The Baltimore Ravens’ defense had the kind of night that keeps repeating itself.
They opened Sunday’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals with a first-half shutout and still walked off the field after giving up 35 points in the second half. That kind of swing has become far too familiar for Baltimore, which has now blown double-digit leads in back-to-back weeks and 10 times since 2022.
The frustrating part is that this didn’t come out of nowhere. The defense flashed signs of life in Week 6, then still left the door open with a disastrous late coverage breakdown that helped lead to a loss.
One encouraging showing was enough to make it look like a reset might be coming. Instead, Week 7 brought the old problems roaring back.
At this point, the issue is bigger than a bad stretch. The Ravens keep treating these games like wake-up calls, but the same breakdowns keep showing up. The second-half collapse against Cincinnati felt less like a one-off and more like a group stuck in a loop.
Baltimore’s defensive identity used to be built on force. For years, it was one of the league’s most punishing units, the kind that set the tone from snap to snap. That version of the Ravens defense feels like a memory now.
They still have impact players, and Kyle Hamilton can still deliver statement plays, but the unit no longer carries that edge for four quarters. Too many starters look passive, especially once Baltimore gets ahead. Instead of locking games down, the defense seems to settle in and invite trouble.
That showed up in ugly fashion against the Bengals. The missed tackles piled up, the coverage got soft, and the whole thing unraveled. Calais Campbell said after the game that the second-half performance was like quicksand.
Some of the worst moments came in the open field, including a missed stop by both Malaki Starks and Marlon Humphrey on Ja’Marr Chase. Even with Chase’s talent, that kind of breakdown is the sort of play that should never happen for a defense built around physicality.
The pass rush didn’t help matters either. Too often, Baltimore’s rushers came in out of control, lunging instead of staying balanced, and too many chances at sacks slipped away because of poor technique and missed finish.
The problems weren’t isolated. They were everywhere.
Joe Burrow looked contained early, but after halftime, the Bengals quarterback took over. He finished with 292 passing yards and 4 touchdowns, and Chase and Tee Higgins kept working the secondary for chunk plays throughout the second half.
For most defenses, giving up 35 to Cincinnati would be a hard day, but not necessarily shocking. The problem here was the way it happened. A 13-point lead vanished, and the Ravens never stopped the bleeding.
That’s what makes this feel so damaging. The late-game failures are no longer rare enough to dismiss. They keep happening, and every new collapse says the same thing: Baltimore’s defense is struggling to shake whatever is haunting it when the game starts slipping away.
In Other News...
Ravens Collapse In Cincinnati Sparked A Bigger Problem Than One Loss
Zay Flowers gave Baltimore something to build around in Cincinnati, turning in another strong showing with 8 catches for 137 yards and a touchdown, but the rest of the afternoon unraveled around him. The Ravens second straight loss came with the defense looking overwhelmed in the second half under Jesse Minter, and the overall performance carried a far more troubling tone than a simple division setback.
Derrick Henry never found a rhythm on the ground, and the frustration around the team seemed to bleed into everything as the game slipped away. For a Ravens group that entered the week trying to steady itself, the concern now is less about one bad result and more about whether the mood and execution behind it point to something deeper. [Read more 🡒]
Trey Hendrickson Sends Ravens A Blunt Message After Another Collapse
The Ravens 35-13 loss to the Bengals was the kind of second-half unraveling that leaves a team searching for answers, especially after Baltimore had controlled the game early. Trey Hendrickson, who recently arrived in Baltimore from Cincinnati, did not hide his frustration with the way the Ravens let another lead slip away, making it clear the standard in the building has to be better than what showed up down the stretch.
Roquan Smith has already pointed to the need for more consistency, and Hendricksons own production has become part of the backdrop here as well. In his first five games with Baltimore, the pass rusher has not piled up the disruptive numbers the Ravens expected, which only adds more attention to how this group responds after a collapse like this and whether the edge rush can start matching the urgency of the message. [Read more 🡒]
Ravens Second Half Collapse Exposed A Bigger Problem Than One Loss
For much of the afternoon, the Ravens were forced to keep adjusting on the fly up front, and the offense never really found its footing. Baltimore ran 67 offensive snaps with injuries reshaping the starting line, while Derrick Henry and Justice Hill split the workload in a running game that never looked comfortable. Even so, Zay Flowers kept giving the offense a lift as the passing game became the most reliable part of the attack.
The deeper concern is how quickly one injury can ripple through everything Baltimore wants to do. Vega Ioanes exit with a knee injury forced Emery Jones Jr. into the lineup for the final stretch, and that kind of change can expose a unit already under pressure. On defense, the Ravens leaned on familiar core pieces such as Nnamdi Madubuike, Mike Green and Roquan Smith, but the edge rush group and safety rotation were also hit by injuries, leaving Baltimore with more questions than the loss itself suggested. [Read more 🡒]