CLEVELAND — After his final desperation pass bounced harmlessly in the corner of the end zone with no time on the clock, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson angrily ripped off his helmet and spiked it to the ground.
Jackson and the offense made their share of mistakes in Sunday’s momentum-crushing 29-24 loss to the Cleveland Browns at Huntington Bank Field, and therein lies the problem for this Ravens team. They simply don’t have any margin of error offensively with how poorly they’re playing on the other side of the ball.
“We’d probably be undefeated right now,” said defensive back Ar’Darius Washington when asked where the Ravens would be if the defense was playing better.
Instead, the Ravens are 5-3, their five-game winning streak is gone and they have to digest another preventable loss that was probably even worse than the Week 2 collapse to the Las Vegas Raiders, because it came against a divisional rival that was 1-6 and perceived to be reeling.
Reeling, however, is a good word to describe Baltimore’s once-vaunted defense that has come up small far too often this season and was at its worst in the decisive moments of Sunday’s game. First-year defensive coordinator Zach Orr had no answers, and neither did anyone else.
The Ravens, who were fighting uphill for much of the game, took a 24-23 lead on Derrick Henry’s 2-yard touchdown run with 2:36 to play. The defense couldn’t hold it.
“I just think everybody — all 11 of us — need to lock in on doing our jobs better,” said outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy.
On Sunday, the Ravens were further exposed defensively by a backup quarterback making just his fourth start since the end of the 2021 season, by an offense that was dead last in the NFL in yards per play, yards per game and third-down conversions, and by a receiving corps that lost its most accomplished player in a trade earlier this month.
They again had communication lapses, like on Jameis Winston’s first touchdown pass to Cedric Tillman late in the third quarter. The Ravens weren’t even lined up correctly when Tillman waltzed unimpeded through the middle and broke an Eddie Jackson tackle attempt for a 22-yard score.
Jameis finds Cedric Tillman to retake the lead!
📺: #BALvsCLE on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/sjSIvER5b5— NFL (@NFL) October 27, 2024
They again showed no ability to consistently impact the quarterback. Winston was sacked twice, but he also had 41 passing attempts. On most plays, he had all the time he needed to survey the field and find an open receiver. Even when the Ravens blitzed — as they did repeatedly on the Browns’ game-winning drive in the final three minutes — they couldn’t get there fast enough to make a play.
They again squandered repeated opportunities to get off the field on third down and create turnovers. A Browns team that was converting at only a 23.7 percent rate was 8-of-15 on third down. When Winston gave the Ravens chances, they played the role of ungrateful guests. Jackson dropped at least two interceptions and cleanly whiffed on a third. Van Noy couldn’t come up with one.
Fellow safety Kyle Hamilton, the team’s best player for much of the afternoon, may have ended the game by just hauling in a room service overthrow by Winston with just over a minute to play. Instead, he juggled it twice and then finally dropped it. On the very next play, the Browns scored the game-winning touchdown.
Hamilton left the locker room before reporters came in — as did middle linebacker Roquan Smith, another “voice” of the defense — leaving other defensive backs to speak for the drops, which have been a weekly issue.
“We definitely have had our opportunities,” said cornerback Brandon Stephens. “We had some opportunities in this game, even late in the fourth to end it.”
And they again struggled to stick with receivers who ran free on every quadrant of the field. Winston threw for 334 yards, and the Browns, who dealt Amari Cooper to the Buffalo Bills earlier this month, had four different players with at least five catches and more than 60 receiving yards.
The game-winning touchdown was a microcosm of the defense’s issues. Knowing they couldn’t yield more yards with the Browns closing in on a game-winning field goal attempt, the Ravens sent a Cover 0 blitz at Winston on second-and-15 from the Baltimore 38. Tillman ran past Jackson, and Winston hit him for a 38-yard score that put the Browns up 29-24 with 59 seconds to play.
“Cover 0 is a tough spot, but I have to play it better,” Jackson said. “As simple as that.”
JAMEIS GOING FOR IT ALL!
📺: #BALvsCLE on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/hAZ6Y2r9px— NFL (@NFL) October 27, 2024
Jackson said repeatedly that the Ravens’ defense is in a “funk,” particularly with the dropped interceptions.
“We’re just not making those plays when they come to us,” he said. “There’s no big theory behind it, we’re just in a funk right now that we have to get out of, because a lot of those are big game-changing plays if we make those.”
His nightmare of an afternoon came on a day when normal starting safety Marcus Williams dressed but did not play in the game. The Ravens instead started Jackson and Washington at safety.
“It was a personnel decision,” coach John Harbaugh said when asked why Williams didn’t play. “We’re kind of working through some things there. I feel very confident Marcus is going to be out there playing great football the rest of the season. I’ll just talk about it being an internal type of situation.”
Williams has the third-largest salary-cap hit on the team ($18.7 million), so his benching on a day when the Ravens were already short in the secondary (corners Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins were out) and up front (defensive linemen Michael Pierce and Brent Urban left early with injuries) was jarring.
So is the fact that the Ravens aren’t getting enough from some of their other best-compensated defensive players. Smith really hasn’t made a game-changing play since intercepting Patrick Mahomes in Week 1. Defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike has two fewer sacks (two) this season than he has 15-yard penalties (four).
“It’s frustrating for sure,” Madubuike said. “We’re the Ravens. We pride ourselves on defense, and obviously, everybody is referring to how great we were last year and just comparing it to this year. It’s just not the same.”
It will be another long week for Orr, who was already getting scrutiny with the Ravens entering the game ranked 32nd in pass defense, 27th on third downs, 26th in the red zone and 23rd in yards allowed per game.
“We’re very confident in our guys — we always are,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve played great defense, and we’ll keep working, and we’ll put up some good defensive games — I’ll promise you that.”
To be clear, the Ravens’ defense was hardly the only issue Sunday. Special teams continues to fall well short of expectations. Justin Tucker mis-hit a 50-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter, and that loomed large when the Ravens were frantically racing downfield in the final minute and needing a touchdown instead of a field goal. There were a few special teams penalties that hurt field position, and Harbaugh was critical of rookie Chris Collier’s decision to take two kickoffs out of the end zone.
Offensively, the Ravens never found a rhythm after they were stuffed on fourth-and-1 from the Browns’ 7-yard line on their first drive. Jackson spent much of the afternoon running for his life. He missed a few open throws, but he was too often forced to play “hero ball” after pass protection broke down.
Cleveland’s defense was able to limit Henry — he had 39 of his 73 rushing yards on one carry — and take away some of the open throws that Jackson had been getting.
“Every loss is frustrating,” said Jackson. “We’ve been doing so good on the offensive side of the ball, the defensive side of the ball. We’ve just been putting points on the board, keeping teams out of the end zone. We just have to play better.”
Jackson completed 23 of 38 pass attempts for 289 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 46 yards. But he didn’t get a ton of help, as the Ravens held themselves back with penalties and drops.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Sign Up
Nelson Agholor, who caught an 11-yard touchdown pass earlier in the game, had a big drop on third down, as did Rashod Bateman. Bateman had a deep fourth-quarter pass from Jackson hit him in the helmet. He said later that he lost it in the sun.
“Reality check? This is the NFL; this happens, week in and week out,” Bateman said. “This is reality for us. We’re going to treat this just how we treat any other game — win or loss. We’re going to work tomorrow, the next day and the next days after that.”
The Ravens’ reality was abundantly clear on Sunday afternoon, even against an opponent they should have handled. The offense just can’t afford to make many mistakes because the defense can’t be trusted to get stops.
(Photo: Jeff Lange / USA Today via Imagn Images)
