That’s So (Not) Raven: Why Baltimore’s season is already on the brink

Ralph Vacchiano

NFL Reporter

They lost one game by a field goal with 27 seconds remaining. They lost another by literally a sliver of a shoe. So it’s not like the Baltimore Ravens have been a disaster at the start of this season.

It just feels that way to their undeniably stunned coaches and players who were sure they were part of one of the best teams in the NFL. After all, a year ago they were in the AFC Championship Game, painfully close to a trip to the Super Bowl. 

Now, seven months later, for just the second time in John Harbaugh’s 16 seasons as their coach, they are at the bottom, with a record of 0-2.

And there is a legitimate worry that it could get worse for a team that was one of the favorites to represent the AFC in Super Bowl LIX. They play at Dallas on Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET on FOX) against a dangerous and angry Cowboys team looking to rebound after being blown out at home by the New Orleans Saints. Then they return home to face the 2-0 Buffalo Bills in primetime the following weekend. Then it’s on to Cincinnati to face a Bengals team that is 0-2, but was supposed to be one of the AFC’s best too.

So yes, it’s too early to be worried about the Ravens. But even the Ravens know that they’re running out of time.

“We’ve got to find our mojo,” quarterback Lamar Jackson said after the Ravens’ loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, 26-23, on Sunday afternoon. “We’ve got to find (it), and do what we do, because that’s not us at all.”

Maybe not, but if the Ravens really are going to salvage their season and turn back into Super Bowl contenders they’ll need to prove that against what suddenly looks like a vulnerable Cowboys team. The Saints just picked the Cowboys apart for 432 yards and scored touchdowns on each of their first six possessions. They even ran all over the Cowboys defense, picking up 190 yards on the ground.

That should play right into the biggest strength of the Ravens, who were the No. 1 rushing team in…

Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/thats-so-not-raven-why-baltimore-season-already-on-brink

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Publish date : 2024-09-18 21:02:13

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