It was not a good Monday night for the Baltimore Ravens and often-sacked quarterback Lamar Jackson, and the team’s 1-2 record is concerning. But here are the Ravens most to blame for the Monday Night Football loss to the Lions.
Detroit got two touchdowns apiece from Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery as they pounded the Ravens for a 38-30 win. It left the Ravens asking a lot of questions about themselves and where this season may be headed.
At the forefront of the problem is a defense that doesn’t offer much resistance.
Ravens HC John Harbaugh has a defensive problem
The Ravens have coughed up 41 and 38 points in two of their three games this season. And the performance against the Lions showed particular weaknesses. Harbaugh didn’t sugarcoat it, according to ESPN.
“The biggest problem is we didn’t play good defense,” Harbaugh said. “There’s nobody in that locker room that thinks that’s good enough.”
It’s pretty simple: The Ravens gave up touchdown drives of 98 and 96 yards in the same game. And the Lions did with a physicality that embarrassed the Ravens. Detroit rushed 38 times for 224 yards, gashing the Ravens over and over.
Defensive back Marlon Humphrey said it plainly, according to The Athletic.
“We’re just not very good,” Humphrey said in a quiet locker room late Monday night. “They did whatever they wanted to do all night.”
Harbaugh, whose team didn’t have defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike, simply couldn’t hold up in any phase of the game on defense.
“That’s bad run defense, and that’s not who we are,” Harbaugh said. “It cannot be who we are. It’s not going to be acceptable, and it has to be better.”
Safety Kyle Hamilton added to the mix.
“It’s definitely not where we want it to be,” said Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton. “No excuses can be made at this point. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. We just have to patch everything up right now. Our run defense, it’s been pretty good the whole time I’ve been here, but when a team runs the ball like that, it just demoralizes you more than passing the ball. They’re challenging you mentally (and) physically, so it’s on us as a defense just to put that fire out ASAP, and we didn’t do that.”
RB Derrick Henry has become a clutch-time fumbler
For the second time in three games, a fumble by Henry late in the contest proved to be a key moment. Henry didn’t know what to say after the game, according to NFL.com.
“I'm at a loss for words,” Henry said. “I apologize to Flock Nation. It's not a good feeling. I'm going to keep working to get it fixed.
“It's just crazy. Three fumbles [in three games] straight. I’m trying every day to fix the problem that just keeps occurring, so I'm trying to work on it. I'm my worst critic, so I'm not going to try to beat myself up too much, but it's hard not to when it's consecutive and consistent [instances] of me doing the same thing.”
Harbaugh said he believes the issue will be corrected.
“It hasn't been (a problem), and I don't think it'll be going forward, but we have to get it fixed,” Harbaugh said. “That was kind of a blind shot there. I thought he had the ball in good position. I thought the defender got a good look at it, though. It was kind of a retrace cutback play. So a little bit of the perfect storm. But still, we just want to protect the football. All our guys do, and we have to do it. We have to be good at it.”
QB Lamar Jackson needs to be more decisive
Sure, the Ravens didn’t protect Jackson very well. But several of the sacks came after Jackson hesitated to turn the ball loose and gave the rush time to form around him. Most times, Jackson can escape, but the Lions did a great job of hemming him in. It was teamwork, according to Yahoo.com.
“When one guy missed, it seemed like another guy was there to make a play,” linebacker Alex Anzalone said. “It was a great effort, and that’s what it takes when you play a fricking alien.”
