Samuel Njoku: Ravens Passing Attack Biggest Barrier to Championship
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OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens lost a last-second heartbreaker to the Jacksonville Jaguars 28-27.
A game that many expected Baltimore to win has instead forced them into a tie with Cincinnati for the division lead.
Whether it’s time to panic in Baltimore will depend significantly on expectations.
The Ravens (7-4) may not have the passing attack to compete for a championship.
It would be easy to blame the loss on the Ravens' defense. They were the unit that gave up the game-winning touchdown and for now, it appears that Marcus Peters is the liability opposing offenses will look to exploit. But Baltimore has held firm on the philosophy that defense and running the football can win them a championship.
Considering this philosophy has only afforded them one playoff win in the Lamar Jackson era, it’s easy to see how frustrations can begin to mount. When you couple that with the fact that the playoff win obtained was against another run-first team, it’s not hard to see the dilemma Baltimore finds themselves in.
But if you’re looking for a head coach concerned with frustrations from his quarterback, you won’t find it in John Harbaugh.
“Lamar Jackson hates to lose,” Coach Harbaugh told reporters on Monday. “We all hate to lose, and we hate to not execute, and we all hate to not score touchdowns in the red zone. So, if that's frustration, sure. I don't mind that kind of frustration; I want us to be frustrated with that. I want a bunch of guys who want to win, a bunch of guys who want to execute, who want to get out there and make sure that we look like we know what we're doing, and to be putting points on people, and be getting stops and all those kinds of things.”
That’s a tall task for an offense that doesn’t appear to have an answer for teams who successfully inhibit the effectiveness of their running attack. In previous years, Baltimore could at least make defenses think twice. But until the passing attack improves drastically, you’ll continue to see slow starts that put more pressure on the defense than necessary.
The good news for the Ravens is that losses against inferior opponents typically give them the fuel needed to look inward for a solution to their problems.
If you ask Lamar Jackson, the solution is pretty simple.
"We just have to score more points,” stated Jackson on Sunday. “Try to score more points early if anything. Try not to miss the opportunities. We missed a few opportunities out there. That's it."
With the way the offense has played this year, that’s easier said than done.
