Already suffering a three-game losing streak, the Baltimore Ravens (4-5) were hoping to find something positive to hang on to on a short week down to their third quarterback against the Jacksonville Jaguars. What they got was another ugly, sloppy loss that exposed a litany of issues throughout the team.
Rookie quarterback Joe Fagnano struggled to complete a pass five yards past the line of scrimmage, much less move the ball downfield with any consistency. The offensive line again was overpowered and outfoxed by an opponent, and the defense gave up chunk plays and had no answers for the Jaguars’ incisive passing attack.
Now the Ravens head into a mini bye week with more questions than answers, including how head coach Jesse Minter can keep the team motivated to compete on a week-to-week basis with a season slipping away.
“There is a real inconsistency, I would say, at all three levels, all three phases,” Minter said after the game. “And again, some of that is due to whatever, but that is what it is. Nobody cares about that stuff. So, if we can find a consistency level and find a formula for this particular team where it’s at right now, I do think there’s a good opportunity for this team.”
Here are four takeaways, and some odds and ends, from the Ravens’ blowout loss to the Jaguars.
1. Fagnano’s performance reminds us of the reality of starting an undrafted rookie quarterback.
I wrote in my preview that the coaches needed to “implement a game plan that maximizes Fagnano’s strengths and avoids putting him in difficult down-and-distance situations. Screens, quick passes, jet sweeps and getting the ball into receiver Zay Flowers’ hands.”
In the first half they just about took the ball out of Fagnano’s hands entirely. Running back Derrick Henry ran eight wildcat plays in the half, and most of Fagnano’s passing attempts were screens or short throws in the flat. Fagnano didn’t have a completion to a wide receiver until the 10-minute mark of the second quarter, and that would be the only one all half.
Once the Jaguars got out to a 17-3 lead, however, the Ravens did open up the passing game and Fagnano struggled. On his first long third-down attempt, he threw a bad interception off balance with a blitzer in his face. The Ravens would then go the entire third quarter without a first down.
Fagnano threw another interception in the fourth quarter on an ill-advised throw to Flowers that cornerback Jourdan Lewis easily undercut. But the worst of it may have been when he collided with Henry in the backfield on a simple handoff. Fagnano finished the game 10-of-18 for 60 yards and two interceptions.
It became clear in this game why the Ravens are reportedly trading for quarterback Jacoby Brissett. Even if the team isn’t going to compete for an AFC North title or even a postseason berth, they needed a quarterback who can run a competent offense. Fagnano was a nice story when he made the 53-man roster, but he is far from being even a No. 2 quarterback right now.
2. To their credit, the Ravens’ coaching staff did everything to keep the game close for as long as possible.
When Fagnano entered the Bills’ game, offensive coordinator Declan Doyle called 12 passes in 13 plays leading to sacks, a turnover and Fagnano getting hit repeatedly and injuring his ankle. This game, Doyle emptied the playbook — or rewrote it on the fly — with wildcat Henry runs, plays with multiple pitches, screens and short passes. The Ravens were able to get some first downs, bleed the clock and manipulate field position. At one point, they had an 11-play, 7:28 minute drive that only gained 32 yards.
After seeing how limited Fagnano was in a more drop-back passing game, it was clear why Doyle took this approach, and for the most part, it was effective early. The defense did them no favors by giving up big plays, especially in the first half, and once the Jaguars had a two-touchdown lead, that offensive game plan was lost.
Even Ravens offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford tried to inject some energy into his unit with a heated speech mid-game where he threw his tablet in disgust.
It was always unlikely such a conservative offense was going to compete over a full NFL game, especially against a talented offensive opponent, but Doyle tried to find the best approach to keep the game within reach.
3. The defense played with one hand behind their back, but they still gave up big plays and put up little resistance.
For the Ravens to win, or keep the game close, they were going to need a good run game, a few big plays and then a defense to play lights-out football and generate turnovers.
The Ravens won the opening coin toss and elected to kick off, likely to try to start the game with their healthier and, in theory, better unit on the field first. The Jaguars responded by taking the ball down the field and scoring a touchdown in less than four minutes.
On the second play from scrimmage, cornerback Marlon Humphrey got caught with his eyes in the backfield and let tight end Nate Boerkircher get behind him for a 52-yard catch, which was symbolic of both the defense and Humphrey’s play all season.
At the end of the first half, with the score still 10-3, the defense then gave up a back-breaking touchdown drive where the Jaguars marched downfield with multiple plays of more than 10 yards, leading to a 50-yard completion to wide receiver Parker Washington. The Ravens tried to blitz multiple secondary players and Trevor Lawrence read it and hit Washington, who badly beat safety Malaki Starks in coverage.
The defense then gave up three scoring drives in the fourth quarter and finished the game giving up more than 30 points for the third straight week.
It’s challenging to defend for 60 minutes when your offense isn’t showing anything in the way of first downs, big plays or points, but the Ravens’ defensive performance was poor all on its own.
4. How will Minter rally this team now?
Brissett is hardly a savior, the defense has given up 104 points in three games and the team continues to make the kinds of mistakes good teams avoid or at least keep to a minimum, such as penalties, blown coverages and turnovers. They’ve lost four games in a row and appear to be playing out the string with months left in the season. Minter faces yet another test in his young head coaching career: How to continue to motivate his players when there is less and less to play for.
“I believe in our guys. I think that there’s a lot of things that we need to look at and improve on, but I do think that we have a team … in really all three phases, there’s spurts of good enough football,” Minter said.
His players continue to say the right things, but you wonder how much they believe it.
“There are a bunch of fighters on this team. And that’s the type of people that we have; they are fighters,” tight end Mark Andrews said after the game. “No matter what the circumstances are — backs up against the wall — we’re going to be lasered in and focused, and I am looking forward to our next game on Monday night.”
If Minter can win one game, with Doyle getting just enough offensive production from Brissett to actually put points on the board in two halves, the Ravens will break their losing streak and return to 5-5 with an easier stretch of opponents ahead. But he has a laundry list of things to correct, and after nine games, some of it may not be fixable with this group of players.
Odds and ends
-Penalties are a disease, not a symptom. The Ravens continue to be one of the most penalized teams in the NFL. They committed seven penalties for 46 yards against the Jaguars, and the timing and variety of the penalties killed drives or directly lead to points allowed. In the first half, the Jaguars were able to draw the Ravens offside on a fairly obvious fourth-and-four situation where they weren’t going to run a play. Two different Ravens jumped, and the Jaguars eventually got a short field goal later in the drive.
Offensively, they had one drive with back-to-back false starts from two of their most veteran players, Andrews and tackle Ronnie Stanley. Minter called the penalties “unacceptable,” but when they keep happening every game, the word loses any weight.
-Kicker Jake Moody passed his first test. Moody’s performance was perhaps the only bright spot of the game for the Ravens. He made all of his kicks, including a 53-yard field goal in the first quarter through the rain.
-Short yardage problems won’t go away. Not being able to trust a sneak needing one yard epitomizes the Ravens’ run game woes. This week, Doyle used Andrews to run two short-yardage plays. He was stopped short on one and fumbled the snap on the second. For a team that runs the ball more than most, the continual problems executing in short yardage are baffling.
-In my preview this week, I couldn’t find a path for the Ravens to compete in this game outside of some early success in Doyle’s scripted portion of the game, and it didn’t take long for that to bear out. Now the Ravens face a looming trade deadline and a new incoming quarterback. Season results: 5-4 straight up, 4-5 against the spread.
Photo Credit: Colin Murphy/PressBox