ExtremeRavens Posted October 8 Posted October 8 It was May 2023, just three months into Todd Monken’s tenure as Ravens offensive coordinator after helping guide Georgia to a second straight national championship. Quarterback Lamar Jackson during OTAs cooed about the new scheme being “smooth” and having “the keys” to an explosive offense. Five games into 2025, though, it has looked more like a Ferrari broken down on the side of the road, passers-by wondering what possibly could have happened. After a historic 2024 in which Baltimore became the first team in NFL history to pass for at least 4,000 yards and rush for at least 3,000 in the same season en route to leading or ranking near the top of the league in every major statistical category, its offense has struggled to get out of neutral through the first month-plus of this season. Though the Ravens rank sixth in points per game (28.2), they are 23rd in yards per game (311.6), 23rd in red zone scoring (53.3%) and 13th in third down conversions (40.38%). “All of this is kind of shocking to me personally, even the organization not just myself,” wide receiver Rashod Bateman said. “Fans got every right to feel how they feel. They expect excellence and it’s our job to deliver that and we’re not upholding the standard right now, so we deserve all the criticism. We take it, we’ll handle it. We just gotta fix it.” It was Bateman who was the intended target of backup quarterback Cooper Rush’s third interception of an embarrassing 44-10 defeat to the Houston Texans last week. Thinking the ball had already been thrown away he didn’t run through the route, he said. Bateman apologized Wednesday but also said that it encapsulated how things have gone this season. “That kind of just summed up the game and summed up how we felt,” he said. “That play wasn’t going to change anything, but I could have went a little harder and made it better than what it looked like. Just a [bad] day all around for us, and we’re just trying to be better all around.” How or whether they will remains to be seen. The Ravens are averaging a league-worst 50 plays a game, down from 62.3 last year. Against the Texans, they managed just 40 plays. By comparison, three weeks ago in a loss to the Lions, Detroit had one drive that went 18 plays. To borrow from the longtime lottery ad slogan, you can’t win if you don’t play, or in this case have enough plays. “The game planning is part of that, how we put that together,” coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday as Baltimore tries to dig itself out of a 1-4 start with a game against the Los Angeles Rams up next Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium. “We’ve worked hard on that this week. “We’ve gotta do better on first down especially. First and second down [and] be in more manageable third down.” Part of the problem is that the Ravens are trying to start the engine without the man who possesses the keys, quarterback and two-time NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson, who missed last week’s game with a hamstring injury and is likely to miss Sunday’s as well. Rush was intercepted three times against the Texans and is expected to get the start against the Rams. “L is one of the greatest for a reason,” running back Justice Hill said. “Obviously he’s hard to replace. He makes some bad plays good. Whenever he’s not there, some of those bad plays get magnified. He has a really good knack of not making a bad play worse and making bad plays turn into good ones, so obviously we miss that. But we believe in and trust Cooper to distribute the ball and run the offense. “He’s a pro. He’s done it before. He knows his strengths and I think if we play to his strengths and call the game like that and make plays for him and protect him I think we’ll have no issue.” But even before Jackson was injured there were signs that the offense, despite being largely intact from last season (with the exception of losing versatile offensive lineman Patrick Mekari in free agency and tight end Isaiah Likely and fullback Patrick Ricard to injury), was not in sync. Ravens running back Derrick Henry, shown during a Week 3 loss to the Lions, has failed to reach 50 rushing yards in each of the past four games. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Up front, the offensive line has labored to create running lanes for Derrick Henry. In 2024, he averaged 2.41 yards before contact per rush, which helped spark the second-most rushing yards (1,921) in the league. This year, that number is down almost three-quarters of a yard and consequently he has rushed for 50 or fewer yards in each of the past four games. “It comes down to blocking people,” Harbaugh said. “Hopefully we’ll create situations where we’ll create a little bit of space.” Perhaps that will also unlock a passing game that has likewise been in a funk, especially without Jackson. But even before he was lost to injury, Harbaugh and Monken spoke about a lack of rhythm to its flow. Be it an ill-timed pre-snap penalty on an early down, a run play that goes nowhere and puts them off schedule or a historically bad defense that puts more pressure on the offense to keep up with opponents, something hasn’t been right, including in the passing game. Aside from third-year Pro Bowl wide receiver Zay Flowers (28 catches, 377 yards, one touchdown) and tight end Mark Andrews (17 catches, 150 yards, 2 TDs), no player is averaging more than 2.6 catches per game. Bateman, who had career highs in touchdowns (nine) and yards (756) last season, has just 10 catches for 112 yards and a touchdown so far this season. Three-time All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins is tied for the team lead with two touchdown receptions but is averaging just 14.1 snaps per game. Monken has said so many weapons at his disposal is a good problem to have, but to some extent it perhaps has just been a problem. “We still got a lot of work to do, a lot of growing to do,” Bateman said of the offense, which he said performed poorly against the Texans. “That’s what we’re focused on right now. “I just feel like we gotta trust each other, trust the plan, trust who we got in and at the end of the day we just gotta do our job. It sounds simple, but at the end of the day that’s what it boils down to.” Now the only question is can they fix it? The Rams are near the middle of the pack in points allowed per game (21.4) but can be stingy in their way. They have surrendered the 10th fewest yards per game this season (309) and are third in yards per rush allowed (3.5). Baltimore also knows history is not on its side. Only four teams in NFL history have started 1-5 and still made the playoffs. Motivation, at least, has not been a problem, according to Harbaugh. “They’re completely motivated to get the win this week,” he said. “The main thing you gotta focus on is how to do it. You gotta go play a certain 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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