OWINGS MILLS, Md. — As the Ravens work to move past a stunning 41-40 season-opening loss at Buffalo in which the team blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead, cornerback Marlon Humphrey said the team, and specifically the defense, is suffering from a lack of “maturity.”
“It’s very clear we’ve got great players on both sides of the ball,” Humphrey said, “but defensively, we have to work on our maturity, too. It doesn’t matter what our offense is doing. We have to go out there and win the game, and, right now, our maturity level, sadly, when we get in those situations, it’s just not enough.”
The Ravens were leading Buffalo 40-25 in the fourth quarter before the Bills roared back to score the final 16 points of the game, winning on a field goal with no time left.
To be sure, the Ravens had errors in all three phases of the game to assist the Bills comeback. Derrick Henry fumbled to set up a Bills touchdown on one of the game’s most pivotal plays, and on the drive before that, the Ravens’ special teams unit botched covering a punt. With Jordan Stout’s punt slowing rolling toward the goal line, Trenton Simpson slid to the ball, and his momentum carried him over the goal line for a touchback. Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen and the Bills proceeded to drive 80 yards in 10 plays for a score.
Humphrey, though, put the blame squarely on the defense.
“Everyone wants to make a play,” Humphrey said as he sat at his locker after the team’s practice Sept. 10. “That’s the biggest thing. Everyone says, ‘I want to make a play, I want to make a play. … Do your job, and if a play comes to you, it comes to you. … We knew exactly what they were going to do in a couple different situations, and all 11 guys couldn’t get together. So, that maturity, we’re still working on it.”
The Ravens get their first chance to fix it this coming Sunday, when they host the Cleveland Browns and Joe Flacco in the home opener at 1 p.m. at M&T Bank Stadium. They face the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs in the following two weeks, and if the defense is unsettled, those teams can make them pay.
Humphrey is one of the longest-tenured players in the Ravens’ locker room, so his words carry weight. He didn’t name names, but it’s fair to assume that Humphrey isn’t questioning the maturity of rookies such as safety Malaki Starks or linebacker Mike Green, who was each playing the first game of his NFL career at Buffalo.
The bottom line is the Ravens have key veterans at all three levels of their defense, with Nnamdi Madubuike up front, Kyle Van Noy and Odafe Oweh on the edge; Roquan Smith at inside linebacker; and Humphrey, Jaire Alexander, and Chidobe Awuzie in the secondary. Every one of those players has at least four full years of experience, in many cases many more, albeit not all with Baltimore; Alexander and Awuzie joined the team this offseason.
Still, Humphrey’s candid assessment had echoes to last year, when the Ravens defense stumbled through the first half of the season before making personnel changes and becoming one of the best over the second half of the season.
This year, Humphrey said, defensive coordinator Zach Orr, in his second season in that role, won’t be as patient.
“We’re not going to be repeat offenders,” Humphrey said. “It’s not going to be a situation where somebody’s been doing something wrong, and nothing gets said, or we think this, that and the third. If you’re doing things right, you’re going to play. If you’re not doing things right, you’re not going to play.”
NOTEBOOK
LIKELY, RICARD STILL OUT, MADUBUIKE MISSES PRACTICE: Tight end Isaiah Likely (foot) and fullback Patrick Ricard (calf) both missed practice again, leaving their status for Week 2 highly questionable. Likely has not practiced since suffering a fracture in his foot in late July, and Ricard has been sidelined for more than two weeks. Likely was on a side field doing some conditioning work during the portion of practice open to the media.
Defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike also missed practice with an ankle injury, according to the official injury report. Head coach John Harbaugh said he expected Madubiuke to practice Thursday. Cornerback Jaire Alexander (knee) was listed as limited in practice.
JACKSON TO FANS: ‘KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF’: Quarterback Lamar Jackson said he had a discussion with general manager Eric DeCosta about the incident at Buffalo in which Jackson shoved a fan after the fan in the first row had shoved both wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and Jackson in their helmets as the Ravens celebrated a touchdown.
After being shoved, Jackson reached up and pushed the fan with two hands in a scene caught by the NBC television cameras. Harbaugh said both DeCosta and team president Sashi Brown had been in touch with the league regarding the incident, and both he and Jackson said they expected no discipline to be levied against Jackson.
At his weekly news conference, Jackson apologized to the unnamed fan, who, according to ESPN, has been banned from NFL stadiums.
“I got pushed [in the head], and I’m like, ‘What?'” Jackson said. “But my apologies to … whoever that was. I don’t know who it was. My apologies to him. Just chill next time. You can talk trash and stuff, but keep your hands to yourself. That’s all I can say.”
Another video showed a beer landing near running back Derrick Henry after his touchdown, and Harbaugh implied the Ravens have also had frozen water bottles thrown at them.
“Stuff like that shouldn’t be happening,” Jackson said. “This is not WWE. We’re playing football out here. … I know the opposing team is going to talk trash, so keep it that way. But keep your hands and keep your objects to yourself.”
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