Report Card: Ravens Offer Little Resistance in Loss to Philly

In a performance that wandered between confusing and inept, the Ravens put forth a fairly ridiculous effort against a red-hot Eagles team and showed the football-watching world why it’s hard to take them seriously as a contender who could string together enough wins in a row to win a championship.

Let’s get to the grades.

Offense Overall: C-

They couldn’t finish drives. The interior of the offensive line got pushed back consistently. They missed open passes. They missed catching perfect passes in tight windows. They couldn’t put together any kind of consistency in the run game. The short-yardage play calls were head-scratching at times. In a game where the Ravens needed a good offensive performance to compete, they didn’t come ready to play. On the bright side, they were really, really good at falling on their own fumbles. So, you know… there’s that.

Quarterback: B-

There were some brilliant plays, like the scramble-and-throw to Zay Flowers for 40 yards in the first quarter, and the bullet he fired to Mark Andrews for a touchdown. There were a few important runs, and a really nice touch throw to Andrews for 17 early in the fourth quarter. But there were also some missed easy ones, like an opportunity for Andrews on the opening drive that looked like a touchdown, and one where Isaiah Likely was wide open, along with a bounced toss to an open Flowers on third down in the second quarter. He also got lucky he wasn’t picked on a fourth-down throw in the fourth quarter. He wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t 2024 Lamar Jackson today.

Running Backs: B-

Derrick Henry didn’t have a lot of room to work with all game, but he did fight and scrape for 82 yards on 19 carries, and contributed another 29 through the air. Justice Hill never really got a chance to do much in the open field, either. They had an uphill fight today, but they probably got a little more than they should have in most cases.

Receivers: C

Andrews had six catches for 67 yards and a touchdown, and Zay Flowers contributed 74 yards on three catches. Andrews had a good game all around, and just missed hauling in a pass from Jackson on the Ravens’ first drive for a touchdown. Nelson Agholor had two contested catches go incomplete, with the second one looking like a drop. Isaiah Likely had a garbage-time touchdown among five catches.

Offensive Line: D

It seemed like the Ravens’ interior was being shoved back as soon as the ball was snapped for huge parts of the game, and the Ravens struggled to make any holes in the run game against a dominant Eagles’ interior group. This was not a great performance by any measure. My biggest concern this week was the Ravens’ offensive line against the Eagles’ defensive line. Concerns were justified as the Ravens were flat-out bullied up front.

Defense Overall: B

The numbers suggest Saquon Barkley had his way with the Ravens’ defense, but that wasn’t entirely the case. The spectacular back really got going as the Ravens’ defense wore down at the end, and he put the Eagles on his shoulders. The Ravens did not get a consistent pass rush when the Eagles did pass, but they were largely in good position, and outside of an A.J. Brown explosion in the second quarter, I thought the pass defense was pretty good. The defense didn’t blow this game.

Defensive Line: B-

This unit has been very good all year, and they had their moments today, but the Eagles’ offensive line largely won this battle, especially as the snaps mounted. Tavius Robinson stood out on a few plays in the first half, and Travis Jones blew up Barkley for a loss in the third quarter. Broderick Washington picked up a sack thanks to pressure by Justin Madubuike, and later forced a fumble by Barkley, which the running back recovered.

Linebackers: B

Roquan Smith had 11 tackles and half a sack, and was mostly a sure tackler, outside of a Barkley run late. Trenton Simpson made a nice open-field tackle on Barkley in the first quarter, and Chris Board made a huge play on a third-and-one run by Barkley in the second quarter to kill a drive.

Secondary: B

The Eagles have a great group of pass-catchers, and they made their plays. Brown really dominated the second quarter of the game and gave the Eagles a huge boost. But they played together, closed some big holes in zones for the second half and largely tackled well. Nate Wiggins got beat by Brown on a slant early in the second quarter and whiffed trying to tackle him later that quarter, but he was also pretty sticky in coverage. Marlon Humphrey was hardly tested, but was in on a sack with Smith. Kyle Hamilton playing deep has solidified the back end a lot these last three games, but he’s been less impactful as a result. In a perfect world, Marcus Williams gets straight over the bye and the Ravens can swing into the end of the season with something dependable and impactful back there.

Special Teams: Train Wreck

Justin Tucker missed two field goals and an extra point, and the game was played differently because of those missing points. The situation is now dire. Let’s hope some by-week work can solve this puzzle, too. Tylan Wallace let a few punts bounce inside the five yard line and managed to fumble or bumble two other kicks. Rasheen Ali had a 38-yard kick return, which was cool, and Jordan Stout averaged 47.8 yards on four punts. Nate Wiggins blocked a late field goal, but he was offsides by about 16 seconds. This once-proud unit is officially stomach-turning now.

Coaching: D

I still hate a lot of the short-distance play calls, and there are times when the team just can’t seem to get out of their own way. I do like some of the adjustments on defense these past few weeks, and I agreed with the two decisions to make the Eagles punt again after penalties. This team is eternally frustrating, and while a gigantic amount of the blame falls on the players for a lot of the mental mistakes, some fingers need to be pointed at the guys with the whistles for this continuing to happen time and time again. This team should not have five losses, and today was another example of how they have gotten to this point. Come out of the bye and play four good games of football, and things get back on track. The track is getting smaller, though, if they want a chance at a Division title.

The post Report Card: Ravens Offer Little Resistance in Loss to Philly appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/12/01/report-card/report-card-ravens-offer-little-resistance-in-loss-to-philly/