Sunday was supposed to be a crowning moment for this era of Baltimore Ravens football. Six years in the making, with arguably their best shot at a Super Bowl since 2012 or 2014. The AFC was not particularly strong this year, and the Ravens were by far the best team in the conference all year. They had a dominant defense that was first in sacks, turnovers, and points allowed, as well as an offense that was balanced with a soon-to-be two-time MVP at quarterback. Baltimore had dominated teams and did the same to the Houston Texans in the Divisional Playoffs one week earlier.
The Ravens had home-field advantage for the second time in five years and were playing host to the first home AFC Championship game in Ravens history and the first championship game in Baltimore in over 50 years. It was a party atmosphere at M&T Bank Stadium with Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Jonathan Ogden, Terrell Suggs, Todd Heap, Anquan Boldin, Michael Phelps, and others in the building. Sunday was also the anniversary of the 2000 Ravens Super Bowl XXXV championship. The weakest Kansas City Chiefs team (at least offensively) in the Patrick Mahomes era was the only thing standing in the Ravens way of a trip to Las Vegas. It seemed like this was finally the Ravens time in the Lamar Jackson era. What happened next, we will be talking about all offseason because the Ravens blew it.
No Other Way To Say It, The Ravens Blew It
The Chiefs were mentally and physically better
The Chiefs went into the Ravens house and didn’t just beat them 17-10, they bullied them. All game long, you can see how much tougher Kansas City was and won the line of scrimmage. The Ravens had no response to it. They committed dumb penalties after dumb penalties. Let’s say it: the Ravens were not playing against the referees. That has been a popular take for Ravens fans after Sunday, and the referees had it out for them. The answer is no.
Zay Flowers did commit a taunting penalty and then fumbled while diving into the endzone that would’ve cut the Chiefs lead to 17-14. Jadeveon Clowney did go helmet to helmet on Mahomes. Travis Jones essentially clotheslined Mahomes. Kyle Van Noy did unnecessarily go helmet-to-helmet on Kelce after a play was over. Roquan Smith did shove a Chiefs offensive lineman on a 1st-and-5 where he was supposed to cause a five-yard offsides penalty on purpose and not 15 yards like he did.
Kansas City was the mentally tougher team and looked like a team that had been there before. Which, of course, they have. The Ravens played like the moment was way too big for them, and it clearly was. The Chiefs got into the Ravens heads, and they knew they got into their heads.
Tale of two halves for the defense
As good as the offense has been all season, the defense was the strength of this team. They were, without question, the best defense in the NFL in 2023. So, you would think they would dominate against a Chiefs team with an inconsistent offense. Well, not for most of the first half. After the offense went three-and-out to begin the game, the defense allowed a Chiefs opening drive touchdown capped off with a Mahomes to Travis Kelce touchdown pass. Right out of the gate, the Ravens were down 7-0. After the Ravens tied it on an extraordinary play from Jackson where he avoided a sack, reset himself, and tossed a touchdown to Flowers, the defense allowed another touchdown drive.
It was 14-7. The defense would make a big 4th-and-1 stop after the offense turned the ball over on a sack-fumble. However, the defense would give up a field goal drive, which happened mostly because of the Van Noy and Jones penalties. Baltimore was down 17-7 at the half to the Chiefs. That’s not ideal. To the defense’s credit, however, they pitched a shutout in the second half and gave the offense every possible way to come back and win. Except they didn’t.
What happened to the Offense?
Everything the Ravens did well on offense all season long was abandoned on this day. The Ravens bread and butter on offense, and really in their entire history, is running the football. For some reason, in a game where they were never truly out of it, the Ravens got away from their identity. Gus Edwards and Justice Hill each had three carries. That’s six in total. Six. How does offensive coordinator Todd Monken justify that?
Head Coach John Harbaugh was asked about the lack of rushing attempts and said that it was “that type of game.” Keep in mind, the largest deficit Baltimore was down by was ten, and their defense had stepped up in the second half. So, what happened? The Ravens panicked. They got away from their identity and became a pass-heavy team because they felt they had to. The results weren’t good. Which brings us to…
Lamar Jackson
He wasn’t good on Sunday. Plain and simple. Aside from that amazing touchdown to Flowers, he was once again erratic in postseason play. He missed deep and short throws, was indecisive, held onto the ball too long, and turned it over two more times with the fumble and an inexcusable interception into triple coverage down 17-7 with 6:54 left in the game. He even had chances to tuck and run the football to get key first downs, and he didn’t. Is it all his fault? No, of course not. It’s never all the quarterback’s fault, as much as many would believe. The offensive line had a bad day, and the game plan was questionable. However, it doesn’t take away that this was yet another postseason clunker for Jackson, which is disappointing after his great performance against Houston.
As great and talented as he is, he is now 2-4 in the playoffs and 1-3 at home. He is also now 1-4 against Mahomes. Once again, he had a home-field advantage, and again, he didn’t get the job done. For his postseason career, Jackson has thrown six touchdowns (as well as rushing for three touchdowns), six interceptions, six fumbles, and a 75.7 passer rating. He has turned the ball over in every playoff game except last week against the Texans. In his three home playoff losses, Jackson has thrown four touchdowns, four interceptions, and fumbled five times. His passer rating in these home playoff losses? 70.
After a tumultuous last two years, everything seemed to be going Jackson’s way. He got his contract; he was happy and maturing as a leader. The Ravens supplied him with weapons such as Flowers, Nelson Agholor, and Odell Beckham to go along with Mark Andrews, Rashod Bateman, and Isaiah Likely. They gave him an offensive coordinator he was comfortable with. Yet it was the same story, and Jackson is out of excuses. He will be going into year seven next season, and the time is now for him to win a championship. He has all the talent and the tools to do it. Right now, however, he must get over the postseason hurdle. Some may not want to hear it, but that’s how it is right now.
Main Image: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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