The latest power rankings following their home-opening loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
The majority of national pundits no longer view the Baltimore Ravens as one of the top teams in the league after blowing another two-score lead in the fourth quarter in a deflating 26-23 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, falling to 0-2 for the first time since 2015. Now, it’s time to see where the team lands among the NFL landscape of power rankings heading into Week 3.
ESPN: 13 (Last week: 4)
Hill entered the season as a change-of-pace backup to Derrick Henry but has played 72 snaps through two games, seven more than Henry. In the running game, Hill has averaged 5 yards per carry (25 yards on five rush attempts). In the passing game, he has caught eight passes for 62 yards and provides strong pass protection for QB Lamar Jackson. Last season, team officials referred to Hill as the team’s unsung hero. He has kept that title so far this season.
NFL.com: 9 (Last week: 5)
The Ravens are 0-2. The only time they’ve been in this spot under John Harbaugh was in 2015, when the team collapsed to a 5-11 record. But that Ravens team had a beat-up Joe Flacco as its leading passer, Justin Forsett as its leading rusher and Kamar Aiken as its leading receiver. This team has Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and Zay Flowers, not to mention others who could have been statistical leaders on that 2015 squad. The Ravens led 23-13 with less than 10 minutes left and couldn’t beat the Raiders — the fourth time since 2022 that Baltimore has coughed up a double-digit fourth-quarter lead. The Ravens were bound to take a step back defensively after a huge coaching brain drain on that side of the ball, but they’re leaving too many points on the field.
The Athletic: 17 (Last week: 17)
The Ravens, who were up 23-13 entering the fourth quarter, had 11 penalties for 109 yards. Zay Flowers had seven catches for 91 yards but only one of those catches (for 8 yards) came in the second half. Lamar Jackson, the reigning MVP, has a passer rating of 86.5 through the first two games. Deshaun Watson is the only starter in the AFC North below that.
The Ringer: 6 (Last week: 5)
How can I take this team seriously while it’s starting [checks notes] Daniel Faalele at right guard? For the second straight week, all it took was one talented defensive lineman (this time, Maxx Crosby) picking on an obvious mismatch to totally derail Baltimore’s offense. There are reasons for optimism about the Ravens offense: it did average 5.3 yards per play on first downs, and the heavy dosage of Derrick Henry in Week 2 let me know this team is serious about controlling the game on the ground. Still, this offense gave up two drive-killing sacks and committed several penalties that put the Ravens behind the sticks. This is still one of the NFL’s better rosters, but the margins for error are slim, given this team’s weakness up front.
Yahoo Sports: 9 (Last week: 2)
The Ravens are 0-2 against the AFC West. This is likely the biggest negative surprise in the NFL. They led by 10 late and still lost … in regulation, no less. The team still looks solid, however, and shouldn’t be cast off as pretenders in 2024.
Yahoo Sports: 5 (Last week 4)
The Ravens’ next three games are at Cowboys, vs. Bills and at Bengals. It’s unlikely but not out of the question that Baltimore is 0-5 to start the season. Even being 1-4 would put the Ravens in a massive hole. That loss to the Raiders was really bad for them.
USA Today: 15 (Last week: 4)
They’re the underside of the Harbaughs’ 2024 record, John’s crew suffering another of its infamous fourth-quarter meltdowns Sunday after squandering a double-digit lead yet again. A near miss against the Chiefs and a faceplant against an inferior team mean an 0-2 record.
Sporting News: 9 (Last week 6)
What was that? The Ravens started slowly and finished poorly against the Raiders, pushing them down to a tough 0-2. Penalties and third-down execution were huge culprits. Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and the offense look fine, but the Ravens now face an almost must-win game in Dallas in Week 3.
Fox Sports: 8 (Last week: 6)
The Ravens are an impressive 54-7 when holding a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter during Lamar Jackson’s time as their starting quarterback. Curiously, though, five of those seven losses have come since 2022. These guys simply must improve at crunch-time football, as late-game miscues once again showed up in a perplexing loss to the Raiders.
Pro Football Talk: 14 (Last week: 4)
To get the most out of this year, they need to forget about last year.
The Score: 10 (Last week: 5)
After a quiet season opener, Derrick Henry went for 84 yards on the ground in Week 2. Henry has a success rate of 54.8%, his best since 2020, and 130 yards with 99 coming after contact, per PFF.
The 33rd Team: 15 (Last week: 5)
It’s time to get concerned about the Baltimore Ravens. Going back to the 2023 postseason, they have now lost their last three games, and something about their offense doesn’t seem quite right. They can rack up a bunch of yards with Lamar Jackson, but the points haven’t been there. There was no reason they should have lost to the Raiders at home after 10 days of rest, but they did. They now sit at 0-2 with a road game against Dallas coming up. After finishing as the No. 1 seed last year, Baltimore’s season is already starting to teeter.
Sharp Football Analysis: 9 (Last week: 6)
The Ravens are off to a disappointing 0-2 start, losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1 and the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 2, blowing a 23-13 lead. The Ravens are the only team in the NFL with just one receiver over 100 receiving yards after two games. The tandem of Derrick Henry and Jackson was anticipated to be one of the best ground games in the NFL, but it hasn’t fully materialized in the first two weeks.
CBS Sports: 15 (Last week: 7)
Who saw them at 0-2 after two weeks? Losing to the Chiefs is one thing, but losing to the Raiders at home is another. The offensive line is an issue.
Sports Illustrated: 14 (Last week: 7)
I am a little less certain of the Ravens turning the season around than Cincinnati despite very similar circumstances and, one could argue, a more concerning total team loss sustained by the Bengals. With a stung Dallas team, Buffalo and Cincinnati coming up next, we could either see John Harbaugh in the thick of the playoff hunt or looking at a top-10 pick for the first time since 2016.
Pro Football Network: 8 (Last week: 5)
Losing to the Las Vegas Raiders to slip to 0-2 was not what many people had on their Baltimore Ravens bingo card for Week 2, but here we are. The biggest concern for the Ravens is that every element of their game has posted bad numbers through two weeks, so it is a collective issue rather than just one unit letting them down. They sit 20th in net EPA, 15th offensively, and 23rd defensively. We gave the defense a pass for struggling against the Chiefs in Arrowhead but not for their collapse in the fourth quarter this week. It has all just been very middling and they will consider themselves lucky no one else in their division has looked incredible out of the gate.
Bleacher Report: 14 (Last week: 6)
Had you said before Sunday’s meeting between the Raiders and Ravens that Baltimore would have a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, most would have assumed that the Ravens would cruise to their first win of the season. Instead, Baltimore fell apart defensively late—especially in the secondary. And a team many expected to represent the AFC in Super Bowl LIX is now in very real trouble after starting the season 0-2.
Fansided: 17 (Last week: 6)
The Baltimore Ravens came into Week 2 against the Las Vegas Raiders with a clear objective: shake off the Week 1 Kansas City Chiefs loss and regain form as an AFC frontrunner. For most of the game, the Ravens did just that. They started looking like the team we thought they’d be going into the season. The defense imposed its will on the Raiders offense in the first half, holding them to just six points. However, even though the first-half defense held up its end of the bargain, the same cannot be said for the offense and second-half defense.