The Ravens head into their bye at 1-5 with plenty to work on.
The team will practice on Tuesday and Wednesday and coaches will be in the office longer than that to work on "how we organize ourselves and craft our schemes," Head Coach John Harbaugh said.
Here are some items on the Ravens' fix-it-list:
Get healthy.
The most important aspect of the Ravens' bye is getting healthy, particularly getting two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson back.
Harbaugh expects that to happen against the Chicago Bears on Oct. 26, but it's not a guarantee at this point. Hamstring injuries never are.
"If I was on the couch with a psychiatrist right now, if I was spilling it, I would have to say I'm leaning really hard into [Jackson returning] – really hard," Harbaugh said.
The Ravens' other injury returners include Pro Bowl linebacker Roquan Smith and cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, who are both also trying to come back from hamstring injuries. Awuzie was a limited practice participant last week and Smith was seen getting in a pre-practice workout, so it seems returns are not too far off.
Fullback Patrick Ricard (calf) is another player the Ravens are hoping to get back against the Bears, but Harbaugh said he doesn’t know if that will happen.
Turn around the turnovers.
Besides injuries, the biggest reason the Ravens are 1-5 is their penchant for committing and not causing turnovers.
The Ravens are tied with the winless New York Jets for the worst turnover differential in the league (-7).
Baltimore is tied for the third-most turnovers (10) and tied for the third-fewest takeaways (three). The Ravens have five fumbles lost and five interceptions. They have recovered two fumbles and grabbed one interception.
"You can't win by turning the ball over. You can't win by not getting turnovers, and we haven't gotten turnovers. You want to look at why the record is the way it is; start with that," Harbaugh said.
None of the Ravens' issues are easy fixes, but the turnovers problem is a particularly challenging one to understand and reverse. It has clearly been the Ravens' main stumbling block in the playoffs in recent years and was a major focus in Baltimore's offseason efforts to get over the hump.
The Ravens had creating more takeaways in mind when making personnel moves, such as the first-round selection of playmaking safety Malaki Starks. In meeting rooms and practices, defensive coaches preached getting takeaways and offensive coaches preached protecting the football.
Yet Derrick Henry's fumble in Buffalo was especially heartbreaking, and another fumble against the Lions short-circuited a comeback attempt. A Jackson interception turned the tide in Kansas City and his fumble started the rout. Three Cooper Rush interceptions were part of a lopsided loss to the Texans. Two Zay Flowers fumbles were very costly in the loss to the Rams.
"We've never been a fumbling team. Now, all of a sudden, we fumble; that's surprising, but it's happening way too much, so it has to stop," Harbaugh said. "That's the responsibility of everybody, but it's mainly the responsibility of the person who has the ball in their hands, and they all know that, and they're very conscientious. So, it has to get done."
Harbaugh said the fumbles are more of a physical problem than mental.
"To me, it couldn't be more emphasized in practice or games. It just couldn't be, but we're going to have to find a way to make it more important, because it's happening too much," Harbaugh said.
"You coach the technique of it. You coach the mental part of it, in terms of [being] conscious about it and being very conscientious about it, which they are, but you have to think about it in battle."
Improve in offensive short-yardage and goal-line situations.
Harbaugh said short-yardage and goal-line situations are the "No. 1 thing on my mind" after the Ravens were stuffed on the goal line in their 17-3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
The Ravens were stopped on back-to-back "tush pushes" and went backward on a fourth-down run by Henry. If Baltimore scored there before halftime, it would've been a different game.
"We should be way better than we are," Harbaugh said. "We've never struggled in those areas [before], and I don't really understand why we are [now]."
Harbaugh said the Ravens are "looking at every aspect of it – scheme, keeping people more off balance, effectively running a quarterback sneak, which was really disappointing."
The Ravens have been in goal-line situations from the 2-yard line or inside four times with a total of 10 snaps. They scored a touchdown on one and committed a false start penalty on another. On the other eight, they were stuffed running, had an incomplete pass, or took a sack.
Besides goal-line situations, the Ravens have had 14 other snaps on third- or fourth-and-2 or below. They have converted first downs (or touchdowns) on five.
Thus, in 24 "clutch" short-yardage snaps (goal line, third down, or fourth down), the Ravens have converted six times (25%).
The two touchdowns were a 2-yard pass to Devontez Walker on fourth down against the Browns that broke the game open in the third quarter. The other was a 28-yard touchdown run by Henry on third-and-1 against the Lions. Baltimore also scored on 1st-and-goal from the 3-yard line on a touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman versus the Lions.
The league average on third-down conversions with 2 or fewer yards to go is 62.4%, per TruMedia. In goal-to-go situations, the league average is 32% on third down and 64% on fourth down. The Ravens are well below the league averages.
"If we want to have a chance, we have to get that fixed," Harbaugh said. "That should have been fixed. We've been talking about fixing it for weeks, and we've been trying to fix it for weeks, but we haven't done a good job."
Look at potential changes on the offensive line.
Part of the issue with not converting in short-yardage or goal-line situations has been ineffective blocking up front.
After scoring just three points against the Rams, Harbaugh was asked for a second straight week whether the Ravens are considering making changes on their offensive line.
"Absolutely. We're considering those kind of options for sure," Harbaugh said. "That's kind of what the bye week is for. I think it helps you with that."
Left guard Andrew Vorhees had his best game of the season against the Rams, according to Pro Football Focus. Right guard Daniel Faalele has had his two lowest grades of the year the past two weeks.
Veteran Ben Cleveland, backup center Corey Bullock, and third-round rookie Emery Jones Jr. would be options to step into the starting lineup. However, this will be Jones' first week of pass blocking, Harbaugh said. The rookie is still ramping up after missing the entire offseason recovering from shoulder surgery.
"He's only been practicing for a week, so there's a lot that goes into knowing what you're supposed to do under fire and pass protection. … But, we're trying to get him up to speed as quickly as we possibly can, so he's [available]," Harbaugh said.
"As soon as we feel like a guy like him or anybody else is really ready or the best guy for it, we would do it. We do have a couple of veteran guys [on] the offensive line that have been practicing that would have a shot that we'll take a look at this week and see how they look. That stuff is definitely on the table."
Generate more pressure on quarterbacks.
After notching the second-most sacks in the league last year, only two teams have fewer sacks than the Ravens' eight through the first five games.
It's not just sacks. The Ravens rank 28th in the NFL with a 28.6% pressure rate, per Next Gen Stats.
The loss of defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike to a season-ending neck injury after two games was a big blow. Losing outside linebacker Tavius Robinson to a broken foot for six to eight weeks is another shot. Madubuike and Robinson are tied for the team lead with two sacks each.
Harbaugh said the Ravens will look at all options for adding another outside linebacker, but pointed to a couple of practice squad players (Malik Hamm and Kaimon Rucker) who could step up. Barring a big trade deadline move, the Ravens have who they have in the front seven.
"It's been a challenge all year to generate pressure, so we are going to have to manufacture pressure," Harbaugh said. "But also, our guys are going to have to step up and create pressure on the four-man rush.
"We do it with simulated pressures, too, a lot of times; we did that in the [last] game. We were able to move [Matthew] Stafford out of the pocket a few times and hurry him up a few times, which I thought was really good, even with four-man rushes and [simulations], but we also had a few blitzes in there, too, that were good. So, we have to build off of those things and do the job with the guys that we have."
