ExtremeRavens Posted 8 hours ago Posted 8 hours ago Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr “tried everything” against the Bills and quarterback Josh Allen on Sunday night in Orchard Park, New York. Man. Zone. Blitzing. Coming off the edge. Showing on the edge and dropping off. “We just didn’t really get them stopped in the last two drives at all,” Harbaugh said Monday afternoon. “And you know the plays that happened, so we didn’t execute a couple times.” Though the last two drives will stand out because Baltimore became the first team in 278 games to score 40-plus points and rush for at least 235 yards and lose, there were plenty of other errors and questions. The film reveals the cracks and concerns. Here’s a look at the five biggest issues that stood out. Where were Odafe Oweh and Kyle Van Noy? Last season, Oweh and Van Noy racked up career highs in sacks, with 10 and 12 1/2, respectively, and Baltimore tallied the second-most in the league. Sunday at Highmark Stadium, they were mere shadows under the lights. Each had just two pressures on Allen, per Pro Football Focus, and the Ravens sacked the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player just once. Oweh ranked 20th in pass rush win rate among edge defenders at 16% with a win rate of just 7% off the edge, per ESPN analytics, while Van Noy, 34, didn’t factor in the top 20. Baltimore was also collectively bad, ranking 30th in pass rush win rate at 19%. Only the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears were worse in Week 1. Second-round rookie Mike Green, who led college football with 17 sacks in 2024, was a nonfactor as well, logging zeroes, save for one tackle, on his 26 defensive snaps. Only the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles perhaps have a better offensive line, and Allen is as elusive as he is difficult to bring down, so that should be taken into account. But the Ravens need to get to the quarterback. “There’s a lot of really good things that we learned about our team — a lot of things that I’m really happy about and excited about. And there’s a lot of things that you learn, and it’s like, ‘Oh boy, we have to go to work on that,’” Harbaugh said. “I would say pass rush lanes — that’s something that we’ve got to go to work on. It’s not just four lanes. There’s different patterns that we use, and we just weren’t as good as we need to be at that.” Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy, left, warms up before Week 1 against the Bills. The Ravens' pass rush was subpar in their season-opening loss to the Bills. (Gene J. Puskar/AP) Jaire Alexander needs the practice Flashy two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander was torched by Allen much of the night but particularly down the stretch. On the Bills’ final drive he gave up a 32-yard gain to Joshua Palmer on one play and on the next yielded 25 more to Keon Coleman, whom Alexander tripped up by his shoestrings as he was flailing to the ground when he would have been better off letting him score. Those were just the obvious struggles. Near the end of the first half, Alexander gave up a good chunk of cushion to Khalil Shakir that resulted in a 26-yard gain. Jaire Alexander in off-man coverage with outside leverage. Gives up too much ground and opens his hips early. pic.twitter.com/IgECm7qRNC — Chris Cooper (@ChrisCooper_NFL) September 8, 2025 Midway through the third quarter, he got burned by Palmer on a deep route across the field that put him in chase mode and panicked, taking the receiver down to draw a pass interference flag. The disappointing thing for Alexander was that he had time to still make a play on the ball but instead reacted more desperately than he needed to. Then in the fourth quarter, Coleman got him for 21 yards as Alexander sat down too soon while still looking at the quarterback and lost the receiver behind him. “I’m not one to make excuses,” said Alexander, who only practiced for about two weeks during training camp and only a few days the week of the game. “I feel like if I am out there, then I am ready to go, regardless. More practice, obviously, would have been nice, but that’s just not how the cards fell.” Outside of Ronnie Stanley, Tyler Linderbaum offensive line is a concern Aside from Pro Bowl left tackle and Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum, the offensive line struggled mightily. There’s no sugar coating it. A false start by right tackle Roger Rosengarten in the first quarter turned a third-and-2 into a third-and-7 Baltimore didn’t convert and thus had to settle for a field goal. The rest of the game, Rosengarten, left guard Andrew Vorhees and right guard Daniel Faalele often took turns getting beat or pushed around. One of the reasons quarterback Lamar Jackson had to make such a dazzling 19-yard scramble on third-and-10 from his own 35 early in the fourth quarter was because edge rusher Joey Bosa shoved Rosengarten into the quarterback’s lap. He also later got bullied by Ed Oliver, who then poked the ball free from Derrick Henry to force a critical turnover at the 3:10 mark of the fourth with Baltimore up 40-32 and desperately trying to run out the clock. Lamar Jackson traveled 75.9 yards on this 19-yard scramble. Jackson is responsible for 4 of the 5 longest scramble runs by total distance traveled over the last two seasons.#BALvsBUF | #RavensFlockpic.twitter.com/oJZrQV3ADX — Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 8, 2025 Vorhees and Faalele weren’t any better, either, as they got beat on several plays throughout the game. PFF grades aren’t the end-all, be-all, but Faalele (59.9), Rosengarten (57.4) and Vorhees (46.3) graded out terribly. Is Teddye Buchanan already a better option than Trenton Simpson? One of the interesting details amid the snap count breakdown was that rookie fourth-round linebacker Teddye Buchanan out-snapped third-year fellow inside linebacker Trenton Simpson, 29-26. It’s a minor difference. Baltimore is also rotating the two players, much the way it did last year with Malik Harrison and Chris Board. “Just the way it shook out, we were splitting snaps, and that seems appropriate right now,” Harbaugh said Monday. “We’ll just kind of see how it goes. I thought they both played solid.” Coach Harbaugh on Teddye Buchanan and Trenton Simpson splitting snaps: pic.twitter.com/OjxxavYVjj — Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 8, 2025 But when it came to the tape, Buchanan appeared to mostly outperform Simpson, who at times was out of position or struggled to make tackles with just one on the game. One sequence that stood out for the rookie came late in the first half when he made a nice tackle on running back James Cook for a short gain down the Ravens’ 7-yard line. One play later, he helped contain Shakir and the Bills had to settle for a field goal. Of course, it was also Buchanan who linebacker Roquan Smith was chewing out following tight end Jackson Hawes’ 29-yard gain down the middle to the Ravens’ 1-yard line with under three minutes to play. Buchanan appeared to have been confused with his responsibility on the coverage and it led to an Allen touchdown that pulled the Bills to within 2 points. Special teams and details still a problem Rookie kicker Tyler Loop made both field goal attempts from 52 and 49 yards. Then he missed a critical extra point. On kickoffs, he had some impressive positional kicks. He also had one that didn’t reach the landing zone to give the Bills the ball at their own 40 after Baltimore had just gone up 27-13 and seemed to be in command of the game. There was also the opening kickoff, on which Tylan Wallace and Keyon Martin struggled to get off their blocks, thus allowing Brandon Codrington to return it 41 yards to midfield. Then midway through the fourth quarter and the Ravens up by 15, Simpson incredibly and uncontrollably slammed into a punt that Jordan Stout had dropped at the Bills 1-yard line. The touchback gave Allen plenty of breathing room and the quarterback then drove Buffalo 80 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown that kept hope alive. It was just one of many small plays that had a big impact. “There are a bunch of things that turn up, but when you lose the game, that’s when you start adding them up where it could have made the difference,” Harbaugh said. “We all have to just learn from that. You just have to learn from those things, otherwise it’s a wasted opportunity.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article Quote
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