Have Ravens Hit 'Rock Bottom' With Blowout Loss to Texans?
The discussion about the Ravens the past few years has been about whether the perennial contenders can finally get over the hump. Five weeks into the season, the question is whether they've hit rock bottom.
After Sunday's 44-10 loss to the Houston Texans at M&T Bank Stadium dropped the Ravens to 1-4, the preseason Super Bowl favorites find themselves on the list of eight teams that have yet to win multiple games.
There's no denying that the Ravens have been decimated by injuries, as seven Pro Bowlers from last season were inactive (quarterback Lamar Jackson, safety Kyle Hamilton, inside linebacker Roquan Smith, cornerback Marlon Humphrey, left tackle Ronnie Stanley, fullback Pat Ricard, defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike), but the players will be the first ones to tell you that's no excuse.
"I just watched the 49ers have injuries and go out there and play football. [There are] no excuses for injuries," outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy said. "[As] professionals, you get paid to play, so [we] have to play better."
Here's what pundits said about the stunning loss and the state of the Ravens:
The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec: "For much of Sunday, the Ravens looked more like a team that could compete for the first overall draft pick come April. They were that bad in all three phases in a game where they trailed 24-3 at halftime and 34-3 just past the midpoint of the third quarter. It tied for the biggest home defeat in franchise history and was the third biggest loss overall. The Ravens sent about 75 percent of what was announced of a crowd of 70,077 to the exits by the start of the fourth quarter, a rare regular-season sight at M&T Bank Stadium. If this wasn't rock bottom, it's going to be a very long next three months."
The Baltimore Sun’s Tim Schwartz: "With their backs against the wall, they looked completely and utterly lost and showed no lessons learned from their first four games. This feels like rock bottom, but with the Rams coming into town next week, perhaps there's more earth to move to find a new low."
The Baltimore Banner’s Jonas Shaffer: "It was hard to be optimistic about the Ravens' Super Bowl aspirations last week, but it wasn't hard to muster optimism about Sunday's game. Sure, their injury list was long and expensive, but they would still have a handful of impressive playmakers on offense and, besides, John Harbaugh had managed debilitating roster crunches before. In 2020, the Ravens were roiled by COVID-19 and injury, but they played the Steelers close on the road in a late-season game. On Sunday, the Ravens bottomed out fast and hard. Cooper Rush looked like the turnover-prone player we'd seen in the preseason. The Ravens' ground game could barely open a hole for Derrick Henry. Their run defense couldn't stop a terrible Texans ground game. Their pass defense looked clueless against play-action. Even their special teams had ill-timed mistakes."
Baltimore Beatdown’s Nikhil Mehta: "No matter how low expectations were for the Ravens heading into Sunday's game, they found a way to disappoint on every level. They didn't go down swinging; they went down missing tackles, committing penalties, and looking completely [outmatched] against a Texans team that has not been good – certainly not that good – to start the year. Could Baltimore get healthier and bounce back with a soft post-bye schedule? It's possible, but it doesn't seem likely. Something has to change, and there are no easy solutions in the NFL. This season is quickly sliding away from the Ravens."
Bleacher Report’s Timothy Rapp: "There are losses, though, and then there are embarrassments, and Sunday was the latter. Injuries are not an excuse to get absolutely shellacked, especially against an offense that has been pretty mediocre for large stretches of the season. The Ravens have a major uphill climb to return to contender status. Right now, the team just needs to find a way to get a single win."
The Baltimore Banner’s Childs Walker: "Maybe Jackson returns next week and the Ravens pull themselves out of an early grave against a very good Rams team. But right now it's hard not to feel this season is over with 12 games to go, a stunning fall for a team picked by so many pundits to win the Super Bowl. Injuries contributed mightily to their tumble but can't explain just how little fight they mustered Sunday."
Another Struggling Offense Gets Right Against Ravens Defense
For the second week in a row, there was hope that the Ravens' beleaguered, banged-up defense could get right against an offense that was struggling.
And for the second week in a row, it was the opposing offense that got right against the Ravens defense.
Last week, the Kansas City Chiefs scored 37 points against the Ravens after averaging 20 points in their first three games. The Texans entered Sunday's game averaging 16 points and nearly tripled that number.
The Baltimore Sun’s Brian Wacker: "As much as the Texans' offense has struggled this year — 29th in points, 25th in yards — playing against a bunch of second-teamers really exposed the difference between NFL starters and backups, particularly when so many of the latter are first-year players. Baltimore came into this season with perhaps the most talented team of starters on paper, but on grass has been continually exposed. With the Ravens down eight starters on Sunday, this quickly turned into a get-right game for Houston and quarterback C.J. Stroud. Worse yet, Baltimore showed little fight, with a slew of missed tackles, an inability to get off blocks and making the kinds of mistakes that you usually see during training camp."
ESPN’s Jamison Hensley: "With three Pro Bowl defenders sidelined by injury (S Kyle Hamilton, LB Roquan Smith and CB Marlon Humphrey), it didn't seem like a fair fight. But the Ravens defense didn't show much fight either, even after Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr called for more physicality this week. Baltimore allowed five touchdowns to a Texans team that had only six touchdowns total on the season. This marks the most points allowed by the Ravens in a home game under Head Coach John Harbaugh."
Press Box’s Bo Smolka: "From General Manager Eric DeCosta on down, the Ravens throughout the spring and summer touted the depth of their roster, and the impact their young players could make if called upon. Well, they were called upon in this game, and they were badly overmatched. Maybe the totality of the task was too much. Maybe asking multiple young, unproven players to take over the defense was a stress point too far, because breakdowns occurred at every level. Run defenders didn't get off blocks, the tackling was subpar again and the Texans ran for 166 yards, averaging 5.0 yards a carry. The inside linebackers got lost in coverage, took bad angles and weren't physical enough. The secondary, which featured two undrafted rookies in the starting nickel package, was a step behind Stroud and the Texans' receivers all day."
Offense Faltered Without Jackson
It was a tough day for the offense, too.
Rush threw three interceptions in his first start as a Raven, and the running game had its worst showing yet, mustering just 44 yards on 19 carries (2.3 yards per carry). Henry had 15 carries, his second-highest total this season, but gained just 33 yards.
"On paper, it was a bad matchup for Cooper Rush to make his first start in a Ravens jersey. That played out on the gridiron," NFL.com’s Kevin Patra wrote. "Rush was under siege and could not establish a rhythm against a stout Texans defense. Between self-inflicted mistakes and penalties, Baltimore never gave itself much of a chance on Sunday. With little run help to speak of, Rush never found consistency, forced to mostly short throws. Of his 179 passing yards, 85 came on two plays (47.5%).
"The second drive of the second half underscored the Ravens' issues. Following a Rush INT, the Ravens attempted to jumpstart Derrick Henry. Three straight runs, however, only netted eight yards. Lined up to go for it on fourth-and-2 down 31-3, Baltimore false-started and was forced to punt. A big [56]-yard pass to Zay Flowers, followed by a short Henry TD, gave some life late in the third quarter, but it was far too little, far too late. The veteran running back was surprisingly still taking handoffs deep into the fourth quarter of a blowout. If Henry is going to stay on the struggle bus, Baltimore's offense will find it hard to move the ball as long as Lamar Jackson is out."
Pundits Say Ravens' Season Isn't Lost Yet
CBS Sports' Ran Carthon isn't writing off the Ravens as a playoff team just yet.
"Is Baltimore out of it? No," Carthon said. "But they're going to have a hell of a hill to climb whenever Lamar gets back when you're dropping games at this rate and you're playing the rest of the season chasing."
Smolka said there is a path for the Ravens to get their season back on track, but it has to start with knocking off a dangerous and rested Rams team that is coming off a surprising loss to the injury-depleted 49ers on Thursday.
"If the Ravens find a way to win, and get Jackson and some other injured players back coming out of the bye, they will have a chance to build a little momentum [through] a middle portion of the schedule that looks relatively softer than the opening month — especially with the Bengals reeling without quarterback Joe Burrow," Smolka wrote. "The Ravens host the Bengals on Thanksgiving night and play them again two weeks later in Cincinnati.
"Coming out of the bye, the Ravens host the Chicago Bears (2-2) and go to Miami (1-4). Over the next six weeks they also face the Cleveland Browns (1-4) and New York Jets (0-5). That might give the Ravens a chance to get right. Then again, those teams might look at the Ravens and say the exact same thing."
