At times, the Baltimore Ravens’ 17-3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams was a far cry from last week’s shellacking at the hands of the Houston Texans.
In many ways, Sunday’s game was a distinct improvement from Baltimore’s last performance. Neither side of the ball was physically overmatched in the trenches, Derrick Henry looked back to his usual self, and the defense showed some heart with a number of splash plays. The Ravens even kept Puka Nacua in check and dominated the time of possession battle.
But
once again, Baltimore’s usual suspects – an inability to close drives, turnovers, and untimely penalties – put them at an insurmountable disadvantage. Any encouraging signs made the Ravens’ fantastic inability to take advantage of their opportunities all the more frustrating.
On their opening drive, Cooper Rush got the defense to jump offsides twice in a row to move the chains on third down. But a pair of (soft) holding flags in the red zone stalled the drive and forced the Ravens to kick a field goal. Errant throws, drops, and a missed field goal on L.A.’s first possession were quickly squandered by a Rush interception. The Ravens got the ball back via a spectacular John Jenkins strip-sack, only to hand it right back to the Rams after another curious blocking penalty and more struggles in short-yardage, high-leverage situations.
That was just the first quarter. Similar patterns played out throughout the rest of the game. LaJohntay Wester was bailed out by a penalty after he fumbled on his first punt return. On the re-try, he put the Ravens in scoring position, only for the offense to get down to the 1-yard line, run three plays, and turn the ball over right before halftime. The Rams marched down the field for a touchdown coming out of the break, and rather than respond with points of their own, the Ravens instead fumbled the ball away on two straight drives.
Tyler Huntley took over the offense in the fourth quarter with a typically-gallant performance, but four sacks on his two drives doomed any chances of a comeback. Fans began pouring out of the exits after he threw the ball out of bounds on fourth down, and the Ravens dropped to 1-5.
“We created our opportunities, and we put ourselves in a position where we could have won that football game,“ said John Harbaugh after the game. ”Probably, you could say, in some ways, we should have won it, but we didn’t do the things that you have to do to win the game. We made some critical mistakes that cost us an opportunity to win the game, and that’s really what it boils down to.”
For all of the frustration surrounding Harbaugh’s podium sessions, he hit the nail right on the head with his opening statement. The Ravens desperately needed a win, had multiple opportunities to take control of the game, and blew every chance they got.
