ExtremeRavens Posted 5 hours ago Posted 5 hours ago The Ravens have gotten too good at this routine, looking shell-shocked as they clean out their lockers less than 24 hours after their own errors doomed them to final defeat. With majestic quarterback Lamar Jackson leading the most efficient offense in team history, they were good enough to win the Super Bowl this year. But they’re headed home two steps short of playing in the big game after three turnovers and an excruciating Mark Andrews drop left them two points short of the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night. The ending cut deeper because it so closely evoked the collapse of a year earlier when the Ravens also turned the ball over three times in a devastating AFC championship game loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. “We know our team. We know what we’re supposed to do,” wide receiver Zay Flowers said Monday. “We know the only way we can’t do what we want to is what we did yesterday.” National commentary quickly zeroed in on the numbing familiarity. “So to show up in a game like this — on the road and against a 13-4 team, with an extremely small margin for error — and just give the ball away twice in the first half … well, it’s not the kind of thing that helps knock down narratives,” wrote ESPN’s Dan Graziano. The Ravens knew going in that giving the ball away would be their quickest road to another letdown, and sure enough, it was. “It’s how football works,” coach John Harbaugh said. “If you want to draw some big cosmic thread, you draw it for every single team in the league except the team that wins. That’s why the Chiefs — you have to admire what they’ve done. It’s tough to win playoff games.” The talk coming out of last year’s final loss said the 2024 Ravens would not be judged on anything they did in the regular season, only by whether they could advance further in the playoffs. They did not, and by that reckoning, their season was a failure. It would be incorrect, however, to write the Ravens off as a team that made zero progress. They signed Derrick Henry in the offseason, betting the 31-year-old running back would defy common NFL aging patterns with his awe-inspiring blend of size of speed. If anything, Henry exceeded those lofty expectations, running for 1,921 yards, growing stronger as the season progressed and forming an unstoppable partnership with Jackson, the greatest running quarterback in league history. Ravens running back Derrick Henry, left, cleans out his locker on Monday. (Kim Hairston/Staff) These two Hall of Fame talents magnified one another, leading an offense that moved the ball more efficiently than any other both on the ground and through the air. “The best offense I’ve ever been a part of,” fullback Patrick Ricard said as he stuffed the contents of his locker into garbage bags Monday afternoon. Jackson won his second NFL Most Valuable Player Award a year ago and was clearly better in 2024, setting career highs in passing yards, touchdown passes and passer rating. He and Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen staged a thrilling MVP duel, with the winner to be announced Feb. 6. Teammates still believe that as long as they have Jackson, they’ll have a real chance to go all the way every year. “How special he is — this year, you’ve seen how he’s grown as a player, how quickly he’s making decisions, the way he throws the ball and decides when to run — it’s inevitable he’s going to win a Super Bowl, and I want to be a part of it,” Ricard said. For all their firepower, the Ravens started unsteadily, losing their season opener after tight end Isaiah Likely’s toe landed an inch out of bounds on a potential game-winning score and blowing a lead at home against the hapless Las Vegas Raiders. Such 0-2 starts sometimes portend rocky seasons, and the Ravens did slip up a few more times, squandering another lead in Cleveland against the woeful Browns and stumbling to a sloppy 18-16 defeat at the hands of the archrival Pittsburgh Steelers. Their defense, in the hands of first-year-coordinator Zach Orr after wunderkind Mike Macdonald departed for Seattle, looked hopeless through 10 weeks, unable to protect leads as opponents connected on deep pass after deep pass. The Ravens went into their bye week in early December looking certain to make the playoffs but trailing the Steelers by two games in the AFC North. Then, they found their footing. An already-potent offense hit another gear. Orr’s defense no longer surrendered explosive plays. The Ravens crushed their last four regular-season opponents by an average of 23 points and raced past the Steelers to repeat as division champions. They overpowered Pittsburgh in the wild-card round of the playoffs, running for an incredible 299 yards against a proud defense. Suddenly, it was not hard to find national pundits who viewed the Ravens as the best team left standing, even without their top wide receiver, Flowers, who injured his knee in the regular-season finale. But they would have to win in Buffalo and then Kansas City to reach Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans. Ravens rookie cornerback T.J. Tampa clears out his locker on Monday. (Kim Hairston/Staff) The Ravens will return for training camp in late July with a team expected to be built around the same core players. Jackson, one of the league’s signature stars, cannot play much better in the regular season, but he’ll chase that elusive perfect postseason. Henry is under contract for another year. None of Jackson’s top targets are headed for free agency in March. The most significant offensive player set to hit the open market is left tackle Ronnie Stanley, and general manager Eric DeCosta will have to decide whether to continue the youth movement he kicked off this season on his offensive line. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who has helped Jackson reach another level the last two years, is a candidate for several head coach openings, and if he leaves, replacing him would become offseason task No. 1. The team’s defensive leaders, from linebacker Roquan Smith to safety Kyle Hamilton to cornerback Marlon Humphrey to edge rusher Kyle Van Noy, are under contract for 2025. Orr, still just 32, grew into his role as the season went along and will expect to be better in year two, just as his mentor, Macdonald, was. Then there’s Harbaugh, who has not led the Ravens back to the Super Bowl since he won it 12 years ago. Some fans inevitably blame the coach when his team comes to a disappointing end, even if Harbaugh had little power to stop Jackson and Andrews from losing those critical fumbles. In his 17th season in Baltimore, he had the Ravens peaking going into their trip to Buffalo, and there’s no indication owner Steve Bisciotti is considering a change, though Harbaugh is going into the last year of his contract and will be up for an extension sooner rather than later. Players weren’t contemplating an overhaul as they emptied their lockers. They want another shot, with the 2024 team as intact as possible. “I wish the whole group could come back,” Flowers said. “These are my guys. Why not take another crack?” Have a news tip? Contact Childs Walker at daviwalker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6893 and x.com/ChildsWalker. View the full article Quote
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