ExtremeRavens Posted Sunday at 07:56 PM Posted Sunday at 07:56 PM Here’s what The Baltimore Sun sports staff had to say immediately after the Ravens’ 17-3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 6 of the NFL season on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium: Brian Wacker, reporter The Ravens simply can’t get out of their own way. Three cracks from the Rams’ 1-yard line yielded no points. Three turnovers and three failed fourth-down attempts. It looked early on as if Baltimore might be able to ride the legs of running back Derrick Henry to a possible if not improbable victory. Even as he became the first runner to crack the 100-yard mark against the Rams this season, though, it was only a matter of time before the cracks in this team would prove too much to overcome. Without Lamar Jackson, the offense has been disjointed. The offensive line has been a sieve. The defense mostly contained quarterback Matthew Stafford and running back Kyren Williams and receivers Davante Adams and Puka Nacua, but the hard truth is this not a very good team, both in scheme and execution, and there are serious questions as to whether they have the leadership and ability to pull out of this spiral. Mike Preston, columnist The mediocre NFL was on display Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium and it seemed like neither team wanted to win. It was an awful game played by two poorly coached teams. The major difference was that Matthew Stafford was the Rams’ starting quarterback, and even though he didn’t play well, the Rams had enough on offense to overcome Baltimore, which was without starting quarterback Lamar Jackson for the second straight week because of a hamstring injury. The difference in the game occurred at the start of the third quarter when the Rams came out in a hurry-up offense to spark a nine-play, 76-yard drive that was highlighted by a 3-yard touchdown run from running back Kyren Williams. On the Ravens’ next offensive series, receiver Zay Flowers fumbled. That led to another Rams touchdown, this time in two plays that covered 21 yards. Game over. The Ravens had several opportunities, but they don’t have enough firepower at this point. This was a game they could have won. Josh Tolentino, columnist The Ravens finally halted their four-week long takeaway drought … only to commit three of their own turnovers, which proved to be detrimental to their fate, another ugly home loss that featured more empty seats and boos from the sparse crowd in attendance. Sure, Lamar Jackson was out for his second consecutive game, but veteran Cooper Rush was handed a pretty handsome contract for a backup quarterback to avoid disasters like this. His outing (11 of 19 passing for 72 yards, one interception, one fumble, zero touchdowns) underscored a rough day for the Ravens offense and coordinator Todd Monken, as Baltimore inexplicably failed to score on three consecutive attempts from the 1-yard line near the end of the first half. The defense shored up a bit, limiting the Rams’ high-powered offense to just 17 points — and 14 of those were scored off a pair of second-half turnovers. This loss falls squarely on the offense, which claims to boast so much firepower, and coach John Harbaugh, whose team continues to get in its own way. Sam Cohn, reporter The Ravens had every chance to put points on the board and make this game competitive (a two-score fourth-quarter deficit felt like an unscalable mountain). Los Angeles’ defense helped them convert multiple third downs with penalties. Derrick Henry had his best day since Week 1. Baltimore’s defense forced their first turnover since Week 2. But the Ravens insisted on making life tough for themselves. They couldn’t convert on three tries from the goal line. And even with the Ravens’ defense holding Los Angeles — one of the league’s top-scoring offenses — to less than 20 points, their offense couldn’t match the pace. Maybe they should have turned to Tyler Huntley sooner. Either way, the Ravens are taking one collective sigh of relief to finally be at the bye week. It’ll be a chance to completely reset, physically and emotionally, before confronting razor-thin margins of salvaging this season. Sam Jane, reporter Fans in M&T Bank Stadium have had enough. Two fights broke out, “Fire Harbaugh” chants emerged and boo birds rang down throughout the game. The Ravens failed to score a touchdown, and despite improved play on defense, lost by multiple scores for the third consecutive week. Baltimore is now 1-5, which is a precarious spot to be in despite the eventual return of quarterback Lamar Jackson. For the second straight week, the game ended with a nearly empty stadium. As one fan put it, “the vibes are horrible right now.” C.J. Doon, editor I thought last week was going to be rock bottom for the Ravens. I underestimated just how bad things could get. This was about as depressing a performance from a John Harbaugh-coached team that I can remember. Cooper Rush didn’t look like he belonged on an NFL field. The Ravens couldn’t get 1 yard at the goal line during an embarrassing sequence of failed tush pushes and Derrick Henry runs. The beleaguered defense gave an inspired effort but still couldn’t get off the field enough on third down. It ultimately didn’t matter with how inept the Ravens’ offense was. It’s a backup quarterback behind a two-time NFL MVP, yes, but the Rush signing might be one of the worst moves general manager Eric DeCosta has ever made. He was brought in to steady the ship if Lamar Jackson went down and has only made things worse. This roster should be good enough to at least be competitive, and yet the Ravens’ have looked hopeless. Zay Flowers fumbled twice Sunday, and he’s supposed to be the reliable No. 1 target. DeAndre Hopkins, at age 33, looks like he has the most fight of any of the pass catchers. That’s a huge problem, but far from their biggest. Jackson might come back after the bye, and that will be a huge boost. But is the Ravens’ season already over? The cracks that Jackson has papered over are starting to show, leaving little faith that his eventual return will be enough to propel this team to the playoffs. Something’s rotten here. Harbaugh has pulled his teams out of ruts before, but this feels like a canyon too large to overcome. Tim Schwartz, editor The Ravens are toast. This team looks so uninspired it’s almost hard to watch. It took an above-average first half and a pathetic first 30 minutes from the Rams to simply be tied at 3. Once Los Angeles realized they were playing the Ravens and their no-good, awful, sleepy defense, they found the end zone. Once would be enough with Cooper Rush and company on the other side. At least Derrick Henry got the ball and gave them some resemblance of hope early. But Rush missed wide-open receivers, threw a terrible interception early and got benched in the fourth quarter. Deservedly so. The bye week comes a week too late for Baltimore, which will need to shake things up in a big way to get their season back on track with Lamar Jackson likely to return in two weeks. But this team has so many problems beyond who is under center that it’s difficult to see their path to the postseason. Bennett Conlin, editor The Ravens miss Lamar Jackson. They had some of the ingredients needed to beat the Rams on Sunday, with an early turnover forced and Derrick Henry going over 100 rushing yards. But Cooper Rush is not Jackson, obviously. The Ravens’ backup quarterback struggled to operate the offense efficiently for the second consecutive week, and it cost Baltimore. Jackson’s best traits are seemingly everything. He runs and passes in a way we’ve never seen in the NFL. Rush’s best trait Sunday? His hard count. That’s not a lot for offensive coordinator Todd Monken to use. Nobody on either side of the ball picked up the slack. Sunday wasn’t Monken’s fault. It wasn’t John Harbaugh’s, either. Rush was dreadful, and his teammates didn’t do enough to pick up the slack. Zay Flowers can’t fumble twice if Baltimore wants any chance against a Super Bowl contender. Baltimore might make coaching changes during the bye week because coaches often take the brunt of the blame and defensive coordinator Zach Orr wasn’t blameless this week, but Sunday’s loss was largely on the players — and maybe general manager Eric DeCosta for thinking Cooper Rush was a worthwhile way to spend offseason dollars. Have a news tip? Contact sports editor C.J. Doon at cdoon@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/CJDoon. View the full article Quote
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