The Ravens can't seem to avoid adversity, and now they face more.
Sunday's 27-22 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers may have gone a different way if several controversial calls had not gone against Baltimore. But the reality is that the Ravens have fallen to 6-7, and a team with Super Bowl aspirations is fighting for its playoff life after two straight home losses to AFC North rivals.
After the game, Lamar Jackson was asked to describe his level of frustration.
"Through the roof," he said.
Jackson and Head Coach John Harbaugh were engaged in a deep, private conversation when the media entered the locker room at M&T Bank Stadium following the game. They were in the corner of the room near Jackson's locker, which seemed fitting with the Ravens now backed into a corner.
Jackson and Harbaugh have been through many things together, and they are fighters. The Ravens still have four games left and only trail the Steelers (7-6) by one game in the AFC North. Nobody is giving in, but the Ravens must start winning to keep their season from ending sooner than expected.
Here are my five thoughts on the Ravens as they try to regroup after another tough loss:
Losing at home is costing the Ravens dearly.
Baltimore is 3-5 at home. That's just not good enough for a team trying to secure a playoff spot.
Heading into their Thanksgiving home game against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Ravens had won five straight games and had the Bengals and Steelers coming into their house. The opportunity to take control of the division was there, and Baltimore didn't do it.
The damage of starting the season 1-5 is a debt that the Ravens are still paying off. Losing five of their first six gave them little margin for error, even after their five-game winning streak pulled them back into the race.
Baltimore only has one home game left, Week 16 against the New England Patriots. Even if the Ravens don't win that game, they have ensured themselves of having a losing record at home for the first time since 2015.
If the Ravens don't make the playoffs, their inability to win more on their home turf will be a huge reason why.
The Ravens' frustration with the officiating is understandable but they must move on.
Three controversial calls, all of them critical, went against the Ravens.
It started in the second quarter, when Travis Jones was called for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty for running into the snapper on Chris Boswell's 32-yard field goal.
After that highly suspect call, the Steelers took Boswell's field goal off the board, and Kenneth Gainwell scored on a 6-yard touchdown run on the very next play. Instead of leading 13-3, the touchdown gave the Steelers a 17-3 lead, a huge momentum swing in their favor.
Two more critical calls went against Baltimore in the fourth quarter, both overturned by replay officials. The most critical was Jackson's 13-yard pass to Isaiah Likely, which would have given Baltimore a 28-27 lead with 2:47 to play if the touchdown stood. It didn't.
Earlier in the quarter, a pass by Aaron Rodgers was deflected by Ravens defensive tackle C.J. Okoye, and linebacker Teddye Buchanan and Rodgers wrestled for the football as they fell to the ground.
The call on the field was an interception by Buchanan, but it was reversed and Pittsburgh maintained possession. Instead of an interception that would've given Baltimore the ball at Pittsburgh's 32-yard line, the Steelers kept possession, still holding a five-point lead.
The Ravens disagreed with each of those rulings and rightfully so. But it won't change their situation. Losing sleep over it won't help, especially when they probably can't afford to lose any more games.
Not scoring more touchdowns in the red zone is hurting the Ravens.
The Ravens scored touchdowns on just two of six trips to the red zone against the Steelers. That continued their season-long pattern of not being efficient enough in the red zone.
On three trips to the red zone in the fourth quarter, the Ravens settled for two field goals and turned the ball over on downs.
A team with Jackson (19 for 35, 219 yards, one touchdown, one interception), Derrick Henry (25 carries, 94 yards), Zay Flowers (eight catches, 124 yards), and many other talented weapons expected to have one of the NFL's most explosive offenses. However, the Ravens have now gone six straight games without scoring at least 30 points.
It was encouraging to see Jackson (seven carries, 43 yards) moving better than he had been in recent games, and he may be able to use his legs more down the stretch. However, every aspect of Baltimore's offense needs to become more consistent – the offensive line play, the rushing attack, and the passing attack. The Ravens' offense needs to put more stress on opposing defenses to avoid more stressful Sundays.
Rodgers isn't done being a problem and neither are the Steelers.
Now at 42 years old, Rodgers threw for a season-high 294 yards and one touchdown. He had his best game of the season in a big spot and hurt the Ravens with big plays.
Though the Steelers entered the game struggling to hit big plays, Rodgers hit four passes for over 30 yards, including a 52-yard connection to DK Metcalf on the Steelers' first offensive play of the game to set up a touchdown. Metcalf finished with 148 receiving yards on seven catches.
The Steelers signed Rodgers and traded for Metcalf as part of an offseason retool to stop the Ravens from winning a third straight AFC North title. The Steelers haven't clinched anything yet, but they have now clearly emerged as the biggest obstacle standing between Baltimore and the playoffs.
The division title may come down to Week 18, when the Ravens will get another crack at the Steelers in Pittsburgh. But in this game, Rodgers raised his career record to 4-0 against the Ravens as a starter and showed he was more than capable of being a problem for Baltimore's defense.
Extra Points:
- Keaton Mitchell had 76 yards on six carries, including a 55-yard run in the third quarter, but left the game with a knee injury. Harbaugh said Mitchell would be further evaluated on Monday.
- Henry went over 1,000 yards in a season for the seventh time in his career.
- Roquan Smith led the Ravens with 10 tackles, but they failed to register a sack against Rodgers, who ducked under rookie Mike Green to avoid a potential sack.
- The Ravens' defense didn't force a takeaway, as Jackson's second-quarter interception was the game's only turnover. Jackson was picked off by his cousin, Steelers cornerback James Pierre.
- Baltimore fell to 2-2 in the AFC North, with their only two victories coming against the Cleveland Browns.
