The Lions offense is excellent, but the Ravens defense is taking another hard early-season look in the mirror after another rough performance.
Head Coach John Harbaugh, safety Kyle Hamilton, and cornerback Marlon Humphrey were all frank about the lackluster defense after a 38-30 loss on "Monday Night Football" at M&T Bank Stadium.
The Lions' 224 rushing yards were the third-most any team has had against the Ravens during the Harbaugh era (since 2008).
Detroit running back David Montgomery broke through the middle of Baltimore's defense for a 72-yard run, ran for a career-high 151 yards, and scored two touchdowns. Fellow running back Jahmyr Gibbs also scored two touchdowns on the ground.
Baltimore's secondary was carved up by Josh Allen in the fourth quarter of a Week 1 loss. This time, it was Detroit's ground game that set the table. The Ravens had 20 missed tackles, per Next Gen Stats.
"There's nobody in that locker room that thinks that's good enough," Harbaugh said. "That's disappointing. That's bad run defense, and that's not who we are. It cannot be who we are. It's not going to be acceptable, and it has to be better."
The Lions pretty much executed their game plan offensively. They ran the ball effectively, kept Jared Goff clean, and converted on third (and fourth) down. Detroit played clean football and executed in almost every clutch situation.
"I feel like they kind of did whatever they wanted to do all night," Humphrey said. "They just simply executed better than us and we never got them off schedule. … We're just not very good."
The Lions offense marched down the field on back-breaking 98- and 96-yard drives. The first drained 10:48 off the clock. The second came at the end of the third quarter when the game was still tied at 21. On the first play of the fourth quarter, the Lions used a crafty play on fourth-and-1 with Amon-Ra St. Brown pitching the ball to Gibbs for a 4-yard touchdown.
"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."
The Ravens were without two Pro Bowlers Monday night: defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike (neck) and Kyle Van Noy (hamstring). Those are big losses. While their absences were obviously a factor, the Ravens aren't using it as an excuse.
"Shame on us if we need a Pro Bowl guy to play good defense," Hamilton said. "I think we have a plethora of guys who have accolades, but there are teams in the league that don't have that and play good defense."
Baltimore's defense got zero sacks on Goff, as he operated in rhythm for much of the night. The Lions, meanwhile, had seven sacks on Lamar Jackson.
"We sent some number five-man rushes. We had a couple six-man rushes," Harbaugh said. "We have to get a better pass rush. There's no doubt about it."
The Ravens gave up 41 points to the Bills in Week 1. They put the clamps on former quarterback Joe Flacco and the Browns offense in Week 2, but when a high-flying offense came to town, it owned the day.
Baltimore will travel to Kansas City next week to take on Patrick Mahomes and a Chiefs team that also sits at 1-2. On a short week, Baltimore's defense has plenty to clean up.
"We're not trying to reinvent the wheel. We just have to go play football. It's probably not a good answer, but it's running and it's hitting, and we have to run and hit better," Hamilton said.
"I don't think the sky is falling, but we have a big one next week on a short week, so it's up to us to be professionals [to] go out and get a win."
