BALTIMORE (AP) — The last time the Baltimore Ravens lost their first two games, they stumbled all the way to the finish.
Although the current squad seemingly has more talent than that 2015 team, it’s off to an identical start.
How these Ravens end up depends on their resilience and ability to correct some obvious flaws.
Baltimore blew a 10-point lead in the final 12 minutes Sunday in a 26-23 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. After finishing with the best record in the NFL a year ago behind two-time MVP Lamar Jackson, the Ravens are winless and already have half as many losses as last year’s team that played in the AFC title game.
Baltimore lost a close game on the road against the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs last week and then inexplicably gave away a double-digit lead to a Raiders team that hasn’t had a winning season since 2021.
Jackson went 21 for 34 for 247 yards and a touchdown, but he was sacked twice, threw an interception and bottled up on the ground.
“We’ve got to find our mojo and do what we do,” Jackson lamented. “Because that’s not us at all.”
The Ravens were supposed to make a very good team even better by adding Derrick Henry to the backfield. Henry ran for 84 yards, and his touchdown run with 12:11 left seemingly provided Baltimore with an insurmountable 23-13 lead against the Raiders and quarterback Gardner Minshew, who came in with a lifetime 15-23 record as a starter.
But Minshew brought the Raiders all the way back, directing three scoring drives after Henry’s touchdown. It was a slap in the face to a defense that prides itself in making a late lead stand up.
“All we can do is respond,” linebacker Roquan Smith said. “I know the guys in the locker room and how we feel about it. Trust me, it sucks more for us than anyone else, and I just know we’re going to put our head down and keep going and correct our mistakes — because there’s no way we should be 0-2.”
Yep, for the first time since the Ravens started 0-3 in 2015 and finished 5-11, Baltimore is 0-2 under head coach John Harbaugh.
“We’re not going to be defined by everyone that’s saying we’re not any good, (or) that the season is over after two games,” Harbaugh said. “That’s what’s going to be said, and we understand that. But no one inside is going to say that.”
It’s pretty hard to imagine the Ravens blowing a 10-point lead at home as heavy favorites against the Raiders, but that’s exactly what happened. So, what’s it going to take to get out of this funk next week in Dallas and the rest of the way?
“Put points on the board and just finish people — just finish them,” Jackson said. “When we have the lead, just keep scoring and find a way to keep scoring. Just keep milking the clock, keep doing what we do: Play Ravens football.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
