It would be easier if they were just bad.
Well, for me anyway. I can’t imagine it would be easier or better for Ravens fans if the team was “the last couple of weeks of Thursday Night Football” bad. That would be soul crushing. But it would make it easier to make sweeping generalizations about the team after six weeks.
You’ve probably either said or been tempted to say something along the lines of “they stink” after the Ravens lost to the Giants in Week 6. It’s understandable. We’re all getting through it. Our collective psyches tend to be directly tied to the results of the most recent football contest in this city. When those football games go poorly, we tend to lash out.
Look, I have no interest in giving the Ravens a “pass” for this or any of their three losses so far this season. They’re unacceptable no matter what the circumstances are and like it or not, the trend is now a part of who they are. Losing big leads is now as much a part of their DNA as being “100% that bitch” is a part of Lizzo’s. They’re going to have to prove it’s not who they’ll continue to be in the coming weeks (as the schedule, on paper, opens up).
The Ravens might not “suck” (Football Outsiders’ respected DVOA had they as the third-best team in football coming into Week 6), but this is still a bit of a crisis. Crisis being the key word because, well, I can’t determine exactly what this team’s identity is, either.
I truly fear that the 2022 Ravens can be best explained as “capable of being good, just as long as Lamar Jackson is otherworldly.” That sounds like a backhanded compliment, but most teams in the NFL have been about as special as their quarterbacks have been in recent years. But for the most part, those teams have attempted to give their quarterbacks the best possible circumstances in order to be the most otherworldly version of themselves as possible. The Bills aggressively went out to get Stefon Diggs for Josh Allen. This offseason, the Eagles decided to pair DeVonta Smith with A.J. Brown to try to get the best from Jalen Hurts and that has gone quite well!
The Ravens’ decision-making in the offseason (keeping Greg Roman as offensive coordinator, subtracting from what was only a mildly decent wide receiver room) made many of us believe that they hoped to return to a 2019-style run game identity. But they’ve been far from that across the first six weeks. Which makes it fair to ask what exactly their plan was this offseason.
I bring this up not to call for Roman to be fired six weeks into the season (nor do the results suggest such a decision would be appropriate). That could become an appropriate conversation at some point, but suggesting it when the team is 3-3 is more comical than the sweatshirt sketch.
I don’t have the easy answer, either. The Ravens (and specifically Kenyan Drake) showed they were capable of running the ball again in their loss to the Giants. If J.K. Dobbins can shake off his injury setback and Gus Edwards can be added to the mix in the coming weeks, perhaps they CAN become a dominant run team again.
But if that’s not what they have in mind, the Ravens need to get aggressive in trying to help give Jackson a better chance of consistently playing at his otherworldliest. Rashod Bateman’s injury is hurting them, but this is a problem of their own making. We knew exactly how thin they were at receiver, and it was absurd to think that “has Mark Andrews” was enough to make a quality wide receiver room.
There was little separation to be found against the Giants. Even if Bateman is back shortly, they’re playing with fire. Devin Duvernay has shown signs of being a helpful piece, but the receiving corps has not produced another consistently viable threat.
I don’t know if Robbie Anderson would be the answer. I don’t know if DJ Moore is actually even available. But I know that if the Ravens intended to put this season on the shoulders of their quarterback, they needed to do more for him. And they still need to try to do as much as they can at the trade deadline to keep pace with the top teams in the AFC.
And no, having a lesser group of receivers does not forgive Jackson for deciding to wildly chuck the ball downfield off his back foot in the direction of Patrick Ricard on third down. No matter what you’re working with, that’s the type of decision that no NFL quarterback can make. He does appear to know this, however.
It’s not the disaster that some fans want to make it out to be. There’s been some bad luck involved. There have been some truly critical errors. But there’s also been a lot of high-level football. And in the coming weeks, hopefully they’ll translate that into a true identity and they’ll become a team that wins more consistently when they have these opportunities.
Photo Credit: Colin Murphy/PressBox