Baltimore Ravens fall to Patriots: Good, bad and lots of ugly

The Ugly:

The Patriots went on a 10 play 75-yard scoring drive to close out their offensive showing of the first half. A trick play got Jakobi Myers a touchdown pass got the Patriots the go-ahead touchdown. It was a down-right laughable effort from the defense in the first half.

So how do the Ravens follow it up? Jackson got sacked on the first play of the subsequent drive. It set the Ravens behind the eightball with less than half a minute to go until the intermission. Baltimore got the first down, but they really didn’t make things easy on themselves. Instead of finishing the drive though, Lamar Jackson gave up an interception to J.C. Jackson. Blame whomever you want, it happened.

In a game where the Ravens picked up about 60 percent of their third-down conversions, the Ravens went into halftime down 13-10. In a game where the Ravens held the ball for 17
minutes of the first two quarters, they had just 10 points.

The defense was getting bullied. That continued into the third quarter. New England moved right down the field and before you knew it the score was 20-10. The Ravens were comfortable favorites getting embarrassed. When it rains it pours right? That wasn’t just true with the weather, but with the third quarter as well.

On a fourth-down attempt, the Ravens had a bad snap and turned the ball over on downs. Instead of being able to get one yard, they lost yards and put a struggling defense in a bad spot. Great…just wonderful, right? This was a bad feeling for the Ravens Flock, it looked like it was crumbling right then, right there.

Then right after that, Matt Judon had a personal foul on a defenseless receiver. The Patriots had a first and goal with a 10 point lead. Baltimore forced a field goal, and the Ravens were down 13 with less than half of the third quarter remaining. The Ravens put on a clinic on how to lose a game they should have won. They put a great display of what not to do in a football game.

So what does the offense do next? They get a big Andrews catch called back for an illegal formation penalty and a Snead dropped pass. After a first down, Jackson dropped a snap and basically wasted a down. Even when things started working, it was ugly and the weather may have been even uglier than the actual game.

When the Ravens had a chance to go win the game on offense Matt Skura had a bad snap that put them in an impossible situation. Then the Ravens had to punt with four minutes and change left, which meant they were desperate for a quick stop. The stop didn’t come quickly and everything boiled down to a third down, after the two-minute warning.

It was the most important third down of the season to this point. Getting to that place was a very uncomfortable situation and the Ravens’ inability to make things easier by just doing the little things right was their biggest problem. The Ravens didn’t get the offense the ball until there were only one minute and five seconds on the clock.

The Ravens had a holding penalty on the first play of the deciding drive. It put the ball on the eight-yard line. A quick completion to Mark Andrews kept the clock running and desperation was there in full force. On fourth down with two seconds left, Dobbins dropped a pass that probably wouldn’t have done much for them anyway. It was a perfect way to end the ugliest Ravens game that could somehow be this close.