Five immediate takeaways from the Ravens' disastrous 36-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills, before any rewatch.
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Snakebitten. Cursed. Hexed. Jinxed. Doomed. Condemned.Pick your favorite descriptor for this Ravens team.
On the day after Halloween it took only one offensive play for Ravens fans to have to face their worst fears. Another lengthy absence for franchise cornerstone Lamar Jackson.
After three weeks of waiting for Lamar Jackson to return from his ankle injury, Lamar injured his throwing thumb on the Ravens first offensive snap when his hand collided with Bills pass rusher Greg Rousseau.
He immediately left the field and never returned. Tyler Huntley replaced him, only to suffer a toe injury in the second quarter. That left undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano making his NFL debut against one of the AFC's best teams, behind an offensive line that appeared determined to get every quarterback on the roster injured.
The final score was Buffalo 36, Baltimore 10. The Ravens are now 4-4, have lost three consecutive games and face an increasingly uncertain future.
But the score was almost irrelevant by the time Jesse Minter stepped to the podium after the game.
Lamar needs surgery on his right thumb and will be placed on injured reserve. Minter acknowledged that the injury could potentially end his season.
And with that, the Ravens' Super Bowl aspirations may have disappeared as well.
There isn't much point in pretending this was a normal football game worth dissecting through five detailed tactical observations. Once Lamar left, beating Josh Allen and the Bills on the road became an almost impossible assignment. Once Huntley followed him, the afternoon became something closer to a survival exercise.
Here are my five immediate takeaways from an afternoon I would very much like to forget.
1. If Lamar's season is over, so is the Ravens' season
Let's not overcomplicate this.
If Lamar Jackson is done for the season, so are the Ravens' realistic hopes of winning a Super Bowl.
That doesn't mean they'll lose every remaining game. They may be able to steal a few more wins with Huntley or Fagnano at the helm. Or perhaps Eric DeCosta will explore adding another quarterback if Huntley's injury is serious.
The Ravens still have Derrick Henry, Zay Flowers and enough defensive talent to beat some teams.
But there is an enormous difference between scraping together a few more wins and competing for a championship. We already saw that difference during Lamar's three-game absence. Huntley did some good things, but the offense was fundamentally different.
And the team has other legitimate issues that are exacerbated without Lamar there to put on his Superman cape. The offensive line is atrocious. That may improve if Vega Ioane returns, but it's not just his replacement that has been bad, tackles Ronnie Stanley and Roger Rosengarten have not been reliable either.
Declan Doyle has done some impressive work this season, but there is only so much a coordinator can manufacture when his offensive line cannot protect the quarterback and defenses aren't particularly worried about the passing game.
Even with Lamar healthy, the Ravens were showing serious cracks. The offensive line was inconsistent, the defense had repeatedly collapsed after halftime, and the team was finding new ways to squander winnable games.
The Ravens are 4-4, not 1-7. They still have a mathematical path to the playoffs, and the organization certainly isn't going to stop trying to win. But if Lamar can’t return, I suspect we're much more likely to spend December thinking about draft position than January playoff matchups.
The medical prognosis remains the only genuinely important question. Surgery and injured reserve guarantee that Lamar will miss at least four games, but Minter has not ruled out a return later in the season.
Hopefully that possibility remains real.
Because without it, the remaining nine games are going to feel awfully long.
2. Three quarterbacks entered. Nobody escaped unscathed.
I don't know how the Ravens managed to get all three quarterbacks beaten up in one game, but the offensive line certainly gave it an impressive effort.
The Bills finished with four sacks and 12 quarterback hits. The Ravens produced just 144 total yards, converted three of 13 third downs and finished with only 10 first downs. Those are miserable numbers, although it's difficult to evaluate much about the offense when the quarterbacks are being cycled through like disposable batteries.
Roger Rosengarten had fun dressing as a turnstile for Halloween.
On the play that injured Lamar, Rousseau got close enough to disrupt Jackson's throwing motion. Rosengarten acknowledged afterward that he needed to create more space for his quarterback and accepted responsibility for what happened.
It was an unfortunate injury, and I'm not going to suggest Rosengarten could have anticipated exactly how the collision would occur. But his job is to keep the defender away from the quarterback, and on the most consequential offensive snap of Baltimore's season, he wasn't able to do it.
Unfortunately, things didn't improve much from there. Huntley was injured when safety Cole Bishop came completely untouched on a blitz, sacked him and forced a fumble that Buffalo recovered at the Ravens' 20. Whoever was supposed to account for Bishop, the result was another quarterback leaving the game.
Then came Fagnano.
The undrafted rookie was suddenly making his NFL debut against Buffalo, having spent much of the week working on the scout team rather than preparing to run the Ravens' offense.
He actually showed a little something early, completing consecutive passes to Josh Cuevas and Ja'Kobi Lane that moved the Ravens inside the Buffalo 10. Then he was sacked for a nine-yard loss, the drive stalled and Tyler Loop missed the ensuing field goal.
Fagnano finished 10-of-21 for 91 yards, an interception and a lost fumble. He also took enough punishment to leave the afternoon dealing with ankle trouble himself.
It's difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about a rookie quarterback under those circumstances. The offensive line obviously deserves criticism, but the injuries have created a genuinely difficult situation. Danny Pinter, Jovaughn Gwyn and Ethan Pocic have all suffered season-ending injuries. Vega Ioane missed Sunday's game with a knee injury, forcing yet another change at right guard.
Continuity matters, particularly when defenses are sending linebackers and defensive backs into pressure looks that require immediate communication.
Still, the Ravens cannot use injuries to excuse everything.
Rosengarten and Ronnie Stanley are established starting tackles. This wasn't supposed to be a line that needed its quarterbacks to escape pressure every other snap just to keep the offense functioning.
We have spent much of the season evaluating how Doyle can design around the line's limitations. More quick throws. More motion. Different launch points. Additional protection help. Greater creativity with Henry.
All of that has value.
But at some point, the five guys responsible for protecting the quarterback have to win their assignments.
And when you go through three quarterbacks in a single afternoon, something has gone terribly wrong.
3. The defense showed some pride. Until it couldn't anymore.
After watching Cincinnati score 35 unanswered second-half points against the Ravens last week, I wasn't particularly optimistic when Buffalo took the opening kickoff and marched straight down the field.
The Bills went 60 yards in 10 plays, with Josh Allen eventually scoring from the 1.
Here we go again.
Instead, the defense actually responded pretty well.
Buffalo managed only three field goals over the remainder of the first half, despite repeatedly receiving excellent field position. Two of those possessions began inside Baltimore's 35 following turnovers.
The defense also created two takeaways of its own.
Broderick Washington intercepted Allen after a tipped pass, giving the Ravens possession deep in Buffalo territory. Roquan Smith forced a fumble from D.J. Moore that T.J. Tampa recovered.
Derrick Henry capitalized on the interception with a two-yard touchdown run, bringing the Ravens within three points. Later, the defense forced Buffalo to settle for a field goal after reaching the Baltimore 1, with Kyle Hamilton dropping Allen for a three-yard loss on third-and-goal.
Those were encouraging responses from a group that had been embarrassed by the Bengals seven days earlier. Even after everything that happened to the quarterbacks, the Ravens trailed only 16-7 at halftime. Fagnano then led a field-goal drive to open the third quarter, making it 16-10.
Somehow, the Ravens were still in the game.
Unfortunately, that was about as good as it got.
Buffalo responded with a touchdown drive featuring a 49-yard completion from Allen to Moore dunking on Marlon Humphrey (don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll talk about it on his podcast). The Bills eventually added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter as the Ravens' defense increasingly struggled to contain the passing game.
Allen finished with 289 passing yards and two touchdowns, while Buffalo accumulated 426 total yards and held the football for more than 37 minutes.
The Bills also converted four of five fourth-down attempts, repeatedly extending possessions that Baltimore desperately needed to end.
So I'm not going to pretend this was a great defensive performance.
But context matters.
The Ravens offense generated almost nothing for most of the afternoon. The defense was repeatedly sent back onto the field, often with poor field position, and asked to contain one of the NFL's best quarterbacks without much hope of receiving meaningful offensive support.
Eventually Buffalo wore them down.
There are still legitimate concerns about Minter's defense, especially the recurring inability to respond when opponents begin finding favorable matchups after halftime. Some of Sunday's problems were familiar, even if the circumstances were extraordinary.
But for much of the first half and into the third quarter, the defense gave the Ravens a chance to steal a game they had little business winning.
That's about all we could reasonably ask.
4. Tyler Loop's probation has been reinstated
Remember a few weeks ago when Tyler Loop was becoming one of the best stories of the Ravens' season?
He made a 57-yard field goal against Indianapolis. He won the Dallas game with a 56-yarder as time expired. Then he casually drilled a 64-yard kick against Tennessee, setting a new M&T Bank Stadium record.
Apparently we should have been asking him to kick from 60 yards every time.
Loop missed a 34-yard field goal Sunday that would have cut Buffalo's lead to three points in the second quarter.
Thirty-four yards.
The Ravens weren't asking him to win a game from midfield in a driving rainstorm. They were asking him to make a routine kick from a distance that should be almost automatic for an NFL kicker.
And it wasn't his only special-teams mistake of the afternoon. Loop sent the opening kickoff out of bounds, giving Buffalo the football at its own 40. The Bills promptly marched downfield for their opening touchdown.
Loop did make a 26-yard field goal in the third quarter, but that hardly erases the earlier miss.
Through eight games, Loop has made 13 of 17 field-goal attempts, a 76.5% success rate. He has already missed four kicks after missing only four throughout his entire rookie season.
Yes, he has tremendous leg strength. Those kicks from 56, 57 and 64 yards were genuinely impressive, and having that kind of range changes what a coach can attempt near midfield.
But none of it matters if the Ravens can't consistently trust him from 34 yards.
This is particularly frustrating because the Ravens already went through this uncertainty last season, culminating in the missed 44-yarder against Pittsburgh that cost them the division title and a playoff berth. We thought the early-season heroics might finally have put that behind us.
Now Loop has missed field goals in two of the past three games, and the Ravens have already signed Jake Moody to the practice squad. At some point, the organization needs to decide how much inconsistency it is willing to tolerate in exchange for exceptional range.
Loop clearly possesses enough talent to be an NFL kicker. The question is whether he can reliably convert ordinary opportunities rather than alternating between spectacular highlights and infuriating misses.
If he cannot, the Ravens have to find someone who can.
5. Five things to do with your Sundays now that football season is over
Assuming the worst about Lamar's injury, we may suddenly find ourselves with an enormous amount of free time on Sunday afternoons.
For the better part of two decades, the Ravens have given us a reason to spend three hours every weekend watching football, occasionally enjoying ourselves and frequently questioning our life choices.
With championship contention potentially off the table, perhaps it's time to explore other interests.
Here are five suggestions.
1. Go for a hike.
It's November. The leaves are changing, the weather is still reasonably pleasant and Maryland has plenty of beautiful trails worth exploring.
You can get some fresh air, enjoy nature and spend three hours outside without watching another offensive lineman escort a defender directly into his quarterback.
Honestly, that sounds pretty appealing.
2. Go see a movie.
Three hours in a comfortable theater sounds like a much better use of a Sunday afternoon than watching the Ravens attempt to gain four yards on third-and-11.
At least in most movies, the protagonist eventually figures out how to overcome the obstacles in front of him.
And if you pick a comedy, there's a reasonable chance you'll laugh intentionally.
3. Spend more time with your family.
This one might require some adjustment.
Apparently there are people living in our homes who have interests that extend beyond NFL football. They occasionally enjoy conversations, shared meals and activities that don't involve screaming at a television.
Who knew?
You could take the family somewhere nice, plan an afternoon together or simply enjoy having a Sunday when your mood isn't determined by the performance of 53 men in purple uniforms.
They might appreciate it.
4. Get some golf in before the weather turns.
There are probably a few decent golf weekends remaining before winter arrives.
Why spend three hours watching the Ravens miss tackles, drop passes and commit false starts when you could spend four hours missing fairways, three-putting and wondering why you continue paying money to humiliate yourself?
Actually, now that I think about it, golf might not be much of an improvement.
Still, at least when you hit one into the woods, nobody ends up needing thumb surgery.
5. Start watching soccer.
European soccer offers an almost endless supply of weekend entertainment.
I would suggest starting with Barcelona. They have an incredibly fun team right now with several generational talents and you’re guaranteed to see goals in any Barcelona game.
If you prefer the Premier League, maybe Liverpool is a good option. High pressing, energetic, loads of history, without the stench of nation-state oil money. Particularly if you enjoy emotionally exhausting games that swing wildly between brilliance and catastrophe.
You can also watch multiple games throughout the morning and afternoon, and most are finished in less than two hours.
No endless commercial breaks. No replay reviews lasting seven minutes. No punting on fourth-and-1.
It's worth considering.
So, what now?
Of course, all of this depends upon Lamar's medical prognosis.
Maybe the surgery goes well, he recovers faster than expected and the Ravens manage to hang around long enough for him to return and make another improbable run. Hey, at least if he comes back his ankle should be fully recovered.
I certainly hope so.
But it's becoming increasingly difficult to imagine this season ending anywhere close to where we hoped it would when the Ravens opened the year with a 41-23 victory over Indianapolis.
And somehow, there's still another game to play in four days.
The Ravens host Jacksonville on Thursday night, presumably with somebody available to play quarterback. After that comes a longer break before the schedule resumes.
Perhaps that's when I'll finally get around to that hike.
Who am I kidding?
I'll probably still watch every game.
Unfortunately, being a Ravens fan has never been an entirely rational activity.