Turf Show Times
There may be no bigger surprise through five weeks of the 2025 NFL season than the Baltimore Ravens starting 1-4. They’ll host the 3-2 (and probably somehow underperforming) Los Angeles Rams this weekend.
Lamar Jackson is injured—and few teams can win without their starting quarterback—but they are significant problems with this year’s Ravens team beyond the individual taking snaps under center.
How bad are the Ravens really? How did their season effectively end before it even started?
This was one of the best games of the young season. The Ravens did not punt a single time in Buffalo but ultimately came up short to a Super Bowl contender. At the time it was difficult to see this as a sign Baltimore would not be able to contend in 2025.
While the final score suggests a blow out, this game was much closer than it appears. The Browns trailed 10-20 at the end of the third quarter before Baltimore scored 21 in the fourth.
It was simply a matchup that was tough for the Ravens. Joe Flacco and the Browns offense couldn’t take advantage of a Ravens secondary that is prone to big plays, and their talented defense mitigated the damage of Jackson and others for most the game.
On the surface this looks like a get right game for Baltimore but in reality it was maybe our first sign of trouble.
Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery combined for 218 yards and two scores, which is entirely out of character for what we think of as the Ravens defense. Similar to Baltimore’s fourth quarter explosion versus the Browns in the prior week, Detroit put up 17 towards the end of the game to close this one out.
This is when we knew to hit the panic button on the 2025 season for Baltimore. The Chiefs are not the deadly force that we’ve come to know in recent years. Still, the Ravens never stood a chance and they made Patrick Mahomes look like the 2018-2022 version of himself. Jackson left midgame with a hamstring injury and is still sidelined.
Week 5 gives us a litmus test on where the Ravens are without Jackson. They didn’t stand a chance against a team the Rams have already beat in the Texans with Cooper Rush under center, and now Baltimore may turn to their other backup in Tyler Huntley. If this is a reliable indication, we should expect the Rams to throttle this Ravens team in Baltimore.
We often underrate the impact of coaching changes on the defensive side of the ball. Mike MacDonald is making his impact felt with the Seattle Seahawks, who are one of the NFL’s best defenses in the first five weeks. Inversely,...
