Samuel Njoku: Ravens Scuffling Offense Being Exposed
BALTIMORE — What a difference a week makes.
The Ravens followed up their admirable performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a putrid offensive showing against one of the lesser teams in football — the Cleveland Browns.
The 13-3 loss all but canceled any hopes of the Ravens competing for the one seed. It also makes the January 8th meeting against Cincinnati a must-win if they’re thinking about winning the division.
That’s the least of their worries right now.
The worst-kept secret in the NFL is out and on full display. Offensively, the Ravens have one of the worst units in NFL history. Lamar Jackson masks so many of the deficiencies on full display Saturday that Steve Bisciotti should be mentally assessed for holding out on paying him – it’s that bad.
But it’s not just the personnel that need serious attention. The abnormalities associated with the play calling have been placed at the forefront of the team’s struggles.
Defensively, Cleveland struggled mightily to stop the run. They were on their heels for the majority of the first half. But Baltimore continued to attempt passes in junctures of the game that were unwarranted. For a team that swears on running the ball and playing defense, they managed to pass the ball 30 times. That’s unacceptable to put that pressure on your backup QB, especially when your leading rusher is averaging 9.6 yards a carry.
“I will say this, we did the things that we do well, well, once again, stated G Kevin Zeitler after Saturday’s game. “Classic Ravens football. But some of the things that have been biting us came back to bite us once again. The inability to score.”
He’s not wrong. Nobody in the NFL scored fewer points than the Baltimore Ravens in Week 15. Even John Harbaugh was pretty blunt about it after the loss against Cleveland.
“We have to put up more points – bottom line, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “We have to do things better in terms of moving the ball through the air, making plays in the red zone, not turning the ball over. Those are all things that will cost you a game in December, and that's what happened.”
The Ravens had all offseason to improve the passing game and now the consequences of failing to do so are rearing its ugly head. They have no passing attack. Compared to Kansas City and Buffalo, the Ravens simply do not compare. Both the concepts and playmakers on the team are underwhelming. The results of which are fewer touchdowns and boring football.
“We just have to start scoring touchdowns,” Harbaugh continued. “You can’t turn the ball over; you have to run routes the right way to get between defenders and free the ball; you can’t fumble the ball; you have to put the ball away when you’re getting up field. That’s winning football; our guys know that. It starts with that. We have to just have a better passing game, basically. It’s not a good enough passing game right now across the board to do the things that we’re hoping to do.”
Right now the hope is to win the Super Bowl. And Harbaugh believes the changes needed in order to do that can be accomplished with the pieces he has in the locker room. He may not be wrong. But it’s going to take a whole lot of grit from the defense and a multitude of exceptional plays from Lamar Jackson – whenever he returns.
“We are frustrated for sure,” Ravens running back J.K. Dobbins said. “Everything we want is still in front of us. We are going to keep stacking. We are going to take it game by game.”
If they have any hopes of winning the division, stacking wins must start right now.
