ExtremeRavens Posted 23 hours ago Posted 23 hours ago By the time the Ravens’ 44-10 loss to Houston was over Sunday, M&T Bank Stadium was half filled. There hasn’t been this much despair in Baltimore since the Colts left the city nearly 40 years ago, or when Ravens quarterback Elvis Grbac cried at the end of the 2001 season, and then tried to blame it on sweat running down his face. A highly anticipated 2025 season filled with Super Bowl aspirations has nearly evaporated with the team’s loss to the Texans on Sunday. It’s official now: time to panic. Rated at the beginning of the season as one of the top rosters in the NFL and certainly the best in the team’s 30 year history, the Ravens postseason aspirations are beginning to fade as quickly as a Cooper Rush swing pass to the flat, where it kept coming up short Sunday. What has happened? The Ravens have gotten away from a simple concept. A team can load up with all those pretty boy quarterbacks, receivers and cornerbacks, but football always comes down to which team controls the line of scrimmage, and the Ravens don’t have that dominating manpower. For three straight weeks opposing teams have dominated the line of scrimmage. First it was Detroit, then Kansas City last week. On Sunday, it was Houston. Of course, the Ravens will come up with excuses — and some of them are legitimate. They were without eight starters, five of them on defense. But the bottom line is that the Texans had 417 yards of total offense, 167 of those on the ground, compared to 207 for Baltimore. The Ravens got outmuscled. Again. The problem is that they’ve brought into the philosophy created by the NFL of being a pass-happy league. You pay your stars, especially your quarterback millions of dollars and surround them with great receivers like the Ravens have done with Lamar Jackson and wideouts Zay Flowers, DeAndre Hopkins and tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely. But, you pay little attention and money to the offensive and defensive lines. The Ravens aren’t the only team that have fallen for that approach. Look around the NFL. Most teams don’t have dominant offensive or defensive lines, but there is one team that does. Keep an eye on those Philadelphia Eagles. They mauled teams last year on the way to a Super Bowl title. Ravens players signal the team’s first and only touchdown of game in the third quarter. The Ravens ran for just 44 yards in the blowout loss. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Are you listening Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta? The Ravens need muscle up front instead of trying to scrape by with road graders like guards Daniel Faalele, Andrew Vorhees and right tackle Roger Rosengarten. They can’t pass block, and it’s even worse without a strong running game. As for creativity, there was none on offense Sunday. Where were the screens, slants and even draws? Then on defense — oh my — that defense. The Ravens started nose guard Travis Jones, tackles John Jenkins and outside linebacker Tavious Robinson, who shared the position with journeyman Brent Urban. Sorry, where is the beef? Where are the first-round picks on both interior lines? The only one was center Tyler Linderbaum. Left tackle Ronnie Stanley didn’t play Sunday because of an ankle injury. None of the guys who started on the defensive line were first-round picks by the Ravens. Even the backups like rookie tackle Aeneas Peebles was a sixth-round selection (Virginia Tech) and Jones was a third-round pick in 2022 out of the University of Connecticut. The Ravens need to put more time and effort into the bullies up front. On Sunday, Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud was as good as former Houston quarterback Dan Pastorini. He completed 23 of 27 passes for 244 yards and four touchdowns. He finished with a QB rating of 143.9. That’s ridiculous. He tortured the Ravens defense. The Ravens had two sacks, but Stroud had enough time to eat, drink, smoke, go to the restroom and come back to complete passes. What was wrong with the Ravens’ secondary besides the eight or nine missed tackles? It’s a sign of bad investments again, including recently signed cornerback Jaire Alexander. The Ravens have five players who were former first-round picks including cornerbacks Nate Wiggins, Marlon Humphrey and safeties Kyle Hamilton and Malaki Starks. Neither Humphrey nor Hamilton played Sunday, and Wiggins also battled injuries. There were times when the Ravens’ secondary looked absolutely lost Sunday, particularly inside the red zone. Some of that can be blamed on defensive coordinator Zach Orr, but it would help if the Ravens had a good pass rush. That’s another story. This team can’t find a pass rusher, and it’s been that way since outside linebacker Terrell Suggs left in 2018. The list of second round pass rushers who have failed here include Tyrus Bowser, David Ojabo, Kamalei Correa, Terrence Cody, Paul Kruger and Sergio Kindle. That’s ugly. Regardless of how much this league changes, it all comes down to controlling and dominating the line of scrimmage. If you win in those areas, you’re probably going to win a lot of games. Right now, the Ravens have won only one and lost four. They need some beef in the draft. Have a news tip? Contact Mike Preston at epreston@baltsun.com, 410-332-6467 and x.com/MikePrestonSun. View the full article Quote
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