Ravens Defense Underwhelms in Inexcusable Performance vs. Lions

A week after notching their first win of the season in resounding fashion, the Baltimore Ravens came crashing back down to Earth and got buried underneath it in a 38-30 loss to the Detroit Lions to close out Week 3 of the 2025 season. Unlike their season-opening collapse on the road in Buffalo, they straight up got bullied in Baltimore on their way to falling to 1-2. Here are some of the top takeaways from an uncharacteristically deflating defeat.

Lions Flipped Script On Ravens

During the Lamar Jackson era, the Ravens have been the team that dominates time of possession, owns the line of scrimmage and demoralizes the opposing defense by bludgeoning them with a rushing attack that is both physical and explosive. In Week 3 at home, they got to experience what it's like to be on the opposite end of one of those impressive performances in their loss to the Lions. Their defense got steamrolled for 224 rushing yards, missed 20 tackles according to Next Gen Stats and couldn't consistently get off the field. This led to them losing the time of possession by nearly 10 minutes (33:18-to-26:42) and allowing Detroit to go 7-of-14 on third down and a perfect 3-of-3 on fourth down.

"The biggest problem is we didn't play good run defense; as a defense complete, we didn't do it, and [tonight's effort is] not going to be good enough," head coach John Harbaugh said. "There's nobody in that locker room that thinks that's good enough. That's disappointing. That's bad run defense, and that's not who we are. It cannot be who we are. It's just, it's not going to be good enough. It's not going to be acceptable, and it has to be better."

On the other side of the ball, their offense struggled to sustain drives, run the ball consistently and even when they did score, they did it so quickly that their ailing and underperforming defense barely got a respite. They were held to under 100 rushing yards for the second week in a row and had a disastrous sequence in the red zone where they got the ball to the 1-yard line but couldn't punch it in despite having the best goal-line running back and dual threat quarterback in NFL history. The Lions were simply the more disciplined, well-coached and better prepared team on both sides of the ball, with how well they executed and made the clutch plays in crucial situations.

Pass Rush Was Inconsistent And Nonexistent

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) makes a pass against Baltimore Ravens linebacker Tavius Robinson (95) in Week 3. — Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) makes a pass against Baltimore Ravens linebacker Tavius Robinson (95) during the second half at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With their two Pro Bowl pass rushers out with injury in Nnamdi Madubuike (neck) and Kyle Van Noy (hamstring), the Ravens weren't able to pressure Jared Goff nearly as often as they needed to in order to disrupt the rhythm of the Lions' passing attack. While the four-time Pro Bowl quarterback didn't exactly stuff the stat sheet and finished without a passing touchdown, he had plenty of time far too often and made several timely and incredibly well-placed throws to his pass catchers, whether they were wide open or tightly covered.

The Ravens only logged five quarterback hits, didn't record a single sack and defensive coordinator Zach Orr did not dial up enough effective blitzes to get free rushers on Goff that could've resulted in more negative plays or at least incompletions. Instead, he had a highly efficient, going 20-of-28 for 202 passing yards and a touchdown with a passer rating of 103.6, and didn't get hit often enough to even feel sore on the flight home.

Lamar Jackson Tried To Do Too Much

Detroit Lions defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad (96) sacks Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) in Week 3. — Detroit Lions defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad (96) sacks Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) during the second half at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When just looking at the box score, it's hard to nitpick the overall production from the two-time league MVP after he accounted for over 300 yards of total offense and threw for a trio of touchdowns through the air. However, he wasn't without fault in this game and played a key role in the Ravens' ultimate demise as well. While his pass protection was far from perfect, Jackson held onto the ball way too long waiting for targets to uncover and deserves the bulk of the blame for the 7 sacks he took and the whopping 30 pressures Pro Football Focus credited the Lions with generating.

Jackson refused to throw the ball away instead of taking a loss of yardage and waited too long to finally decide to scramble because by then, the pass rush had finally hustled its way to corralling him or he was tackled after a minimal to no gain. For someone who is unequivocally the best dual-threat quarterback of all-time, he didn't utilize the most unique aspect of his dynamic skillset, his legs, finishing with just 35 rushing yards on 7 carries when he could've had so much more by scrambling for drive-extending first downs.

"[The Lions] were doing stunts, and they had a spy," Jackson said. "Sometimes the spy was grabbing my leg, and that's just what it was. They were dropping into coverage, [and] they had three safeties back there, and I'm just not going to throw a Hail-Mary Ball. I'm going to read the coverage out, and then try to make something happen."

Ravens Best Players Committed Costly Mistakes

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown makes a first down catch against Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey. — Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) makes a catch for a first down against Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey (44) during the second half at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In the past and in their most signature wins over the past eight years during the Jackson-Harbaugh era, the Ravens stars on both sides of the ball shined the brightest in the biggest moments. They consistently came up with momentum-shifting and game-sealing plays, but against the Lions, the exact opposite happened. Several of their best and highest-paid players not only didn't come up with any clutch plays, but they were the culprits of the most critical blunders.

For the third week in a row, five-time Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry had the ball punched out for a fumble, and it occurred at a pivotal point in the fourth quarter for the second time over that snap. After the Ravens defense managed to get one of it's few stops of the game, the offense had a golden opportunity to take the lead with the team only trailing my four points but the future Hall of Famer coughed up the ball on the first play of the ensuing drive after the punt. Detroit extended its lead to seven points with a field goal five plays later and following another demoralizing three-and-out, the defense gave up the dagger touchdown drive to put the game away.

Even with Madubuike and Van Noy out, the Ravens still had a trio of All Pro defenders on the field in this game with inside linebacker Roquan Smith, cornerback Marlon Humphrey and safety Kyle Hamilton. Yet, none of them played up to the standard of how this defense has historically performed, not just at home and with the all-black uniforms but in primetime with the entire nation tuning in.

The Lions picked up the bulk of their yardage running between the tackles, where Smith and the rest of the front seven got pushed around and lacked consistent aggression. Even though Hamilton finished as the team's leading tackler with 9, he struggled to bring down ball carriers when they had a full head of steam. Both he and Humphrey had a rough night in coverage, especially against All Pro wide receiver Aman-Ra St. Brown, who beat them both for key fourth-down conversions and scored a touchdown when one of them was late getting over and the other was in poor position to prevent the slot fade completion for a score.

Of the five worst-graded defenders on the team per PFF, four of them were second-contract players. Smith came in second with 27.9, Hamilton third with a 29.3 and Humphrey rounding out the top 5 with a 30.1. Topping the list was starting nose tackle Travis Jones with a 26 overall grade, and he was one of several players in contract years or with the opportunity to step up, but failed miserably to do so in this loss.

"No excuses can be made at this point," Hamilton said. "If it's not one thing, it's another. We just have to patch everything up right now. [We] can't just take it for granted. Our run defense, it's been pretty good the whole time I've been here, but when a team runs a ball like that, it just demoralizes you more than passing the ball. They're challenging you mentally [and] physically, so it's on us as a defense just to put that fire out ASAP, and we didn't do that."

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