OTL: With Henry and Jackson, Why Get Cute?

The Baltimore Ravens lost to the Cleveland Browns, snapping a five-game winning streak. The biggest problem was the defense. The Ravens secondary struggled and allowed Jameis Winston to launch the ball all over the field. One of the confusing decisions the Ravens coaching staff made was to bench Marcus Williams. The Ravens secondary, which played without Marlon Humphrey, looked as bad as it has all season.

The Baltimore Banner’s Jonas Shaffer reports that John Harbaugh called the benching “a personnel decision.” To be fair to the Ravens coach, they were playing without Humphrey and were statistical bottom-feeders when it came to pass defense. Shaking things up was justified, but not having Williams on the field didn’t alleviate what ails the team’s defensive backfield.

John Harbaugh called Marcus Williams’ benching a “personnel decision.”

He added: “We’re working through some things there.” Harbaugh said he’s confidence Williams will perform down the stretch.

— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) October 27, 2024

Cole Jackson got straight to the point with the tweet below. He states that Eddie Jackson isn’t better than Williams, a point that is hard to argue after Jackson dropped multiple interceptions in Cleveland. The dropped interceptions highlight what is so painful about this game for Baltimore. They had chances to win and chances to make game-changing turnovers and squandered them.

As bad as you feel about Marcus williams in 2024, benching him is an all time blunder of a decision imho.

If they’re healthy, play the best player. Regardless of Williams’ play, he’s better than Jackson.

Frustrating

— Cole Jackson (@ColeJacksonFB) October 27, 2024

Opposing QBs are getting an average of 3.96 seconds to throw on third-and-long (7+) against the Ravens this season.

That’s the worst mark for any team in the past decade, per TruMedia, and almost a half-second slower than the runner-up (3.52 seconds).

Pass rush needs some help.

— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) October 27, 2024

This tweet from Shaffer says a lot. The Ravens are giving the opposing quarterback too much time to release the football. One of the best ways to help the defensive backs is to generate pass rush. It’s important to remember that the pass rushing woes and the pass defending woes are completely intertwined. It’s also important to note that David Ojabo was a healthy scratch for this game – a note that sounds almost silly coming out of a game where pass rush would have made a big difference.

Ravens defense needs to look itself in the eye.

And, yes, it’s both the players and defensive coordinator Zach Orr.

The players dropped numerous easy interceptions, including a game-winner by Kyle Hamilton.

Meanwhile, the whole unit looks confused week-in and week-out…

— Sarah Ellison (@sgellison) October 27, 2024

The always insightful Sarah Ellison raised strong points in her tweet. The players on the field can’t be separated from the woes the defense is having, though coaching is clearly an issue. The big takeaway is that against a team that was almost completely unsuccessful coming into this game, the season-long issues seem to only get worse for Zach Orr’s unit. It seems unfathomable that the Ravens were number one in points, takeaways, and sacks a season ago with a very similar roster construction. The Ravens don’t seem like the Ravens despite having big-name players at every level of the defense.

Mike Preston’s Ravens Report Card for The Baltimore Sun wasn’t pretty, in fact almost every position was given a C or lower by the experienced sports reporter. Staying on the theme of the day, let’s take a look at what he said about the performance from the coaches:

This became a vintage Ravens performance in which they come in and play down to the caliber of their competition. Offensively, the Ravens did well enough to win but made some boneheaded decisions early in the game by going for it on fourth-and-1 with 8:48 left in the first quarter instead of attempting a field goal. They also put Henry in the Wildcat to take a direct snap, which makes no sense. Why not have Henry and Jackson in the same backfield, which puts more pressure on a defense? The Ravens also tried a quarterback sneak with backup tight end Charlie Kolar, which led to a false start, and then attempted a shovel pass to Likely on first-and-goal in the second half. They tried to get too cute. As for the defense, this group is downright ugly. With or without adviser Dean Pees, this secondary can’t get out of its own way except to disappear quickly for postgame interviews. Grade: C-

I’m glad Preston brings attention to the interesting decision to take the threat of Lamar Jackson away on critical fourth down situations. It almost comes across as doing the defense a favor as the reigning MVP doesn’t touch the football and they can focus on one fairly obvious play. Frankly, the Ravens had a game with a ton of “could have” and “should have” situations. These situations were mismanaged by John Harbaugh and Todd Monken. Scoring a touchdown on the first drive may have changed the outlook of the game or steered the outcome to a more positive track at a minimum. The wildcat snap brought every eyeball to Derrick Henry and he couldn’t get any steam or momentum built up because of it. If we’re going to question the defensive coordinator, his fellow coaches also have to be held to the same scrutiny,

Baltimore Beatdown’s Zach Canter had an interesting take on this game.

Division games are hard. Division games on the road are harder. Division games on the road with a brand new quarterback and a new play caller while missing your top two corners are even harder. But there’s simply no excuse for a “Super Bowl caliber-team”. Just ridiculous. This will be way-overanalyzed. Zach Orr’s head will probably be called for. People will question the cute play calling from Monken. But if Kyle Hamilton catches that interception, it’s game. That simple. If receivers and backs had caught balls, it wouldn’t have been close.

Division games are hard. The Browns know the Ravens so incredibly well and the game becomes a slugfest of one fashion or another. But Canter hints that this shouldn’t have been an easy game for Cleveland either, especially with the insertion of Jameis Winston and the Cleveland play-caller being changed. In the end it’s just a frustrating game where the Ravens didn’t live up to championship caliber football.

There’s a lot to consider moving forward. It’s going to be a long and difficult Monday though isn’t it?

The post OTL: With Henry and Jackson, Why Get Cute? appeared first on Russell Street Report.