The Baltimore Ravens lost to the Buffalo Bills on Saturday night. For the second year in a row, the purple and black have fallen in the divisional round. Last year it was 28-12 at the hands of the Tennesee Titans. This year it was 17-3 by the Buffalo Bills. What a difference a year doesn’t make, right? Here are three tough takeaways from the loss:
1. There just isn’t enough talent on offense:
The Baltimore Ravens have to go through another offseason with major questions about Lamar Jackson. Great. One week ago the Ravens were tearing down narratives, now the narratives get to come back into play. While Lamar Jackson doesn’t get a pass (He didn’t play particularly well) this isn’t all on him.
The offense doesn’t have enough talent. The offensive line got completely worked in this game, with bad snaps basically acting as the insurance policy for their demise. For the second year in a row, dropped passes were a problem in the divisional round of the playoffs.
There is a lot of focus on Jackson when it comes to the frustrations with the passing game. Well, when you have no pass protection, that’s a problem. When the only two legitimate weapons you have at wide receiver and tight end are Marquise Brown and Mark Andrews, you have a problem. When Mark Andrews sees his hands fail him in the postseason well, you get the parallel structure that I’m going for here. The Ravens have problems.
Willie Snead led the Ravens in receptions. He had five of these hard to come by things called receptions. He picked up just 25 yards. Marquise Brown had four receptions for 87 yards. Brown has had an up and down season, yet he showed up again in the postseason. If you recall, Brown had seven receptions for 126 yards in last year’s playoff game.
Brown gets some credit for showing up, yet the Ravens are still desperately short at the wide receiver position. They need to get a true number one. With a true top target, Brown could be a rock-solid number two receiver. Jackson would have a wide receiver with a good catch radius.
Jackson isn’t off the hook. Neither is Greg Roman (that’s for a different article). That being said the Ravens can’t say it can’t work with Jackson. They can’t give him this offense to work with, one of the most affordable offensive units in the NFL, and say they gave him the tools he needed.
There are a lot of quarterbacks who would want an upgraded set of skill position players. This entire offense is Jackson’s magic and a couple of running backs. That’s it. Admitting that Jackson needs more help doesn’t mean that you don’t acknowledge he had a bad game.
Until the offense actually is built, the way it should be, it isn’t fair to the franchise quarterback. Jackson played a frustrating game before suffering a nasty-looking concussion. Jackson didn’t have enough help around him. Both things are true. Jackson has two more years on his rookie deal. The Ravens have to invest in him now, while his contract is affordable.