The Baltimore Beatdown Staff react to the Ravens’ ugly loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Baltimore Ravens fall to 0-2 on the season after losing their home opener to the Las Vegas Raiders, 26-23. Below are the reactions from those at Baltimore Beatdown.
All the makings of another double-digit fourth quarter blown lead. According to The Associated Press’ Josh Dubow, this is the ninth blown lead of such nature in the John Harbaugh era.
For the Raiders, this is the first time they’ve won a game after being down 10+ in the fourth quarter in 49 straight games.
Being up 10+ points with Lamar Jackson on your offense and one of the expected best defenses should be a simple victory. Instead, the Ravens repeatedly find themselves in dogfights. Dogfights that you’d think the tough, tenacious Ravens should win. But they haven’t.
The Ravens resoundingly outplayed the Raiders in the first half, but went into halftime with a measly lead. The offense failed to score touchdowns and put the Raiders away early, resulting in a lingering team that has the talent to break free. As per the script, late in the third or early in the fourth, the Ravens put together a drive or two that inspired confidence that it will all be good. They’ve made the adjustments and they’ll put a bow on this in short order.
Then, that disappears and suddenly they’re in a dogfight and they get outplayed, outexecuted, out-schemed and outworked. The Raiders crawl back, the offense gives the ball back, and then, of their own volition, the Ravens trip over themselves resulting in a last-minute loss.
In the locker room, tight end Mark Andrews said this is not the Ravens’ nature. But these types of losses have been. Sure, there are minor differences in each one, but it’s the same ending of these stories. What needs to change to stop these abject failures? — Kyle Phoenix
As frustrating as the Ravens’ season-opening loss was to the Chiefs when they nearly completed a late comeback, this loss to the Raiders is even worse because they allowed an inferior team to succeed where they failed a week ago. They were in firm control of this game with a 10-point lead and running game that had finally found its footing, but they failed to finish the deal because of crucial mistakes in all three phases.
John Kelly shouldn’t have brought the kick return out and Derrick Henry should’ve just gotten the ball on third and short instead of trying to sneak Charlie Kolar. Daniel Faalele let Maxx Crosby cross his face on a stunt for a big sack to back them up and then Jordan Stout shanks a punt on the same play a gunner goes out of bounds and stays out of bounds. While the late defensive pass interference on Brandon Stephens was highly questionable, Davante Adams was making too many plays against him in one-on-one coverage. Defensive coordinator Zach Orr should’ve been given him safety help over the top in bracket coverage. They earned this loss because they failed as a team to close it out. — Joshua Reed
It’s a game Ravens fans have watched many times. A trifecta of poor clock management, bad refereeing, and pass coverage has led the reigning AFC North champions to an 0-2 start. After the Ravens went up 10 in the third quarter, they incorrectly assumed the game was over and proceeded to let Gardner Minshew and the Las Vegas Raiders rally to beat them in their own house. The Ravens consistently underperform against subpar teams and this time was no different.
The most urgent matter to fix the Ravens has to be the removal of Daniel Faalele from right guard. Simply put, he’s underperformed badly and allowed multiple pressures today that turned the tide of the game. This is less a detriment to Faalele as it is to the coaching staff, who put an oversized and slow right tackle in at guard. The experiment has failed and they need to adjust fast heading into a must-win game in Dallas. — Stephen Bopst