The Ravens went up 20-3 with 3:39 to go within the first half in opposition to the Buffalo Bills. They didn’t rating the remainder of the best way as they let one other recreation slip away in entrance of their house followers. They didn’t capitalize on alternatives to widen their margin and for the second time in three weeks, their protection didn’t maintain with the sport on the road.
Here are 5 issues we discovered from the Ravens’ 23-20 loss to Buffalo in Week 4:
The Ravens have been a annoyed, confused group after they blew one other lead at house.
Marcus Peters screamed at John Harbaugh and slammed his helmet to the grass because the final seconds of one other house defeat ebbed away. The Ravens had unraveled regularly over the earlier two quarters and extra openly over the last few minutes.
Harbaugh went for a landing on fourth-and-goal from the two as a substitute of asking Justin Tucker to kick a go-ahead 19-yard discipline objective with 4:15 left within the recreation. Wide receiver Devin Duvernay streaked open in the precise nook of the tip zone, however quarterback Lamar Jackson noticed him too late and threw the ball into the arms of Bills security Jordan Poyer.
With 80 yards to go, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen — each bit as maddening to convey down as Jackson — bent the Ravens’ protection after which broke it with assist from a misguided 15-yard roughing-the-passer name on a blitzing Brandon Stephens. The Ravens wished to let the Bills rating within the final two minutes so they’d at the very least have the ball another time, however they may not get that proper both as linebacker Odafe Oweh went for a strip as a substitute of letting Buffalo working again Devin Singletary cross the objective line untouched.
The Ravens watched in futile rage as Allen knelt twice to empty the clock earlier than Tyler Bass kicked a 21-yard discipline objective to finish Buffalo’s 20-point comeback.
There’s lots to unpack from the waning moments of this newest collapse.
Harbaugh opened himself to second-guessing by going for the landing as a substitute of the simple discipline objective. It was roughly a 50-50 name, and he had each motive to imagine his protection would wrestle to maintain the Bills from scoring at the very least three extra factors. He figured that worst case, Buffalo’s offense can be backed up on its 2-yard line. That turned out to be fallacious due to Jackson’s interception. But Harbaugh was proper to make an aggressive name. That’s his nature as a coach, and a three-point lead in all probability wouldn’t have held up.
“I like to attack,” tight finish Mark Andrews mentioned when requested about Harbaugh’s choice within the postgame locker room. “I like that he likes to attack too.”
More troubling maybe was the seeming disconnect between coaches and Oweh on whether or not to let the Bills rating. “Yes, it was,” Harbaugh mentioned when requested if the plan was clearly communicated to all the protection. Oweh, nevertheless, mentioned “the call was either strip the ball or let him score,” and he was the lone participant who tried to cease Singletary.
As defeat bore down on the Ravens, Peters erupted. He didn’t stick round to clarify his causes after the sport, however Harbaugh didn’t appear involved. “Emotions run high,” he mentioned. “We’re on the same page, he and I. We have a great relationship; we have an honest relationship. I love him, I hope he still loves me. We’ll see.”
So what will we make of all this disarray from a group that may very well be 4-0 however as a substitute stands 2-2? Are the Ravens a contender understanding kinks or are they getting ready to coming aside?
Their greatest gamers dismissed the latter, darker risk. Jackson famous that in addition they began 2-2 in 2019, once they received 12 straight to complete with the league’s greatest regular-season report. Defensive sort out Calais Campbell mentioned Peters’ outburst didn’t point out wider frustration sweeping the group: “No, not at all. We all just want to win.”
“I’m a dog,” a defiant Andrews mentioned. “We’ve got a bunch of dogs. We’re ready to go. We’re going to get better.”
The Ravens sowed the seeds of their downfall with missed alternatives earlier within the recreation.
Jackson overthrew an open Andrews ultimately zone at first of the second quarter, a play that would have put the Ravens up 21-3. After an overzealous pass-interference name in opposition to Andrews and a Von Miller sack, the Ravens settled for a 42-yard discipline objective from Tucker. It was the primary alternative they did not capitalize on, however not the final.
Patrick Queen dropped a possible interception that would have saved the Bills off the scoreboard within the two-minute drill. Every week earlier, he dropped a attainable pick-six within the crimson zone, so this can be a streak he’d somewhat not proceed. Allen discovered Isaiah McKenzie for a landing a number of performs later to chop the result in 20-10. The Ravens had managed the ball greater than 70% of the primary half and had compelled two turnovers, however their margin didn’t appear remotely comfy in opposition to one of many league’s elite offenses.
“When we get those opportunities, we’ve got to capitalize,” mentioned Queen, who took duty for his drop, a part of one other troublesome day for the 2020 first-round draft decide.
After the Bills despatched the Ravens off the sector three-and-out to start out the second half, a palpable uneasiness settled over the gang at M&T Bank Stadium. Fans had watched the Ravens blow a 21-point lead within the fourth quarter two weeks earlier in opposition to the Miami Dolphins, and their grip was slipping but once more.
When the clock struck zero and the Ravens’ 20-3 lead from the primary half was a distant reminiscence, it was simple to concentrate on what went fallacious on the very finish. But as Queen acknowledged, their troubles started with lapses that didn’t appear so momentous once they occurred. Against a group pretty much as good because the Bills, they may not go away the door open, and so they did.
Rashod Bateman is an amazing expertise, however the Ravens want extra consistency from him.
Of the six balls thrown Bateman’s manner, three skipped off his arms, an unacceptable proportion for the group’s No. 1 broad receiver.
Bateman’s most dangerous drop got here within the third quarter, when Jackson hit him within the arms, in stride, on a third-down play which may have ended ultimately zone and would absolutely have prolonged an important drive. Instead, the Ravens punted, and the Bills marched 80 yards to a game-tying landing.
To be truthful, this was a troublesome day for each move catcher on the sector because of slick circumstances created by the remnants of of Hurricane Ian. The Bills dropped loads of Allen’s passes.
But we didn’t see Bateman the following time the Ravens had the ball, with the sport hanging within the steadiness. We didn’t see him on their remaining drive.
He was shifting uncomfortably after the sport, so well being might need been a consider his absence. He declined an interview request. “I’ll have to go back and look at that,” Harbaugh mentioned when requested why Bateman didn’t return to the sport. “I’m not sure why.”
The Ravens can not permit Bateman’s difficulties to fester. He got here into the sport averaging 28.3 yards per catch and is well Jackson’s prime downfield goal. At his greatest, he extends to grab the ball out of the air like nobody else on the group. But reliability is simply as vital as brilliance for a No. 1 receiver.
Patrick Ricard has by no means been extra vital to the Ravens’ offense.
The soccer gods couldn’t have designed a greater day to showcase a 305-pound fullback. On a moist, grey afternoon together with his group out to an early lead, Ricard was set as much as be offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s medieval conflict hammer. He did his livid responsibility, flattening Buffalo’s world-class edge defenders with savage blocks, plowing ahead as a ball provider on third-and-short and dragging a defensive lineman on his again on the finish of a catch.
Ricard’s statistical line is rarely going to blow us away, however the former defensive lineman has made himself into greater than a battering ram. He completed the Bills recreation with three catches on three targets for 17 yards and one carry for 3 yards. He got here into the sport as Pro Football Focus’ top-graded fullback, and he’s taking part in extra snaps than any of the group’s working backs, an indication of his total significance to the offense.
Not to say the delight he conjures up in coaches and teammates when he rumbles via a correctly executed passing route.
“He is extremely versatile, and he’s a very valuable part of our offense,” Roman mentioned final week. “I can’t stress that enough.”
The Ravens want a profitable streak and so they want it now.
If the Ravens in the end fall in need of expectations, we’ll connect retrospective import to the 21-point lead they squandered in opposition to the Miami Dolphins and the 17-point lead they frittered away in opposition to the Bills.
But there’s a sunnier manner to have a look at their place: They are 2-2 in a league dominated by parity, analytics measures resembling Football Outsiders’ DVOA say they’re a prime group and so they on no account regarded overmatched in opposition to Buffalo, the preseason Super Bowl favourite. With the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns additionally at 2-2, they’re not staring up at anybody within the AFC North.
“I’m not looking at this like we have had a disappointing season,” Jackson mentioned, and he’s proper to recommend there’s no use in dwelling on the circumstances of their defeats or on the very fact they may very well be, in all probability ought to be, undefeated.
But that line of pondering is simply good for thus lengthy, and the Ravens will probably be on shakier floor if they don’t make a push within the standings over the following three weeks, when they’ll host the Bengals and Browns sandwiched round a visit to face the so-so New York Giants. They’re taking part in higher than Cincinnati and Cleveland, so now’s the time to financial institution house wins in opposition to their hardest divisional rivals.
Right now, we’re watching a group that would construct on its constructive traits — Jackson’s brilliance, all these turnovers from the protection, Tucker and Duvernay on particular groups — or backslide towards the despair of final season. The remainder of October will reveal the Ravens’ route.
Week 5
BENGALS@RAVENS
Sunday, 8:20 p.m.
TV: Chs. 11, 4
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
Line: Ravens by 3 1/2
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Source: www.bostonherald.com