Top takeaways from Ravens’ Week 7 loss to Bengals
· Yahoo Sports
The Baltimore Ravens gave up 35 unanswered points to the Cincinnati Bengals in the second half of Sunday’s game, resulting in their second AFC North loss in a row. Here are Baltimore Beatdown’s takeaways from the game:
Where are the Ravens’ leaders?With respect to the Ravens’ veteran players and coaches, it is clear that leadership is lacking in Baltimore. For better and for worse, Lamar Jackson cures virtually all ills on the offensive side of the ball. He keeps his teammates focused and makes the impossible plays when they are necessary. But who is that on the Ravens defense? They have a laundry list of names – Kyle Hamilton, Roquan Smith, Marlon Humphrey, Calais Campbell, Nnamdi Madubuike – but they are all polished, well-spoke players, perhaps to a fault. Who is on the sidelines holding their teammates accountable – loudly, aggressively, if need be? Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and Terrell Suggs may be nearly impossible to live up to, but they represent the standard nonetheless. Seeing some of those legends chime in during the game on social media made me cringe in embarrassment for the team. And, yes, the coaches deserve a glance here, too. Minter is occupied during the game, sure, but but keeping his players in the game should be Anthony Weaver’s bread-and-butter. – Nikhil Mehta
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Defensive coaching disappeared in the second halfCincy’s first half offense struggled, in no small part due Baltimore’s pass rush consistently collapsing the pocket around Joe Burrow. Even on plays that weren’t finished with sacks, he had to throw the ball away multiple times, leaving the Bengals’ two primary targets in Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase quiet on the stat sheet.
When the second half rolled around, the Bengals initially adjusted by getting the ball out quickly. The Ravens defense kept dropping additional guys back in coverage and rushing three or four, and giving Burrow all day to pick apart the zone defense over the middle of the field. Tee Higgins was out there bullying the secondary, and Burrow picked on Keondre Jackson as he tried to fill into a larger role.
Some struggles are expected, even forgivable, against this tough offense, but Jesse Minter’s play0calling showed no aggressiveness to put second-half pressure on the Bengals when they needed to. By the time Cincy came away with their second touchdown, the DBs were looking around at each other like they did not even know the play call. Communication on the back end was a key hallmark of the failures in Zach Orr’s tenure, and today felt like it was a reoccurrence of those old issues. – Kevin McNelis
Short yardage situations are (still) a massive issue.The Ravens’ offense cannot operate at its true potential when short-yardage situations feel like pushing a boulder up a mountain. Derrick Henry has been extremely ineffective on short runs this season, both due to his own lack of push and consistently being hit in the backfield. Baltimore needs to look at another back to carry the ball in such situations going forward, whether that is Justice Hill, Rasheen Ali, or Adam Randall when he returns from injured reserve. I would not be opposed to trading for a power back either at this point. – Dustin Cox