Commanders' bad loss to Ravens resurrects major concern that will cost Washington games against good teams

The Washington Commanders defense looked like it found its groove after the last two performances against the Arizona Cardinals and Cleveland Browns, but all that came crashing down in Sunday's 30-23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Over the last two weeks, the Commanders defense held its opponents to 13.5 points per game and didn't allow more than 14 points in a single contest. The Ravens shattered that mark in Week 6 by scoring the second-most points the Commanders have allowed this season. That came back in Week 3, when the Commanders beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 38-33, on Monday Night Football.

Lamar Jackson and co. also racked up 486 total yards, which is easily the most yards allowed by the Commanders defense, this year. They averaged 7.6 yards per play, ran for 177-yards and passed for more than 300-yards, and turned the ball over just once and punted just once. They also converted 60% of their third down attempts, where the Commanders haven't been great on defense - they had allowed the 10th-highest conversion percentage (43.6%) on third down coming into the game. And, finally, the Ravens converted three of their four red zone trips into touchdowns.

Those numbers also include five straight scoring drives for the Ravens, three of which came in the second half. The Ravens scored on every single possession from the moment they touched the ball with 12:56 to go in the second quarter, except for the final drive of the game, which ended in the victory formation.

"I wouldn't say it wasn't like a communication issue that got us jammed up today," Quinn told reporters after he was asked if it was more of the Commanders' deficiencies on defense or the Ravens' prowess on offense. "I'd say at the end, not fitting some runs exactly like you want, or a certain coverage in a fire zone, here's where the hole is, and they hit it. So I had been impressed leading into the game with their passing game and Lamar, although the running game got so much attention, so I wasn't surprised to see them throw it well at this point."

It was death by one-thousand paper cuts for the Commanders defense, which simply didn't have enough to keep up with an offense like the one the Ravens possess. Especially once the injuries on the defensive line piled up, it was clear Dan Quinn's unit just didn't have the horses to hang with the Ravens.

"I thought, like I said at the half, we were right where we were supposed to be," said Quinn. "I don't like how we performed in the second half."

It's also fair to say the games against the Cardinals and Browns weren't as definitive as they initially seemed on the surface. There was certainly a suspicion that both offenses are subpar, at best, especially the Browns offense. That's been proven over the last couple of weeks, even with the Cardinals' Week 5 win over the San Francisco 49ers.

For starters, that's a divisional game and anything can happen in those. But also, the 49ers defense isn't the vaunted unit we've become accustomed to over the last couple of years. Just put it this way: The Cardinals have scored 14 or fewer points in three of their six games after Week 6's 34-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

And we don't even need to go into details when it comes to explaining just how bad the Browns offense is. That whole unit is an absolute dumpster fire with all of the offensive line injuries/issues and Deshaun Watson's erratic play.

Quinn and Whitt Jr. certainly have their work cut out for them when it comes to facing the NFL's top offenses. Sure, the Commanders defense may be able to hold its own against middling units, but it's yet to prove it can stop an above-average offense and that's going to continue to be a problem as the season goes on. Simply because the team can only do so much with the roster it has.