MNF was a brutal wake-up call for the Baltimore Ravens, who got away from that they did best and looked like a shell of the team they should be.
In recent years, the Baltimore Ravens have embarrassed more teams than they’ve been embarrassed themselves. When they do get embarrassed, however, it’s in brutal fashion.
Baltimore’s Monday Night Football performance against the Kansas City Chiefs was another example of this and perhaps it’s most upsetting in the Lamar Jackson era. Despite being at home to host the defending Super Bowl champs, the Ravens couldn’t put together hardly anything throughout the game. It had a terrific opening drive, even though it only netted them three points. After that, everything began to spiral downwards. Baltimore proceeded to punt its next three drives, two of which were three-and-outs. The Ravens also turned the ball over via fumble by Jackson. It was a downright ugly performance.
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There were some bright spots, such as the aforementioned opening drive. Baltimore marched right down the field, but opted to kick a field goal rather than go for it on fourth and three; a mark the team likely would’ve gone for it just last season. There was a 93-yard kick return touchdown from Devin Duvernay sprinkled in there, but that doesn’t have to do with the offense. The point is that the offense got away from what it does best when it needed it to be at its best.
Offensive coordinator Greg Roman has some serious explaining to do. The Ravens averaged over 7.5 YPC on the night despite giving its running backs just 12 carries. Considering this is the best rushing attack in football, this is an inexcusable offense.
The worst part about the play-calling was that the passing game couldn’t deliver. Yes, receivers were dropping easy passes, but overall the plays simply weren’t there, whereas the run game was alive and well. Rather than stick to what was working, Roman decided to go against the grain and force a square peg into a round hole. That only worsened the night for Baltimore.
The night seemingly couldn’t get better between missed opportunities and an uneven attack. It was the biggest downfall of the night, as the defense became tired and gave up too many big plays. Perhaps that could’ve changed if the offense could’ve done anything to help out.
The Baltimore Ravens luckily play an underwhelming Washington Football Team this weekend, so a rebound could be in store. The top priority for this offense needs to be getting back into a groove with what it does best and gaining back its confidence. Do this, and we should have no problems moving forward.