Well, what a difference a week makes. Buoyed by their strong second half against the Houston Texans, it seemed that everyone from the handicappers to the average fan on the street didn’t much give the notion of a Ravens loss even a second thought.
So much for the paid and unpaid experts. If John Harbaugh’s father Jack were to ask his famous question — “Who’s got it better than us?” — after this stinker of a loss, the response yelled would be, “Kansas City.”
The day seemed off starting with a really weird pregame altercation between Justin Tucker and Travis Kelce. Even if it was more than an hour before kickoff, Tucker was stretching on the Chiefs’ side of the field. Clearly, Patrick Mahomes and his teammates were trying to do some drills. Kelce at one point even tossed a couple balls and a helmet off to the side.
It just struck me as a precursor for a total lack of composure by the usually very professional Baltimore Ravens. In this 17-10 loss, the Ravens had a total of five personal fouls, four by defenders. That’s 75 yards. Kyle Van Noy had a total lack of composure in the midst of a pushing-and-shoving match with Kelce. Travis Jones pretty much clotheslined Mahomes after the quarterback had released a pass.
Then perhaps the biggest blunder of the day came after Zay Flowers took the Ravens down to the Chiefs’ 9 yard-line with a 54-yard reception. For some reason, Flowers pushed down cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, spun the football and talked trash — as if the idea that he could get a penalty for taunting wasn’t on his mind at all. Play with some emotion, that’s fine — but act like you’ve been there before.
That was made extra special when a couple plays later Flowers caught another pass. Instead of simply running to the goal line, he dove the final 2 to 3 yards, which left the ball wide open to be punched out, with the Chiefs recovering in the end zone. To me, Flowers wanted to make up for the previous boneheaded play. I don’t think he fumbles if it weren’t for the penalty.
Two more 15-yard penalties — one by Jadeveon Clowney and one by Roquan Smith — closed out the charitable portion of the proceedings.
In addition to those 75 yards of personal fouls, Lamar Jackson also was in a charitable mood. He fumbled as he was winding up for a second-quarter pass; he never felt Charles Omenihu behind him. And then in the fourth quarter, for some reason Jackson tossed a pass in the end zone to Isaiah Likely, who was covered by three Chiefs defenders.
It had been hoped that Jackson’s big second half against Houston would forever put to bed the question of his problematic playoff record. But just one week later, after this performance against Kansas City, those questions will bubble around Jackson again. The only way to put an end to all that negativity is for Jackson to begin to play in the playoffs like he does in the regular season.
The playoffs are becoming more and more a problem for John Harbaugh as well. I know he has the strong backing of owner Steve Bisciotti, but is the loyalty he has for his 16-year coach an effective ownership stance? Look, it’s Bisciotti’s club and he can run it as he chooses.
But the facts are the facts. Since winning the Super Bowl in February 2013, the Ravens have had six playoff seasons and five non-playoff seasons. In that time, they are just 3-6 in the playoffs. Harbaugh’s wins came against Pittsburgh in the 2014 wild-card round, Tennessee in the 2020 wild-card round and Houston in last weekend’s divisional round.
Those losses with Jackson at the helm are really troubling. In four of those games — the 23-17 loss to the Chargers in the 2018 wild-card round, the 28-12 loss to Tennessee in the 2019 divisional round, the 17-3 loss at Buffalo in the 2020 divisional round and this year’s setback to Kansas City — Harbaugh’s team seemed to be outcoached, outefforted and just not up to the moment.
With the club having signed Jackson to his huge contract and making plenty of other moves, the 2023-24 season unfolded in such a way that it looked like this edition of the Ravens may have been the best roster they ever had.
On a rainy Sunday afternoon, the foundation didn’t hold and more changes will surely be afoot.
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