ExtremeRavens Posted 7 hours ago Posted 7 hours ago The Ravens hit a new low Sunday, losing to the Texans, 44-10. The defeat dropped Baltimore to 1-4, 2 1/2 games behind the Steelers in the AFC North. Baltimore’s season is far from over, but for a preseason Super Bowl favorite, the combination of meaningful injuries and a .200 winning percentage is cause for concern. Inside the locker room, the Ravens are preaching optimism. “This [is] not the end of the world,” cornerback Nate Wiggins said. “We can still win the division.” Outside the locker room, there’s not as much sunshine. Here’s what national pundits had to say about the Ravens’ 44-10 loss and 1-4 record: ESPN’s Booger McFarland “The defense stinks,” McFarland said Sunday night. The former Buccaneers defensive tackle is a two-time Super Bowl champion. “They can’t cover anybody. They’re giving up 35 points a game. One hundred and seventy-seven points through five games. This is the Ravens. There’s a sign in the facility, I’ve been there before, there’s a sign that says, ‘Play like a Raven.’ I don’t think they’re doing that, and that simply means effort, tenacity, hustle. The physicality, it’s not there. “I don’t know if it can come back during the season. You can’t just flip a switch and get those things. They’re 1-4 for a reason.” CBS’s Bryant McFadden “There are a lot of holes on this defense, all three levels,” the two-time Super Bowl champion cornerback said on CBS. “They don’t tackle well. There are issues in zone drops, you look at the coverage side of things. They’re not creating turnovers. You can just have your way with the Baltimore Ravens defensively, and that’s a hard thing to say when you look at historically speaking what defense has meant to said organization.” The Athletic’s Zak Keefer “With that much talent sidelined, it’s understandable the Ravens wouldn’t look as formidable,” Keefer wrote. “But a 34-point loss at home to a mediocre Texans team? That was the shocking part. Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud finished with as many touchdown passes (four) as incompletions. Even when the Ravens have missed key players in years past under Harbaugh, they’ve remained largely competitive. Not Sunday. This one was never close. They were outcoached and outplayed in every conceivable way.” ESPN’s Tim Hasselbeck “They have been an amazing defense through the history of being in Baltimore,” Hasselbeck told Scott Van Pelt. “So, yeah, when you have guys out, you still expect them to at least play well enough to let you compete in a football game. They’re not doing that right now.” CBS’s Damien Harris “What I want to talk about is the most concerning thing for me,” Harris, a former NFL running back and two-time national champion with Alabama, said. “It’s not even the defense. Let’s look at Derrick Henry. We have talked about the fumbling issue, but what’s even more important — well, I shouldn’t say more important because there’s nothing more important than holding onto the football — but he’s only averaging 3.4 yards a carry. He went for 170 almost against the Bills, and since then it’s just been nothing. We haven’t seen anything of him. “I don’t know if it’s a confidence thing. I don’t know if the offensive line is playing a part, or the fact that Lamar Jackson being hurt closes and condenses some of those lanes and makes the box a little bit tighter. … If you’re the Baltimore Ravens, you didn’t sign Derrick Henry to all this money for this. To have him running for 3.4 yards a carry, that’s not a Derrick Henry problem, that’s a team not being able to run the football well enough problem. And that’s nothing that we’ve ever talked about with the Baltimore Ravens.” ESPN’s Ryan Clark “Who ever thought that the Ravens would become the ‘Get Right’ game?” the former Steelers defensive back posted on X. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer “I would say the Ravens’ position now is precarious. On Sunday, they’ll get a hungry Rams team, smarting from a TNF loss to the Niners,” he wrote. “They have their bye after that. Going into the off week at 1-5 would be tough, regardless of who you have coming back from the inactive list. “Which is to say, in a weird way, I may be more optimistic about the Texans’ lot in the NFL right now than the Ravens, which I wouldn’t have expected a month ago.” Have a news tip? Contact sports editor Bennett Conlin at bconlin@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/BennettConlin. View the full article Quote
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