens defense, one that really swarmed to the ball and gang tackled…Arthur Maulet had a commendable homecoming at SCB. He posted a sack, a TFL and a couple of PD’s to remind his former mates that he’s got a little game…Kyle Hamilton registered a couple of TFL’s and Brandon Stephens was tight in coverage.
THE BAD
The Ravens paid Lamar handsomely to be their franchise QB. His average W-2 per his new contract is $52M annually. That’s the kind of scratch you pay to a quarterback who can lift his team in the most crucial situations. One who can drive a team the length of the field to win a game with methodical, surgical efficiency. Well, that’s just not who Lamar Jackson is. He’s got all the new toys, new coordinator, new QB coach and the only thing the Ravens have to show for their “investment” on Sunday afternoon was 10 points against a team that was giving up 25 points on average, and a team that gave up 30 points and 451 yards a week ago to rookie QB CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans.
With the Ravens leading by the score of 10-8 with 4:04 left in the game, they faced a third-and-goal from the Steelers 5 yard-line. Even a field goal really lifts the Ravens chances for a win in that situation. Instead, Lamar throws a pick to Porter. Eight plays later the Ravens were trailing 14-10. Lamar gift-wrapped the INT. That back shoulder throw is designed to be placed in a spot where only the receiver can make a play on the ball. The Ravens have practiced such throws over and over and over again during training camp. I’ve often wondered why they spend the time on the practice field trying to perfect the play only never to see it used during games. Maybe we now know why. Isn’t it a fair assumption for a $52M QB to be able to make such throws in situations like this? At the very least, don’t throw a pick. Porter wasn’t supposed to be the intended target but it sure looked that way.
“I was just trying to get my boy [Odell Beckham Jr.] a shot. We’ve just got to get in sync – that’s all. [Joey Porter Jr.] made a great play [and] made a great interception. We didn’t want it to happen, but it happened.” ~ Lamar Jackson
Lamar Jackson 🎯 Joey Porter Jr
pic.twitter.com/AnYXElzpNi— PFF (@PFF) October 8, 2023
Marlon Humphrey is a handsomely paid CB in the league who isn’t supposed to give up big plays in one-on-one situations against Kenny Pickett. But he did. Marlon played well for the most part, but that’s akin to saying a pitcher threw well except for that 3-run dinger he served up in the 9th. Marlon gave up a big gopher ball yesterday and it cost the Ravens…Special teams weren’t special. The Ravens return game is non-existent, they allowed a punt to be blocked for a safety (maybe that was an operational thing…we’ll check with John) and following the free kick they allowed Gunner Olszewski to return it 24 yards to the Steelers 44 to help set up another Steelers field goal.
THE UGLY
Heading into the game yesterday, the Ravens were one of two teams that through four games, had a receiving corps that did not register a single drop, the other team being the 49ers. Well, the Ravens made up for it in Pittsburgh and it was the difference in the game.
Blaming Lamar after this hall-of-shame performance from his skill players is wild pic.twitter.com/dmxDNYMmVg
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) October 8, 2023
This newly formed WR room that the Ravens have been bragging about isn’t quite all that now, is it? They certainly weren’t in Pittsburgh. First there’s Odell Beckham, Jr. We’ve all heard the stories of how OBJ was recruited; how owner Steve Bisciotti was so influential in bringing OBJ to town. Through 5 games the guy has 7 catches for 79 yards to justify his $15M. At this rate he’ll have 24 catches for 287 yards. I’m guessing that the $3M in incentives built into OBJ’s contract are safe. Every time he’s tackled we’re all waiting to see if he’s going to head to the locker room…Zay Flowers looks like a great pick but he had two big drops during the game and failed to adjust to Lamar’s frisbee at the 7:08 mark of the 4th with the Ravens clinging to a 10-8 lead. Tough play but one that playmakers finish…Agholor’s drop was a killer – the ball couldn’t have been placed any more perfectly…Tyler Linderbaum! Really?
And then there’s Rashod Bateman.
I’ve defended Bateman often. But the guy just doesn’t make plays. He had a chance to make a play on a 9-route down the left sideline yesterday. He didn’t. An easy TD opportunity early in Q2 that would have put the Ravens up 14-0 – dropped. Just dropped! I’m surprised that the receiver made of glass didn’t dislocate his wrists while pounding on the turf in frustration. At this point in his career, and it pains me to say it, Bateman isn’t much different than Breshad Perriman was. Mark Andrews got in on the hot potato festivities. He had two drops including a touchdown. While it wasn’t an easy TD catch for Andrews, it really wasn’t any different than the one he pulled in last week in the back right corner of the end zone in Cleveland.
Ravens WR Rashod Bateman deactivated his Twitter after a frustrating day against the Steelers in Week 5 pic.twitter.com/tf1LcmKWYG
— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) October 8, 2023
Rashod Bateman declined to speak to reporters after the game but reached out later to @jamisonhensley. Here's the full quote
(h/t: ESPN's Jamison Hensley) pic.twitter.com/mEvlcO3K3a— Kyle Phoenix Barber (@KylePBarber) October 8, 2023
Before he left the game with an injury, Patrick Mekari was overmatched by TJ Watt. Mekari’s replacement was even worse. Daniel Faalele should change his last name to olay-lay. He looked like a matador trying to slow Watt. His technique at right tackle looked strikingly similar to a toddler playing pin the tail on the donkey. If the Ravens think that this guy is the heir apparent to Morgan Moses, they’re fooling themselves. But maybe his failures were all operational or the result of miscommunication, right John? Ronnie Stanley’s whiff on Alex Highsmith to drive the final nail in the coffin. Ronnie will be looking for new doors in London to replace the ones blown off!
THE MEGAN FOX AWARD
You’re kidding, right?
[Ravens Report Card v. Steelers]
COACHING
John Harbaugh, more than anyone else, sets the tone for the inviting culture that envelopes the atmosphere in and around One Winning Drive. His players seem to genuinely enjoy playing for him and even when things go awry, no one can question the effort of his players. And John has won his fair share of games. He owns a .607 winning percentage, identical to the great Tom Landry’s and better than Bill Parcells, Pete Carroll, Hank Stram, Chuck Noll, Chuck Knox and Marv Levy to name a few of the greats. But for the past few seasons, arguably longer, Harbaugh seems stuck in a land of mediocrity. Sure, he’ll win his fair share of games to keep his boss happy, but his teams lack a killer instinct. They can’t finish games or put teams away that are just screaming for euthanasia. They play not to lose. Oh, and there’s this miscommunication thingy too.
Together with Lamar Jackson, Harbaugh will go on to win many more regular season games. But time and time again, they will combine to screw the pooch whenever it counts the most. Steve Bisciotti appreciates continuity. He strives for it in all his organizations. Well, he has it. And in the case of a John Harbaugh-led Ravens, it comes with complacency, a tick above mediocrity and a key weekly miscommunication. This is a team without an identity other than one that doesn’t play a full four quarters.
Just ask Mike Tomlin.
17 Responses
Thank you for appropriately apportioning the blame for that fiasco.
When things go badly, people want simplistic explanations and easy scapegoats. I’ve seen so many people try to assign blame to a single party or group: Harbaugh sucks! Lamar sucks! The receivers suck! Yesterday, they all sucked. I’ve been a Harbaugh enthusiast for years, but all of this ultimately falls at his feet.
He either needs to find a way to fix it, or the Ravens may need to move on to a coach who can teach execution and how to step on the neck of a lesser opponent. All of us who are long-term Ravens fans could feel that loss coming as the game progressed.
Agree! However, the coaching in the NFL generally leaves much to be desired! So, finding a better replacement is also a challenge….
I agree with you there. I have always defended Harbaugh because I didn’t think that we could find a better replacement. I’m not sure that we can. But playing down to lesser competition seems to be endemic with his teams. I like Lamar, but I was not a fan of that gigantic contract and thought we should have had him play under the tag before deciding. I hope that I’m wrong, but right now, he certainly doesn’t seem to be worth that contract. Maybe he will grow into it.
agree completely. year after year the ravens lose games they should have won. is the message getting old? why do we constantly play conservative when up? i think its time for harbaugh to go. promote mike macdonald.
The Ravens have a history of drafting injured players and signing WR rejects that other teams don’t want! And, Harbaugh has a LENGTHY history of poor game day management and decisions! As I have already opined, good teams find ways to win and bad teams find ways to lose! The same applies to head coaches! As for Harbaugh’s attempts at postmortem explanations, actions speak louder than words! And, his actions speak volumes…..
We played to the level of our competition. The Steelers D got pressure with their front 4 and kept 1-2 LBs around the line of scrimmage for checkdowns and Lamar scrambles in the 2nd half. They basically dared us to throw longer than 10 yards and we couldn’t execute. We didn’t make them pay because we kept dropping balls. And the D eventually wore down in the 4th quarter. 2 “burn the tape” games just 5 games into the season is not comforting. Hope we get right in London.
this whole “drops” thing has me bugged…the play in the endzone where andrews extends to try and pull in a high throw with a ton of mustard on it shouldn`t be considered a drop..the play where zay is running downfield behind the defense and is forced to change direction in full stride to adjust to an extremely poor throw is NOT a drop(that`s laughable).he never got near the pass..go back and watch that play in slow motion…the pass was wobbling like a weeble…that was a duck…a poor throw…it`s the qb`s job to get it to the receiver…to give him a chance….that didn`t happen….calling that a drop is utter subterfuge…go back and look at that “perfect spiral” that sailed over zay`s head and tell me that was flowers“ fault…
these narrativees are just subterfuge…the problem is that for whatever reason this team can`t finish…it`s a chronic problem….this week there were some stunning game changing drops…zay had several..agholor and bateman each had egregious drops that literally cost us points…but the bottom line is we aren`t finishing….two drives (at a minimum) late in the colts game that required one or at most two first downs for a big win…we got NO first downs…
THIS is the problem…its manifested in different forms…drops…turnovers..mental mistakes..coaching screw ups…but they are a chronic,perpetual problem…the reason why we have a total of ONE playoff win in the lamar era(not saying it`s all lamar`s fault…just pointing out an indisputable fact) ..i`ll also point out that harbaugh cost us sevral wins last year in important late season games by eschewing sure points to go for it on 4th down or chasing 2 point conversions unnecessarily(leaving points off the board)…we need to get back to basics..take the points we`re handed…stop chasing… tighten it up..it cost cost us two games(at least) last year playing with our back-up qb(i think we lost two or three games by a total of 5 points…
THAT`S the problem.
NFLM=National Football League of Mediocrity for huge bucks.
Stillers fans are loving it today. Pickett won’t make it passed his rookie deal imo and Tomlin somehow manages to squeak out wins against his rival every year even after his HOF QB retires. I was there for the Colts meltdown nothing surprises me now. Watt is a modern day version of Gino Marchetti. Nobody can block the guy when he is healthy.
Tough weekend with Maryland making there usual cave in either against OSU,Penn Pedo State, or Michigan it’s back to the Mayonaise or Weed Eater Bowl. Orioles not looking very 1966ish just yet. Maybe to much champagne to soon? Pray for a miracle now.
As a WR Flowers has to catch that ball in the 4th. Think of playing receiver or DB almost like an ice skater. Keeping your footing and not slipping and falling when making sudden changes of direction is an integral part of playing the position. You simply cannot be falling down without contact.
The pic by Lamar is inexcusable. Right now the best things about the entire team are the defense and Lamar. But there are parts of Lamar’s game that are loose. And for that, I’m going to blame the coaching.
I hate to because I’ve been a Harbaugh defender. But the overall operation feels not buttoned up. Not sure if he’s getting older or what but he doesn’t seem full of the same fire he was 7-8 yrs ago. I hate to say it may be approaching time for change. But as one commenter said: finding a better coach is not easy.
I agree there’s plenty of blame to go around. In the end the biggest blame IMO is the coaching staff i.e. the head coach. We’ve seen this picture many times in the past. As far as Bisciotti’s continuity issue then I guess we will continue to be a good team and not a great team. Harbaugh is a good coach but how can you tell if a person is going to a good or great coach if you don’t give them the opportunity?
Yes there’s plenty of room for blame. All these players are where they are because they are considered to be the best at their sport. That’s why they are paid. They are supposed to perform and make plays. Yesterday was unacceptable. To have that many dropped/missed receptions is crazy. It’s a lack of concentration and focus. If just a few of those passes were completed the game has a different outcome.
The blocked punt? Pitiful. Hill’s fumble was costly. We still see fumbles weekly and it’s not getting fixed. WHY? The non-existent field goal which didn’t happen because of a “miscommunication”. Unacceptable.
I think many of us had so much anticipation and enthusiasm built up going into this season. Now it looks like a repeat of the previous few seasons. Still to many errors and mental mistakes. While there are many positives that we have seen this season, we still have issues that aren’t being corrected. The great teams make the plays and everyone else struggles to attain greatness.
If it ain’t broke then don’t fix it. Well it’s broke and it needs fixing. Why play down to your opponent? When is losing acceptable when you dominate your opponent throughout a game? Why are we seeing the same mistakes game after game, season after season? Something’s wrong and needs to be fixed.
Well it could be worse and we could be a dysfunctional franchise with a history of losing. We aren’t but it sure would be nice to raise that Lombardi trophy after the Super Bowl. Wake me up when this nightmare is over.
When Larmar’s explanations start to sound just like Harbaugh’s explanations a light bulb goes on. Harbaugh sets the tone for his players as the head coach. After the loss, Harbaugh said something like he liked the way his players played. WTF????
Either he is delusional or in denial or…….both!
Other than a stretch of 4 games in January 2013, the ravens have not had a killer instinct. In the Lamar era the have been “a tic above mediocre” (best definition ever). We are marred in mediocrity. Superior teams kill inferior ones and are maybe allowed ONE bad game, trap game, an egg, or whatever you want to call it, not 5 or 6 of them per season. This is a waste of talent and the fault resides in the coaching staff. I know coaches do t drop passes and don’t throw INTs but coaches who blame “communication issues” or “where we are at” deserve to go
Here’s an interesting and troubling stat from ESPN STATS: Lamar has 11 turnovers in the 4th quarter or overtime in one score games the past three years! That’s the highest number in the league! Not exactly what’s expected of a highly paid franchise QB!
Great post Tony! Fun gallows humor. There’s a lot of season left so we have to hang in there, try to keep the faith, but we’re just seeing too many of the same worrying signs: injuries, WR failures, turnovers, brain farts, coaching gaffs, etc.
This was an epic team failure all around. You could FEEL the loss coming when it 10 to 8. I thought we would lose 11 to 10. Mope! Let’s make it a touchdown instead. We have all seen this movie too many times. I am sick of reruns. Lamar has talent but not at the level his huge contract dictates.
I have always defended Harbaugh but not anymore. Steve B. needs to pull the plug on the Harbaugh era either during or after the season. I am tired of hearing the same excuses every week. Miscommunication cost us the Colt game and he used the same excuse to explain why they didn’t kick the field goal at the end of the half in Pittsburgh. This team should be 5-0 instead of 3-2. And to be honest If Joe Burrows was completely healthy in game 2 and if Watson was available in Cleveland we may very well be 1-4. The Ravens are going to regret giving Lamar that goofy contract. Who knows they may already regret it. Lamar is an excellent athlete but only a mediocre QB and certainly isn’t worth the money they gave him. I was hoping they were going to let Lamar go after last season. I would have rather seen them sign Baker Mayfield instead of giving that money to Lamar Between LJ and JH the product on the field makes it very difficult to watch. BTW Tony your article is spot on. Keep up the good work