Knee-Jerk Reactions: Ravens Bumble & Fumble Way Out of Playoffs Again

The Baltimore Ravens fell to the Buffalo Bills 27-25 in the divisional round. RSR staff react to the loss here.

Derek Arnold

What is there to say? Add Mark Andrews‘ fumble trying to juke four players at midfield in the fourth quarter to the list of recent crunchtime fumbles of Tyler Huntley & Zay Flowers. Add his drop on the two-point conversion to Lee Evans and Billy Cundiff in Ravens lure.

Add Lamar Jackson‘s nightmare first half to his list of postseason meltdowns. Was the drop on the previous play by Andrews (him again) his fault? No. Was the bad snap by Tyler Linderbaum his fault? No. But in trying to play hero ball there he committed an unforgivable fumble. It was even more egregious because he’d thrown an interception on a miscommunication with Rashod Bateman on the previous drive.

In the Ravens’ last playoff loss, to Kansas City, they were minus-3 in turnover margin. They were minus-3 again tonight. The defense didn’t force a single turnover, though they did make some timely stops during the second-half comeback. It wasn’t enough.

Unlike other recent disappointments, it’s hard to point at the coaches tonight. Todd Monken had some weird usage of his RBs, perhaps got a bit pass happy early at times, and the sequence from first-and-goal at the 2 that resulted in a field goal was atrocious. As was the play call on the first two-point attempt.

But in the end, it’s the players. The same guys who’ve been here for years don’t make the plays that are there to be made in the biggest moments. In January, you rarely get chances to atone. Jackson, after his terrible first half, did atone in the second. Andrews didn’t.

It’s frustrating as hell because when they cleaned up the mistakes, you saw how good they are. They moved the ball and scored touchdowns. Alas…

The only surprising thing is that they lit themselves on fire tonight, and not a week from now at Arrowhead.

Another long offseason of lamenting beating yourself, from the organization that’s made it a staple.

Rob Shields

I didn’t want to be right about this game but to me, it was inevitable. Turnovers, ill-timed penalties and just dumb mistakes.  You go for two when you didn’t need to. You go for it again. You never give it to Henry.

You don’t give Henry 20+ carries. Now, Justice Hill did get more carries than you would think and he was successful but still, you got Henry for a game like this and you didn’t give him the ball enough.

Josh Allen didn’t even really do much. Lamar made mistakes but also made more plays.

Playoff Mark Andrews showed up again. Two crucial drops and a huge fumble. You may win this game if those things don’t happen but no player comes up smaller in the playoffs than Andrews has for the Ravens.

It’s just a predictable ending to the season. The Ravens can’t help but to lose games in the worst ways. They constantly beat themselves. This game should have been in Baltimore but they beat themselves against Cleveland and Vegas. You should win this game but you make mistake after mistake.

The best teams don’t lose games like this…that’s why the Ravens aren’t one of the best teams.

Chris Schisler

I have nothing nice to say. I’ll keep it short. Dropped passes. Dumb turnovers. The two point conversion drop. The Ravens had to play better football. You can give them credit for making it interesting but it’s the same thing every playoffs. The mistakes defined the game. The Ravens deserved to lose. You can’t even blame the coaches. The Ravens beat themselves and somehow it was a winnable game. My heart is broken but it breaks yearly so i guess we’re okay.

Kevin McNelis

It never, ever fails. I wish I had the words right now.

You don’t often win games when you turn the ball over three times, but Baltimore had every opportunity to get back into it and just squandered it. This team has a unique penchant for finding the most painful ways possible to establish hope just to take it away.

Credit to the Bills. They got the Ravens off their game enough to make it difficult on them, and the panicked reaction was enough to steal it away.

As dependable a player as Mark Andrews has been for so long with this franchise, he’s earned himself a lot of good will, but man, it’s going to take a long time to let those plays go tonight.

Tanner George

And, just like that, it’s over.

I would say that I’m at a loss for words but I’m really not. It’s the same story every year in the playoffs—bad mistakes by Lamar Jackson, abandoning the run game, a bad snap, poor ball security, Mark Andrews miscues, and messing up at the goal line when it really, really counts. You would think that the Ravens would learn a lesson or two, but I guess not.

The worst part about this is that I don’t even know how the front office moves forward. Last year, we all knew that running back was a need, and they went out and filled it. Defensive back is a need, but that wasn’t what caused the loss today. It was the players they already have—and, to make things worse, players that will be difficult to move on from. There’s no clear answer as to how to get this team over the hump.

I will just say this now, the Ravens will not trade Mark Andrews. At least not because of this. That’s not how they operate; if you want to see that kind of thing happen, go hop on the Carolina Panthers bandwagon.

It was a nightmare game, and yet another year has gone to waste. I’m sure First Take will have a field day with this performance tomorrow morning.

But there’s not much that needs to be said. The Ravens beat themselves and blew their chance to win the game. They won’t be competing for the Super Bowl this year or in the near future.

And here we are again, searching for answers.

Jared Pinder

Let’s get this out of the way: Mark Andrews should not be on the Ravens next year. No I don’t care about the good will he has, he cost the Ravens a trip to the AFC Championship. Lamar was awful as well in the first half so of course the narratives about him are going to be flying out of control and he will get the blame when it should totally be on Andrews. The defense isn’t safe either, they couldn’t get a single turnover tonight and were dominated at the line of scrimmage all game long. I feel like we are reaching a breaking point with this franchise. They have all this regular season success only to choke at the worst possible time every. Single. Year.

It happens constantly and something has to change. We blame players, we blame coordinators, yet the results with this franchise constantly chocking never changes. We have run out people to blame and honestly it is time for a fresh voice at head coach. No, John didn’t make the mistakes but this isn’t acceptable. You can’t get rid of Lamar so you have to get rid of Harbaugh. Don’t worry though that won’t happen because this organazation is way too loyal and nothing will happen. Cheers to another heartbreaking season finale Baltimore Ravens. It probably won’t be the last.

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