Baltimore Ravens fall to Buffalo Bills: 3 tough takeaways

2. Pass rush is a huge offseason need:

The Baltimore Ravens had two sacks on Josh Allen. In fact, they seldom came close to getting a quarterback takedown. That is a huge problem. The defense did a somewhat remarkable job in this game. They held Allen and the Bills to just 17 points. The Ravens actually picked up two more first downs than Buffalo did, believe it or not.

This game isn’t on the defense, but the defensive unit didn’t make the big play that changed things. The pass rush was almost a non-factor which put a lot of stress on the secondary. That secondary by the way gets the only game ball the Ravens can realistically award for this playoff defeat.

If you told me that Baltimore would have held the Bills under 20 points I would have told you that the Ravens would be in great shape. I’d just assume victory. If you told me that Allen would have just over 200 yards in the divisional round game, I would have started celebrating. The Bills did just enough to win the game and the main reason for that is that Baltimore did nothing offensively.

Baltimore could lose Yannick Ngakoue and Matt Judon this offseason. That sounds like a bad thing but I’m not sure it is. The Ravens haven’t gotten enough game-changing plays out of either of them. If I’m the Ravens I let Ngakoue leave, sign Allen Robinson and, draft a pass rusher in the first round. That’s having your cake and eating it too. The Ravens would get a great receiver and draft at a position they have a better hit rate at than a wide receiver. That’s a win-win.

The overall point is that the Ravens don’t have enough difference-makers when it comes to the passing game. Not on offense and not on defense. That’s not the way to win Super Bowls and that is why they’ve lost convincingly two divisional rounds in a row. This defense has so much going for it, but the game-changer needs to be added this offseason. The Ravens need an outside linebacker that the rest of the NFL fears.