OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Still smarting and maybe a little shell-shocked after his team’s 0-2 start, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh met with the media a day after the Ravens’ 26-23 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders and flatly said his team isn’t consistent enough in any phase of the game right now.
He lamented inconsistency on the offensive line, though he did not declare any changes would be forthcoming; on the defense, which allowed 13 fourth-quarter points; and on special teams, which included a missed field goal and a shanked, 24-yard punt by Jordan Stout in the closing minutes of the game that helped set up the Raiders’ winning field goal.
“That punt has got to be made,” Harbaugh said. “He knows it. … The job wasn’t done in the last game, and it hurt our team.”
After losing to the Kansas City Chiefs (27-20) and the Raiders, the Ravens sit at 0-2 for the first time since 2015 and just the fifth time in franchise history. The previous four Ravens teams to start 0-2 failed to make the playoffs. In fact, none finished with a winning record.
The Ravens twice built 10-point leads against the Raiders, but the Raiders scored the game’s final 13 points to earn the upset win.
“We’re not a consistent football team right now,” Harbaugh said.
Asked later about the secondary, Harbaugh again tied in all three phases in the shortcomings.
“This past game, we have a 10-point lead,” Harbaugh said. “It’s on all of us as a team to maintain that lead. Our punt team needs to be better, that’s for darn sure. Our offense needs to be better, and our defense needs to be responsible to get stops. … If you make plays to get the stops, then you leave with a win. When we learn to do that consistently, then we’re going to win all those kinds of games. Giving up a fourth-quarter lead is never OK. It’s not acceptable. It should never happen. You do it because you don’t play consistent football.”
Harbaugh, though, stood behind reigning MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson.
“The most consistent player we have, consistently executing and consistently playing, is Lamar on offense,” Harbaugh said. “Lamar is playing very well. He’s making good decisions, he’s taking charge of the offense, he’s making throws, he’s moving around when he has to, he’s running the ball.”
Against the Raiders, Jackson went 21-for-34 for 247 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. He ran five times for 35 yards.
Jackson through two games has gone 47-for-75 for 520 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. His passer rating of 86.5 ranks 17th among starting quarterbacks. He has averaged 8.5 yards per carry on the ground (21-167).
The Ravens take their 0-2 record to Dallas this week to face a Cowboys team that is similarly reeling after being pummeled, 44-19, by the New Orleans Saints this past week. Then the Ravens host the Buffalo Bills in a big “Sunday Night Football” showdown at M&T Bank Stadium on Sept. 29 before going to Cincinnati on Oct. 6.
“You go to work, you move forward, and you try to continue to improve,” Harbaugh said. “I’ve heard it said [that] the NFL is a race to improve to become the best team that you can over the course of the long haul. The race is a marathon, and we have to try to continue to improve as much as we can every single day.”
NOTEBOOK
HARBAUGH STANDS BY CHALLENGE CALLS: Harbaugh reiterated his reasons for calling for two challenges that proved unsuccessful against the Raiders, though the second one proved especially costly as it allowed the Raiders to bleed most of the clock before kicking a game-winning field goal with 27 seconds left.
In the first half, Harbaugh had challenged a pass to Zay Flowers that was ruled incomplete; Flowers tried to snag the low throw while diving to the turf, but the ball appeared to short-hop into Flowers’ chest, and in fact as Harbaugh threw the challenge flag, quarterback Lamar Jackson could be seen begging for him not to do it.
On the second challenge, the Ravens questioned whether Raiders receiver Davante Adams came down inbounds with a critical 30-yard catch in the fourth quarter. Adams was fully extended along the left sideline, his toes dragging as he made the sensational catch. The Raiders rushed to the line of scrimmage to run another play.
After the game, Harbaugh said Adams’ catch was “such a high-leverage play” that it warranted another look.
A day later, Harbaugh still expressed no reservations about the aggressive challenge.
“I thought to myself, ‘It’s really close. There’s a good chance his toes are still on the ground, but there’s a chance his toes are off the ground,'” he said. “And we didn’t have time to get another look at it, so I decided in the heat of the moment to go ahead and take a shot at it.”
Harbaugh acknowledged that he is more likely to throw the red challenge flag when he is more certain, but, “I decided on that one to take a shot, and it ended up hurting us, because we didn’t have the timeout at the end of the game.”
ROSENGARTEN IMPRESSES, CLEVELAND UNLIKELY TO START: The rebuilt offensive line has borne its share of criticism for the Ravens’ 0-2 start, and Harbaugh acknowledged that a group with three new starters would have “growing pains.”
But Harbaugh said rookie right tackle Roger Rosengarten showed “major improvement” from Week 1 to Week 2 in his NFL career. Patrick Mekari started at right tackle for the second straight week, with Rosengarten, the second-round draft pick from Washington, replacing him at times.
Daniel Faalele made his second straight start at right guard, and while his struggles have been apparent, Harbaugh suggested no changes were forthcoming.
Asked about the possibility of fourth-year guard Ben Cleveland moving into the starting lineup, Harbaugh candidly said, “if Ben had earned the job at right guard, he’d be the starting right guard. … Our evaluation right now is that Daniel outplayed Ben — just a fact, straight up.”
Harbaugh did say the evaluation of his team will continue, perhaps in more thorough ways with the Ravens sitting at 0-2.
“We’ll look at every possibility as the week goes on,” Harbaugh said. “I think we’re always going to be searching for ways to make our team better.”
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