ExtremeRavens Posted December 2 Posted December 2 The Eagles cracked the Ravens in the fourth quarter after an afternoon of empty drives from the league’s most efficient offense and another pair of brutal missed kicks by Justin Tucker. Here are five things we learned from Baltimore’s 24-19 loss to Philadelphia: Lamar Jackson was angry … and eager for what’s next Jackson smacked his hand against the podium, reliving the three hours of exasperation he had just experienced. His mother gave it to him straight after the Ravens’ league-best offense sputtered through most of a loss to brash, bruising visitors from Philadelphia. Felicia Jones saw the running lanes open in front of her son, only to go unused. “She just cussed me out,” Jackson said. He dropped some profanity of his own, a rarity for him on the postgame podium. “I’m sorry for this,” he said. “I’m just mad, because I feel like we should win these games, and we’re not getting it done.” Jackson came into the weekend leading the league in passing yards, touchdown passes and passer rating. His offense came in leading in points and yards per game. So it’s not as if he’s had a lot to be outraged about this season. But here he was, pitted against the smart, bruising defense of a legitimate Super Bowl contender, and he could not tap into the electric flow that has been available to him weekly. It pissed him off. It’s because Jackson sees greatness in this Ravens offense that he cannot abide the shortcomings it displayed in this loss and an 18-16 defeat two weeks earlier in Pittsburgh. He doesn’t accept the penalties, missed blocks and mistimed routes that occasionally throw this beautiful machine out of whack. The Ravens (8-5) certainly had their opportunities against the Eagles (10-2). For once, it was the opponent that dug an early hole with penalties — six for 45 yards in the first quarter. That and four consecutive defensive stops created a golden opportunity for Jackson to build a meaningful lead. He pushed the right buttons on Baltimore’s first two drives, but after that, the Eagles pushed him from the pocket more regularly, and his judgment and accuracy faltered. In a showcase game, his NFL Most Valuable Player case — the last thing Jackson seems worried about, to be clear — took a step back. For once, the loss was his fault as much as anyone’s. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson told reporters after the Eagles loss that he’s eager to retake the field and get back on track offensively. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Annoyed as he was afterward, Jackson did not seem drained or depressed. He wanted to get into it, wanted to point the finger at himself. He spoke like a man who can’t wait to play his next game, can’t wait to get the formula right in time for the playoffs. Ravens fans should take heart from his eagerness, even at the end of a glum weekend. “We’re going to get after it,” Jackson said. “I can’t wait for this bye to get on.” Justin Tucker’s crisis deepened, with no alternatives in sight Even the coldest cynic could not have foreseen the home crowd at M&T Bank Stadium booing the greatest kicker in Ravens (and perhaps NFL) history at a crucial juncture of a crucial December game. That’s how quickly and viciously Tucker has spiraled. Fan anxiety was palpable each time he lined up for a kick Sunday and transformed to derision in the third quarter after he pushed a 53-yard attempt outside the right upright. By then, it seemed Tucker, wide left so often this season, no longer knew where to aim. He said that wasn’t the case, that he simply didn’t nail his target line. But the bottom line is he’s not re-centering himself as he did so expertly in past seasons. Each time he drills one purely down the middle, as he did on a 54-yarder against the Steelers and a 45-yarder against the Chargers, hope flourishes that Tucker has put this nightmare behind him. Then, he misses again and again. Tucker used to be one of the sport’s great weapons in a close game. The Ravens hardly needed to cross midfield to enter his range for a clutch make. On Sunday, as they tried to hang with the Eagles, he was a liability, missing on two attempts to give the Ravens a lead in the third quarter. Would they have won for sure if he made both? No. But the flow of the game would have been more favorable. Ravens kicker Justin Tucker missed three kicks in Sunday’s loss to the Eagles. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) “I feel like I cost us this one, but it doesn’t really do anybody any good to dwell on it,” he said. “The only thing that we can do, that I can do, is just continue to work, move forward, take it one kick at a time. I hate that I’ve had to have this same conversation over the course of this season, but that’s something that comes with the territory in this job description.” Sports psychologists and former kickers have generally agreed that Tucker should be given space to work through his struggles by following the routines that served him beautifully through his first 12 seasons. Extra pressure from an outside candidate to take his job would do him no good, they have argued. The Ravens have given Tucker that space to this point. “If you’re asking me, ‘Are we going to move on from Justin Tucker?’ I’m not really planning on doing that right now; I don’t think that’d be wise,” coach John Harbaugh said Sunday. “But he’ll tell you, [and] he’ll be the first to tell you he needs to make kicks, because he can. I just think if you look at Justin Tucker’s history, you’d have to say he’s capable of doing that.” Teammates stand firmly behind him. They’ve taken his greatness for granted all these years. “I said on the sideline, ‘I said I think this is normal for kickers, but we’ve been so blessed by Tucker’s eliteness,'” cornerback Marlon Humphrey said. “You used to sit down there and know it’s going in. But I think great players, they get out of those slumps at the right moment. Tucker’s one of those guys.” Jackson blamed himself for forcing Tucker into a 47-yard attempt when he took a 14-yard sack on third down on the first drive of the second half. “Hell yeah, I have confidence,” he said. “He just made his kick last week. He made a couple this game. Just when we needed it, it didn’t happen. But the same goes for everybody on the team.” They’re going down this road with Tucker, not knowing how to help, saying they believe as loudly as possible. Will the Ravens do the unthinkable and send another kicker out in the clutch at some point this season? There’s still no indication such a change is in the cards. It’s not what anyone wants. But it’s naive to think the question won’t loom over the remainder of this season. The Ravens have turned a corner on defense by changing ruthlessly Marcus Williams, the team’s $70 million safety, was a healthy scratch against the Eagles. Williams hadn’t played since the team’s Nov. 7 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, but this was a new level of obsolescence for him and a symbol of what Humphrey described as a new level of accountability for a defense that floundered through the first two months of the season. Humphrey did not mention his benched teammate by name, but it was difficult not to draw the inference. “It was time to play Ravens defense,” Humphrey said. “The message became a little bit clear. If you want to play ball, then we’ll get you out there. If you don’t, you’re going to have to sit on the sideline. I think guys responded really well to what was being preached amongst the coaches, amongst the players. We’re holding guys more accountable now. The brand we were playing, it’s disrespectful to be in this uniform and play like that.” After a slow start to the season, the Ravens’ defense has shown improvement by holding each of its past three opponents under 25 points. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) Williams is out of the game plan. Fellow safety Eddie Jackson is gone. Opportunistic, undersized Ar’Darius Washington is playing the snaps they left behind. The competition at cornerback is also fiercer. No one questions Brandon Stephens’ effort, but he’s ceding snaps to Nate Wiggins and Tre’Davious White. There are no sacred cows. The results, while far from 2023-level dominance, have improved. The Eagles came in averaging 5.9 yards per play; against the Ravens, they averaged 4.7. A.J. Brown, one of the league’s true No. 1 wide receivers, didn’t catch a pass longer than 15 yards. Philadelphia had to grind for almost everything, going three-and-out four times. Coordinator Zach Orr’s defense played well enough to win, just as it did against the Chargers six days earlier and the Steelers a week before that. “I feel like we’ve turned that corner,” Humphrey said. “It’s not perfect. I think there are more corners to turn, but the mindset has really changed. That’s kind of where it starts.” Mark Andrews did everything he could to keep the Ravens alive At first, it appeared Jackson simply fired into traffic on first-and-goal. What Jackson sensed and the naked eye could not pick up was that Andrews had reverse spun behind Eagle safety Reed Blankenship and would be in position to reach over Blankenship for a touchdown. We’ve seen that sixth-sense connection between Jackson and Andrews since they were rookies. It’s the reason why No. 89 is still the first look in the league’s most efficient red-zone offense. “Like I said earlier in the year, when people were talking about trading him and stuff like that,” Jackson said. “I saw him trying to make something happen. They dropped everyone in the end zone, and he just did a good job of getting open. I just had to put some speed on the ball for him to be able to make the play.” Tight end Mark Andrews, right, has seven touchdown receptions in the Ravens’ past eight games. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) The touchdown catch wasn’t the last of Andrews’ brilliance. On the first drive of the second half, he maxed his vertical leap and extended his long arms skyward to pull down a 23-yard catch on third-and-8 in Philadelphia territory. That drive didn’t produce points, but Andrews did everything he could to make sure it did. He finished with six catches on seven targets for 67 yards. All that hand wringing over Andrews’ empty stat lines in September amounted to so much spit in the wind. When healthy, he’s an elite tight end, same as it ever was. The AFC North might feel lost, but that’s not true — and it’s beside the point The Ravens not only lost their battle for bragging rights with a legit NFC contender, they blew an opportunity to stay on the Steelers’ heels. A 1 1/2-game deficit in the division is substantial with only four left to play. Could the Ravens still catch the Steelers if they beat them Dec. 21 and win out? Absolutely, especially given that Pittsburgh will visit the streaking Eagles on Dec. 15 and host the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas. But Jackson made the key point when asked about the AFC North race. “We don’t need to worry about the Steelers,” he said. “We need to worry about us. That’s the first thing; worry about what we need to clean up on this side. Clean that [crap] up. Forget every other team.” He’s dead on. If we’ve learned anything about the Ravens over the past 13 weeks, it’s that on their best day, they can run away from a quality playoff team. We saw it against the Bills and the Broncos and the Chargers, all of whom could be opponents in January. Their ceiling is not in question. The trick is they’re not having enough best days. They plug one leak and another bursts. Would it be nice for the Ravens to play a home game on wild-card weekend? Sure. Will that be relevant if they can’t find the best version of their team? Not so much. The Ravens’ leader has it right. It’s about them. Have a news tip? Contact Childs Walker at daviwalker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6893 and x.com/ChildsWalker. View the full article Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.