After the Ravens convincingly beat the Seattle Seahawks last week by the score of 37-3, the national media drooled over the Ravens, many exulting them as the league’s best and most complete team and its quarterback a leading MVP contender. But those here in Baltimore, fans and media alike, were more guarded. We’ve all seen the Ravens give away games in the fourth quarter. We’ve seen Lamar Jackson’s inability to close out games. This movie is not a new release, but rather, one stuck on replay. Think TBS on Christmas Eve airing A Christmas Story over and over for 24 hours. The Ravens seemingly embrace the spirit of giving, each season during the 4th quarter. Today the benefactors were the Cleveland Browns.
And it’s been going on with John Harbaugh teams for years.
• January 15, 2011, Pittsburgh, PA. The Ravens go into halftime during this Divisional Playoff game with a 21-7 lead. The Steelers outscore the Ravens 24-3 in the second half, 10-0 in the fourth quarter to advance to the AFC Championship Game.
• Fast forward to January 10, 2014, another Divisional Playoff game in New England. The Ravens never trailed until the 5:33 mark of the 4th quarter after blowing two 14-point leads, losing 35-31.
• December 31, 2017. The (9-6) Ravens needed a win at home against the Bengals in order to earn a playoff berth. With 8:48 left in the game the Ravens took a 27-24 lead. The teams exchanged punts and the Bengals took over at their own 10-yard line with 2:43 left. One minute, 59 seconds later the Bengals took the lead by converting a 4th and 12 from the Ravens 49 that went the distance. The Ravens were ousted from the playoffs by a (6-9) team at The Bank.
After the game Ravens safety Chuck Clark shared this: “I think it just comes back to us finishing as a team in all phases. It’s just the small details and things like that.”
Gee, that sounds familiar…
• Vying for a postseason berth in 2021, the Ravens started the season (8-3), lost six in a row, 5 losses by a TOTAL of 8 points, more damning evidence of their inability to put games away.
• Last season, the Ravens had an opportunity to take a 24-17 lead during their Wild Card game in Cincinnati at the 11-minute mark of the 4th quarter. Instead, they turned it over at the goal line, resulting in a fumble recovery and return that put the Bengals up 24-17.
This season, the Ravens three losses have been a consequence of their inability to finish, providing opportunities for opponents to rally. It’s a pattern. It’s a problem. But it’s all ok. Just ask Harbaugh.
“It’s a long season in the NFL. You have games like this. You do lose games like this in this league, and we have to bounce back and play our best football on Thursday night.”
The problem is, John’s teams have games like these far more than other teams and certainly far more than the talent level of the team would suggest. Harbaugh’s is a team struggling to find an identity, but unfortunately, there is one staring this team squarely in the face. And that identity is one of a team that can’t finish. It’s a long-term problem that goes back years, leading Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin to once state, “The Ravens don’t play four quarters.”
The Ravens have lost 7 games in the last two regular seasons with Lamar as the starter.
They had at least a 75% win probability, according to ESPN's win probability tracker, in the fourth quarter of *every single one*
In 5 of 7, they had a 90% chance to win in the fourth.
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) November 12, 2023
🤷♂️😂🤷♂️😂🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/bznOrqRZoL
— RavensHypeMan (@RavensHypeMan) November 13, 2023
Despite staking a 14-0 lead, then later a 17-3 lead and then finally a 31-17 advantage, the lead never felt safe because the uphill climb to get back in the game never diminished the collective effort of the Browns. They outhustled the Ravens. They were the more physical team, and they won the battle at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
Consequently, the Ravens blew an opportunity to take a commanding lead in the AFC North. They just don’t seem to want to enjoy nice things and instead, opt to do things the hard way. We’ll see how it plays out on Thursday night, but who among you has any faith that the Ravens can protect a 7-point lead in the fourth quarter or ride the back of their franchise quarterback to take the lead in the final frame?
A rhetorical question for sure…
THE GOOD
Keaton Mitchell touched the ball 4 times producing 64 yards of offense (21% of the team total) including a 39-yard scamper off the left side of the line, blowing by defenders along the way. Why just four times? When they needed a play, Mitchell stood on the sidelines, waiting for his chance while the rest of us pondered, “Where’s Keaton?…Odell Beckham, Jr. got it into gear on a perfectly executed slant that went 40 yards for a house call. Beckham played just 18 snaps. Are they trying to preserve him? What’s next preservation strategy? Formaldehyde? Better save some for Keaton…Zay Flowers had his way with the Browns’ Martin Emerson. Flowers is a difficult assignment, and like Mitchell, underutilized. He had 5 catches on 6 targets for 73 yards.
HIM
Tune in on FOX! pic.twitter.com/M02VhpC516
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) November 12, 2023
Kyle Hamilton had two of the Ravens 3 PD’s, one of course being the pick-6 on the game’s second play from scrimmage. He was also an effective run blitzer although each time, the Browns ran it away from him. You have to wonder if the Ravens are tipping their hand early with Hamilton, presnap…Jadeveon Clowney continues to ball out. He had two sacks and two tackles for loss. He’s just a menacing presence who Eric DeCosta should be looking to extend – NOW!
THE BAD
Gus Edwards averaged just 2.2 YPA on 11 carries…Marcus Williams should just sit. He’s playing with one arm. I get that his presence frees up Hamilton to do other things, but Williams is about as willing to tackle as a vampire is to sunbathe by the pool…Harbaugh is known to have an acumen for special teams. For years that has played out well for the Ravens. Not this season. Coverage teams are poor. They allowed a 33-yard return following a lofted Justin Tucker kickoff that landed at the goal line. Let’s just stop being cute and drill the ball through the end zone. It helps prevent unnecessary injuries and apparently unnecessary return yardage…Tucker is either having an off year or showing signs of decline. Even the FG he connected on lacked the height we’ve grown accustomed to over the years. His longest FG this season traveled 50 yards while the others (four of them) from 50+ were either blocked or missed…Jordan Stout averaged 53.7 yards on 3 punts but two of them 58 and 59 yards, respectively, resulted in touchbacks. The last touchback was particularly painful when the Ravens had a chance to pin the Browns with 5:03 left in the game. Frightening thoughts of Dave Zastudil invaded my head…Devin Duvernay doesn’t look right as a kick returner. He averaged 15 yards on two returns and appears to lack any real juice. Maybe Mitchell should assume those duties. Where’s Keaton?
THE UGLY
Now it might be a good time to get a drink or a snack. This could take awhile…Lamar Jackson was awful. He finished with a passer rating of 67.8, had two interceptions, one a horribly underthrown pass to Rashod Bateman who had a step on Mike Ford. And then of course there was the pick-6 from Greg Newsome II. Yes, it was a tipped pass, but Lamar threw a few of those during the game that fortunately bounced the right way. The one to Newsome didn’t. Lamar also had another INT deep in the red zone negated by defensive holding. His accuracy on deep balls is non-existent. Flowers and Mitchell both had a chance for an explosive play for a score, but Lamar’s errant throws dashed those hopes. This has been a season-long issue. Lamar’s game management at the end of the first half was abysmal.
The Ravens offensive line was beaten up throughout the contest. They had no push in the run game. Outside of Mitchell’s 39-yard TD run (which was mostly his doing), Ravens backs rushed for 26 yards on 15 carries (1.9 YPA). Pass protection was pathetic, with little time for Lamar to set and throw and/or take advantage of a depleted Browns secondary that suffered injuries throughout the game. This offensive line might need a makeover. Maybe they aren’t as athletic as they need to be for Todd Monken’s offense. Maybe they’re built for Greg Roman’s scheme. Clearly, they were no match for DC Jim Schwartz’ defensive front – one that bludgeoned Ronnie Stanley & Co. like Clubber Lang once did to Rocky Balboa.
The Browns were missing three offensive tackles in this game. They had to elevate a couple of guys from the practice squad to try and stave off a Ravens defensive front that led the league in sacks. On paper, it sounded like disaster waiting to happen for Deshaun Watson and the Browns offense. Unfortunately, no one told the Browns’ patchwork line that they couldn’t win this battle in the trenches. They won it decidedly. The Ravens knew that the Browns had to run the ball effectively or they’d be toast. Knowledge didn’t produce results. Cleveland’s tailbacks ran for 139 on 27 carries (5.1 YPA). This production helped the Browns convert 8 of 16 third-down attempts. A few conversions came on the heels of lengthy second down situations when it was obvious the Browns had to throw. They had answers despite the precarious situational down-and-distance disadvantages…There were blown coverages with receivers popping wide open, particularly Amari Cooper.
Some eye-popping stats: The Browns ran 75 plays to the Ravens 50; won the time of possession battle, 34:15 to 25:45; Watson was 6 of 20 in the first half, 14 of 14 after the break despite being obviously hobbled by an injured ankle.
Going through a few clips from today and the Browns absolutely out-physicaled, bullied, and emasculated the Ravens today. I'm talking they straight up snatched their souls. In Baltimore. In front of their wife and kids. pic.twitter.com/bMot9fBMXQ
— Bottlegate (@Bottlegate) November 13, 2023
Perhaps the most disturbing outcome of the game outside of the final score, was how much more physical the Browns played. Even when they were down 14-0, 17-3, 31-17, they just seemed to want it more as evidenced by the way they swarmed to the ball; by the way they hit; by the way they gained yards after contact. According to TruMedia, the Browns RB’s averaged 4.0 yards *after contact*.
Time for the Ravens to Bow Down pic.twitter.com/Nse1RIg1Uj
— DJ Dave👄 (@membersonlydave) November 12, 2023
THE MEGAN FOX AWARD
Much to our collective dismay, on a day when we really needed “her”, Megan was on a bye. Or maybe she had a date with someone who could finish. And as we know, that doesn’t happen at The Bank.
COACHING
The Ravens offense throughout most of the game was a mess and looked like a squad without a plan. They have no identity. Now 10 games into the season, you would expect one to emerge. But that hasn’t happened. Are they a running team? Precision passing team? A team with explosiveness? How could Monken not call Flowers number more often when he seemed to get open at will? How can he justify not dialing up Mitchell’s number more regularly? I’m not looking for Waldo. I’m looking for Keaton!
Why not dial up more of the quick hitters that seemed to work with Mark Andrews, OBJ and Bateman? Aren’t each capable of getting some YAC? Didn’t they do exactly that during this game? Instead, Monken leaned on slow developing plays that his offensive line couldn’t sustain.
Lamar Jackson's final pass Sunday should've been a big gainer. Zay Flowers (top) gets wide open. Rashod Bateman separates down the other sideline.
But two Ravens linemen get knocked on their butt. Lamar still almost finds Nelson Agholor for a first down. pic.twitter.com/nhYDzG6TdA
— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) November 13, 2023
On defense Mike Macdonald had no answers. His defense looked tired. They looked like uninterested tacklers. They didn’t stunt as they’ve done in recent games to create confusion for the reserve offensive tackles. And in crunch time, while trying to protect a lead, they failed to answer. Instead, they let a short-handed Browns offense travel 75 yards in 2:37 to make it a one score game.
If the Steelers turned in a performance like this, Mike Tomlin would force his team to dress in pads to fix it. But that’s not the Harbaugh way. He’ll claim to be proud of his guys. He’ll state that they played hard. He’ll tell you these things happen over the course of a long season. Is anyone really buying this? If so, I have a couple of used pay phones to sell you. Maybe you can call Jack Harbaugh and ask, “Who’s got it better than us?”
The Ravens have trailed for 28 minutes, 46 seconds this season.
The Ravens have somehow lost three games. https://t.co/mtjq2SGJIO
— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) November 12, 2023
#Ravens are fourth team in the Super Bowl era to lose after leading within the first minute and not trailing until the final minute of regulation, per @EliasSports
— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) November 12, 2023
SAME OLD, SAME OLD
If you’re Steve Bisciotti, when does this noise get a little too old? When do you get fed up with the way teams “manage” the Ravens? Just keep it close and we’ll have a shot in the fourth quarter. Don’t worry boys, these things happen. We’ll go back to work and fix it, right? But nothing in the fourth quarter gets fixed. Even Harbaugh’s Super Bowl win was more of a survival than a victory. Remember? They did their best to blow a 28-6 lead in the biggest game of them all.
The hyperbole, redundant excuses, carefully crafted canned responses are boring and tired. They are nothing but empty words that seemingly match the empty promises of this team. A team that is often a trustworthy regular season one, but a postseason fraud.
“I’m proud of our guys. I thought we played very hard, we fought [and] we competed, but we did not play well enough. We did not play the kind of winning football that we need to play to win a game like that.” ~ John Harbaugh
“A little bit of a humbling. The past two home games, being treated to 30-point wins, with the Lions and Seahawks — and came out today, it was looking the same. I feel like guys kind of let off the gas a little bit. Not pointing fingers at all. Just saying from top to bottom as an organization, I feel like we could do a better job of just locking in.” ~ Kyle Hamilton
“When Kyle had that pick on the second play and Mitchell ran in for a touchdown, nobody thought that they were going to win the game, and that’s what happened.” ~ Justin Madubuike
“They’re a good defensive front, and there’s a lot of mistakes we made. We gotta just play harder for longer.” ~ Patrick Mekari
“It’s football. Every Sunday is not going to be our day. Today it wasn’t.” ~ Lamar Jackson
PARTING SHOT
The Ravens are still atop the AFC North, for now. That could change on Thursday Night. More than likely, they’ll figure out a way to put together another 4 wins and punch their ticket to the postseason dance. Beyond that, there are no promises. Fortunately, the league isn’t all that good so there’s always hope. But the way the Ravens are built and the way they fail in the fourth quarter where games are won and lost in the playoffs, the team’s three losses should represent a jolt of reality, and that reality is that the Ravens, led by John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson, are a team capable of winning during the regular season but one with little to no staying power in the playoffs. Unless they adjust, and fast, the history is just too compelling to see it any other way.
— Rob Long (@RobLongSports) November 13, 2023
12 Responses
I know my message gets stale, but it sounds like you’re beginning to understand my problems with John Harbaugh and his insistent old school philosophy of football, particularly his offensive offensive (not redundant!) ultra conservative, keep it close and play not to lose mentalitynot to mention his poor game day decisions! His teams have won a lot of games since the last SB, including in the preseason (LOl!), but since Lamar took the reins, they’re only 1-3 in the postseason regardless of who the assistants are! Despite Joe Flacco’s critics, he was a big game QB and was at his best in crunch time with receivers no where near the talented group we currently have and he was constantly bailing Harbaugh out with last minute come from behind TD’s! For all his immense athleticism and skill sets, Lamar is not a big game QB and it will come as no surprise if the FO winds up regretting that outrageous contract! Just one fan’s opinion for a change……
Addendum: two years after the spectacular SB run on the road that culminated in a Flacco MVP championship performance, when Flacco, under OC Gary Kubiak, enjoyed his most productive season, Harbaugh turned him into a check down game manager literally ruining his career! The rest, as they say, is…..history!
Im one of those people that hates when the media lazily tries to predict the future based off the past because if it worked Vegas would be out of business. The Ravens are the exception! We’ve seen more than enough to know when the going gets tough we stsrt choking. 2019 playoffs – Lamar no red zone INT all year. Throws one on first drive and team never mentally recovered. Sounds familiar eh? Problem for Steve is the odds of landing a coach half as good as Harbaugh is slim.
Seems we are trying to make Lamar into a pocket passer at the expense of losing out on his ability to make plays. But the game mostly was decided in the Trench and we lost that battle big time – on offense and defense.
Unfortunately, this will continue to happen over and over. Fans, or the organization are quite content with just making the playoffs, not many organizations can say that. Harbaugh is a great poster boy for the organization, lots of great qualities, players love him he wins alot in the regular season and his teams underachieve in the playoffs. He gives the fans the illusion that we were one” fill in the blank”excuse why we didn’t go farther. I hear well we won’t find a better HC or even one 1/2 as good, maybe , but those days of winning a Super Bowl or even get to the conference championship game with him are over. So those that want Harbaugh should just enjoy the long preseason win streaks, and making the playoffs because it will be 1 and done.
LJ has a lot of great qualities as a person and an athlete but he doesn’t have that “it” to win in big games. He wants it sooo bad that he tightens up and plays poorly. We have him for another 4 years hopefully I will be wrong and maybe he starts to get it but I don’t see it.
We will probably have everyone picking the Bengals this week and then shock the world when we beat them but we still will choke somewhere down the road . It is Our MO.
you must be fun at parties 🙂
Biscotti has spent a ton of money getting coaches that Harbaugh ‘needs’ to fix thing over the years – new OCs, Pass Rush Specialists, WR coaches, QB coaches, etc. EDC has provided pretty good players these past couple of years. Yet, the one thing I truly never get the feeling from players is that Harbaugh could get these guys to run through a brick wall for him. The guys play hard because they are professionals and they want to win. But, do you ever get that sense that they embrace Harbaugh the way the Steelers embrace Tomlin, Lions/Campbell, Niners/Shanahan, Dolphins/MacDaniel, etc? I’ve watched the videos of him giving out the ‘Spear’ to whomever. Does that person ever take it and say, “F Yeah!!!”? The t-Shirts messages are getting stale, the same old lines (win or lose) are getting stale and the Harbaugh Family Motto, to Tony’s point is as stale as that unused hamburger bun from the 4th of July that’s still in the bread drawer. Playoffs or not, it’s time for a changing of the guard.
Tony, I LOVE to read your columns!! You Tell It Like It Is, and for that, as a FRUSTRATED Ravens fan who needs much needed therapy on these very painful Mondays, thank-you very much amigo!
A familiar pain. A similar path of self destruction. The signature of this Harbaugh era not in a good way… and the signature of these 3 losses this year outside of the 7 drops in Pittsburgh. Ravens gain a massive lead, through first 3 quarters then blow it. Culprit like Sunday it always they abandon the Run game& they lose time of possession. What happened Sunday they only ran for 100 or so and Cleveland 170. Lost t.o.p. 35 to 25. That’s how you lose games when leading by double digits. Leaving your defense out to dry in 2nd halves instead of running and draining clock.
I dont want to hear they got beat in trenches. Monken gave Mitchell 3 dang carries. They barely used Lamar RPO/QB Design runs. Lamar should have 60-70 yrds a game. But Monken is only using Lamar as a scrambler that’s not good enough. Our offense need the Greg Roman, Lamar special quality. Use him. Use Qb powe. Use Qb design runs etc..
For a few years now all you hear is who could the Ravens get better than John Harbaugh. I am not endorsing, just throwing a name out there: Jim Harbaugh. Wouldn’t that be interesting??
You are spot on as usual Tony. From reading Lamar’s quote it sounds like he has adopted Harbaugh’s attitude. When you “understand” that these things happen you are accepting them. They need new leadership.
Add doesn’t trust rookies to Harbs old school philosophy. Somebody needs to remind him they become free agents quick and speed declines fast.