ExtremeRavens Posted yesterday at 08:14 PM Posted yesterday at 08:14 PM It was a gorgeous, sun-splashed Sunday afternoon at M&T Stadium. The setting also belied the dark clouds suddenly hovering ominously over the Ravens’ season. Just five games into its 2025 campaign — one that began with Super Bowl expectations from within and the favorite from the outside — Baltimore is broken, literally if not figuratively. With eight starters missing, including quarterback and two-time NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson and five on defense, the Ravens were always going to be facing an uphill climb in their critical AFC showdown with the Houston Texans. It quickly turned into a 44-10 avalanche, leaving the season teetering on the precipice and hanging on by the thinnest of threads. Only 16 teams in NFL history have started 1-4 and still made the playoffs, with the 2024 Los Angeles Rams being the most recent. That was the only glimmer of hope to come out of the Texans’ demolition of Baltimore, if it could even be considered one. There are much bigger concerns for coach John Harbaugh and the team he commands, which was overmatched, outplayed and bullied by a tougher Texans team. Houston (2-3), which came in with one of the least threatening offenses in the league in every significant metric, including ranking 29th in points (16) and 25th in yards per game (288.8), carved up the Ravens. Quarterback C.J. Stroud completed 23 of 27 passes for 277 yards and four touchdowns, while Nick Chubb ran for 61 yards and a score on 11 carries. The Ravens came into the game 13-2 all-time against the Texans, which included an 8-0 mark at home. They left it embarrassed. No Nnamdi Madubuike, no Broderick Washington, no Kyle Hamilton, no Roquan Smith, no Marlon Humphrey, no Chidobe Awuzie, no Ronnie Stanley, no Pat Ricard, no fight, no chance. Houston raced out to a 24-3 halftime lead and never looked back. The Ravens’ replacements looked the part, especially the rookies. Second-round outside linebacker Mike Green, first-round safety Malaki Starks, fourth-round linebacker Teddye Buchanan and undrafted free agents, safety Rueben Lowery and cornerback Keyon Martin, were among five first-year starters on a defense that was repeatedly gashed. The Texans scored on each of their first eight possessions and punted just once all day. They also racked up 417 total yards, including 167 on the ground. Things weren’t any better on the other side of the ball for Baltimore. Houston came in with the league’s best defense, allowing a scant 12.8 points per game, and dominated almost immediately. Ravens quarterback Cooper Rush walks off the field after throwing an interception during Sunday's loss to the Texans. Rush threw three picks in the defeat. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) The Ravens showed some fight early, marching from their own 25-yard line to the Texans’ 9 on their opening possession, but quickly wilted. Tyler Loop’s 27-yard field goal to end the series were the only points of the half. Cooper Rush, who guided the Cowboys to a 9-5 record filling in for an injured Dak Prescott in Dallas over the past few years, completed 14 of 20 passes for 179 yards, but was intercepted three times. He never got in a rhythm, and neither did the offense. Derrick Henry has tormented the Texans over the years, with his 1,578 career yards against them his most against any team that he has played in his 10-year career that will one day end in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But without the dynamic Jackson alongside him, a shaky offensive line and with Houston jumping out to a big lead, he managed just 33 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. It marked the fourth straight game that Henry, 31 and coming off a season in which he was second in the NFL in rushing with 1,921 yards, was held to 50 or fewer yards. Baltimore also fell to 4-10 in games that Jackson has not played during his tenure. The Ravens came into this season with perhaps the most talented team of starters on paper, but on grass, they have been continually exposed. Without so many starters, that was even more evident Sunday. Now, a season with Super Bowl expectations instead is falling further into the abyss. This article will be updated. Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. Ravens vs. Texans, October 5, 2025 | PHOTOS View the full article Quote
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