Baltimore Beatdown
The Baltimore Ravens lost in every way imaginable against the Houston Texans on Sunday with a final score of 44-10.
In past years, John Harbaugh’s injured squads have at least gone down swinging, but the punches they threw at the Texans were few and far between. It never seemed like a fair fight.
Houston scored on their first seven drives with five touchdowns, nearly doubling their total from the previous four games. The Ravens defense has been hit worst by the injury bug, but that is no excuse for a unit that looked scattered and out of place much of the day. For the third week in a row, they were soundly beaten in the trenches and always a step (or three) behind in coverage. Moving the ball was far too easy for a Texans offense that entered Week 4 as a bottom-10 unit, a clear sign that the Ravens defense is still in disarray with no end left in sight.
The offense did not look much better. Cooper Rush managed to get off to a decent start and drove the offense down the field on their first drive, but Harbaugh opted to take the offense off the field. Given the low likelihood of mounting several drives deep into Houston territory, kicking a field goal is the opposite of the aggressive decisions that defined Harbaugh’s defiant coaching in the face of injuries in 2021 and 2022.
But similar to the rest of the season, the Ravens could not get their run game going or sustain drives outside of their scripted opener. That kept Rush in obvious passing situations all game, and despite a few impressive throws under pressure, three second-half interceptions tanked any chance of even a respectable showing from the offense. One was the result of a Mark Andrews bobble-and-drop in another forgettable performance from the veteran tight end.
Zay Flowers was Baltimore’s best player on Sunday, reeling in all five of his targets for 72 yards, including a 56-yard deep ball that set up the Ravens’ only touchdown. DeAndre Hopkins had a few nice catches as well, but neither received consistent enough opportunities to make an impact on the game.
There was little consolation to be found on the defensive side of the ball, though Nate Wiggins was the only player the Texans did not pick on in coverage. C.J. Stroud instead focused on targeting Teddye Buchanan and Trenton Simpson over the middle, and the young linebacker duo could not rise to the occasion. The rest of the team’s young talent could not step up, either, and scrambled to keep up with Houston’s offensive onslaught throughout the game.
And despite the Ravens’ constant focus on special teams, they consistently lost the field position battle with ineffective kick returns and a Keyon Martin penalty erased Jordan Stout’s best punt of the day.
Conventional wisdom says that Baltimore should flush the film from this loss and move on, but this team needs to take a long, hard look in the...
