ExtremeRavens Posted October 1 Posted October 1 There’s a scene in “Apollo 13” — not long after Tom Hanks, playing astronaut Jim Lovell, utters the famous “Houston, we have a problem” line — amid the chaos of a catastrophic onboard failure when Ed Harris, playing flight director Gene Kranz, turns to the mission control staff and says peremptorily to “work the problem.” “Let’s look at this thing from a standpoint of status,” he then says. “What have we got on the spacecraft that’s good?” Through the lens of Ron Howard and the first four games of the NFL season, the Ravens and coach John Harbaugh can relate. At one point during Sunday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore was without seven defensive starters to injury. On offense, quarterback and two-time NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson and left tackle Ronnie Stanley were also lost in the third and first quarters, respectively. That’s too much to overcome against most any team, never mind the three-time reigning AFC champions who have a long history of finding Baltimore’s weakest links and breaking them. There’s another Apollo 13 connection to the Baltimore area — Kranz had a failed admission to the Naval Academy and Lovell used a pool at McDonogh School for underwater training in the 1960s — but the most obvious is how and if the Ravens can navigate their way back from the brink, starting with this week’s game against the Houston Texans. With the NFL schedule effectively at the quarter-pole here’s a reset at where Baltimore is in that endeavor. What has gone well? Before Jackson suffered a hamstring injury that will likely keep him out of this week’s game and possibly the following week’s against the Los Angeles Rams, he was, for the most part, playing at an elite level. His 10 touchdown passes this season lead the NFL. He’s also tops in yards per attempt (9.1), passer rating (130.5) and has completed a career-high 71.6% of his passes. The player who has helped those numbers the most: Zay Flowers. The third-year receiver who is coming off a Pro Bowl 2024 season has 23 catches for 305 yards and one touchdown. He has also been one of the top separators in the league, with 24 snaps with separation in 51 opportunities en route to three games with at least seven catches. Up front, left tackle Ronnie Stanley and center Tyler Linderbaum have likewise performed well. A Pro Bowl selection last season, Stanley, now in his 10th season, is the 17th-highest graded tackle, per Pro Football Focus (minimum 75% of snaps), while Linderbaum, also a Pro Bowl selection last year, is the highest graded player at his position in the league. Meanwhile, rookie kicker Tyler Loop, who was stepping into the uncomfortable position of having to replace the embattled Justin Tucker, who is also most accurate kicker in NFL history, has performed as advertised, and fourth-year punter Jordan Stout is putting together what will perhaps be his best season. Loop has made all seven field goal attempts, including a long of 52 yards, while Stout is averaging a career-best 51.5 yards per boot. What hasn’t gone well? Take your pick. Baltimore’s defense ranks last in points per game (33.3), second-to-last in yards per game (406.8), 25th in yards per play (5.7) and 24th in third down conversions (41.94). On the ground or through the air it hasn’t mattered, either, with the Ravens ranking 31st in passing yards allowed per game (265.5) and 27th in rushing yards allowed per game (141.3). Some of those struggles could be attributed to playing the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs, who have combined for a 9-3 record, in three of the first four weeks. Perhaps that explains Harbaugh’s confidence, both in defensive coordinator Zach Orr and the scheme being deployed. “I have confidence in all of our guys, including Zach, our players, our coaches,” he said Monday. “I watch how they work. I watch how well they coach. I’m in meetings, I watch the meetings, I know the schemes that we’re running. I know the soundness of what we’re doing. I understand what we’re up against from week-to-week and play-to-play even in this game. “We’re not too far away on defense. I really feel confident that we’re going to play really good defense this year. I really am. I know the fans hear that, and I hope they have a little bit of confidence in us that we’ve been down this road before a little bit. We do need to get healthy, for sure. That’s an important part of it, as well, but also play with the guys that we’ve got. Let’s go play some good defense.” Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr and coach John Harbaugh watch over the defense during an early September practice. The team's defense is allowing 33.3 points per game, the worst mark in the NFL. (Kevin Richardson/Staff) On offense, Harbaugh sounded more frustrated, citing a lack of “rhythm” and pointing the finger at some of the play calling by coordinator Todd Monken. Specifically, Baltimore has had some pre-snap issues and thus struggled against the blitz in losses to the Chiefs and Detroit Lions in Week 3. “I don’t think any of us [would say it’s] where we’d like it to be,” he said. “Going forward, the challenge is to get a feel for what we want to do and how we want to do it. We have to regain a rhythm, and yes, it’s execution at times. It’s choosing what we’re going to do in certain situations. I don’t know if it’s so much about pre-snap adjustments, so to speak. That’s kind of a broad way to state it, but there are going to be times you want to be at the line scrimmage, and you want to be able to get into the right kind of play.” Details have mattered, too. Jackson threw an ill-advised pass Sunday that was intercepted by Leo Chenal. Running back Derrick Henry has fumbled three times this season. Third-year left guard Andrew Vorhees has struggled mightily while second-year right tackle Roger Rosengarten has been inconsistent. Loop has had three kickoffs land short of the landing zone and one that went out of bounds. He also missed an extra point in Baltimore’s 41-40 loss to Buffalo. Small things sometimes lead to big problems. What’s ahead? The most concerning challenge facing Baltimore is potentially being without Lamar Jackson for each of the next two games. But he’s not the only player who is injured. How quickly the Ravens can resemble at least a remotely healthy team will likely determine their fate. Getting reinforcements from outside the building, particularly on the defensive line, which is without Nnamdi Madubuike for the rest of the season and veteran defensive tackle Broderick Washington for at least the next three games, would help. Harbaugh acknowledged that signing players from other practice squads or acquiring them via trade is always an option, but there’s only so much that can be done in that regard. READER POLL: What’s most to blame for the Ravens’ 1-3 start? Losses in one or both of the next two games will also only push the chances of making the playoffs further out of reach. Only six teams that have started 1-4 have gone on to make the playoffs, the most recent being the Indianapolis Colts in 2018. Only four teams in have started 1-5 and made the playoffs, the most recent being Washington in 2020 — despite finishing 7-9, a record that probably isn’t cutting it this year in the AFC. And since 2000, 11 teams have started a season 2-4 and still made the playoffs. One other thing that could help is a schedule that eases up, but only in the immediate future before stiffening again. Following games against the Texans and Rams, Baltimore gets a bye week then another game at home, against the 2-2 Chicago Bears, before traveling to South Florida to face the 1-3 Miami Dolphins. After that: at the 2-2 Minnesota Vikings, at the 1-3 Cleveland Browns, home for the 0-4 New York Jets and Joe Burrow-less 2-2 Cincinnati Bengals. Then comes what will likely be a critical game against the AFC North leading Pittsburgh Steelers (3-1) at M&T Bank Stadium. A week later, a trip to Cincinnati is followed by a home game against the New England Patriots (2-2) and then challenging road games at the Green Bay Packers (2-1-1) and Pittsburgh to close out the regular season. Simply put, there is little-to-none margin for error the rest of the way. 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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