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The Baltimore Sun
Ravens fall to 0-2 with stunning 26-23 loss to Raiders in home opener: ‘Got to find our mojo’
By Brian Wacker, Baltimore Sun,
1 days ago
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson walks off the field after defeated by the Raiders 26-23 at M&T Bank Stadium. Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun/TNS
On a warm and sun-splashed afternoon Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium, the pomp and pageantry of the Ravens’ home opener, resplendent with a sea of purple and expectations soaring, had all the promise of a perhaps majestic performance for the heavily favored hosts. After all, the NFL’s two-time Most Valuable Player, Lamar Jackson, and two-time league rushing leader Derrick Henry could only be contained for so long.
Not quite.
Baltimore’s performance against an overmatched but gritty Las Vegas Raiders team belied the setting, leaving the Ravens still searching for their first win of the young season and with questions about their identity and what they will be a year after compiling the NFL’s best record.
Through their first two games this year, the Ravens have looked anything but elite, with a reshaped offensive line that has continued to struggle, a slew of bone-headed and ill-timed penalties and injudicious decision-making at the nexus of another defeat. This one — a 26-23 loss — stung.
“We’ve got to find our mojo,” Jackson said. “That’s not us at all.”
Except, once again, it was.
Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby terrorized Baltimore’s backfield. The Ravens committed 11 penalties totaling 109 yards. And quarterback Gardner Minshew II, who helped guide the Indianapolis Colts to an upset victory in Baltimore in Week 3 last season, outdueled Jackson down the stretch as Las Vegas rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to stun the Ravens in front of a crowd of 70,762.
“The penalties extended drives,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “That was the biggest thing.”
It was hardly the only thing — again.
Ten days after acknowledging that self-inflicted wounds played a significant role in a season-opening loss to the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs in Kansas City, many of the same problems played a part throughout — especially as the game wore on and the Raiders kept hanging around.
“We had the momentum,” Jackson said. “We [were] up in the fourth quarter, 23-13; usually, we just finish teams by then. We [usually] just go get the ball rolling [and] just go to punishing people.”
Instead, the Ravens were the ones who got punished.
After holding the Raiders to just 43 yards in the first half — their fewest since 2015 — the Ravens looked poise to win. They took a 16-6 lead early in the third quarter that was set up by a 29-yard run by Henry and then a 23-13 lead early in the fourth that was capped by Henry’s 3-yard scoring run. But they couldn’t find a way to finish off the Raiders.
On Las Vegas’ next possession, defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike was called for a 15-yard facemask penalty, moving the Raiders to their 45-yard-line to start the series. Then on second-and-20 following a sack, Minshew found star receiver Davante Adams for 26 yards then again for 30 yards one play later.
Harbaugh challenged the second catch, but Adams had both feet in bounds along the sideline. It was the second time the Ravens lost a challenge after wasting one on an incompletion to Zay Flowers late in the second quarter. Each cost them valuable timeouts.
Las Vegas was held to a 25-yard field goal after Adams’ grab, but the momentum shift was well underway by then.
On the Raiders’ next possession, facing third-and-goal from the Ravens’ 17-yard-line, cornerback Brandon Stephens was flagged for pass interference on Adams. One play later, Minshew hit Adams from a yard out to tie the game at 23.
After Baltimore failed again to move the ball on its next possession and Jordan Stout booted just a 24-yard punt, the Raiders drove 23 yards on six plays to set up Carlson for the winning kick.
“There’s a lot to clean up,” said Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley, whose second-quarter holding penalty contributed to one drive ending short of a first down. “I think it’s our own lack of discipline that’s causing these problems.
“Effort isn’t an issue. It’s just details. … We have a team full of soldiers. These guys are gonna go all out, now it’s just time to sharpen it all up and make things more disciplined and more clean because these are the type of games we can’t lose.”
And the kind they can’t seem to win so far.
Adams finished with 110 receiving yards and a touchdown, while rookie tight end Brock Bowers had 98 yards on nine catches. Minshew, meanwhile, was 30-for-38 for 276 yards with one touchdown and one interception, and Crosby finished with two sacks, two quarterback hits, a batted pass and six tackles, including four for loss.
“I’m not the one who [is] having to block [Crosby] or anything like that or talking on the line,” Jackson said. “But we had the right protections up. Sometimes, you’ve got to have those one-on-one fights. Sometimes we’ve got to win those.”
Instead, the Ravens found themselves on the losing end again, with a lack of offense that included just 19 rushing yards in the first half (and just 5 yards on seven carries from Henry in the first 30 minutes) and mistakes on defense to special teams.
That included from Justin Tucker, who made kicks from 48, 42 and 32 yards but missed one from 56. He’s now 1-for-7 on field goal attempts from 50 yards or more over the past two seasons.
It was also the Ravens’ 11th loss in the past five seasons when leading by seven or more points in the fourth quarter, the most in the NFL over that span. The Raiders, meanwhile, had lost 49 in a row when trailing by 10 or more points in the fourth quarter.
Only two of 32 teams to start 0-2 have made the postseason since the playoffs expanded to 14 teams in 2020, according to The Boston Globe. Only five of those squads finished the season with a winning record.
“The message is we define our season,” Harbaugh said. “It’s not gonna be defined by everybody that’s gonna say we’re not any good, that we’re done, that’s the season’s over after two games.
“We gotta take care of our stuff, take care of our business, take care of our work. We know that we’re a good football team, but we gotta go keep getting better and better and better and define the season by the way we play.”
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