The Baltimore Ravens have been living on the easy part of the calendar, but that cushion is about to disappear.
After one-third of the season, the excuses tied to a rookie coaching staff and early-season tinkering are starting to run out. Baltimore is going to need steadier play from all three phases if it wants to stay in the Super Bowl conversation, and there’s another wrinkle hanging over Sunday’s game against the Bengals: Lamar Jackson may not be back. If that happens, the Ravens’ biggest disappointments suddenly matter even more.
Here are the five names drawing the most heat so far, starting with the one who has become impossible to ignore.
Mark Andrews is at the top of the list, and the numbers aren’t kind. He has cost the Ravens 16 points in the Atlanta game, leads all NFL tight ends in drops, is averaging less than eight yards per catch and has just one catch for four yards with the offense needing help.
His recent production has been so poor that when Matthew Hibner returns from injury, Andrews should be spending a lot more time on the bench. He averaged two yards after the catch over the past two years, ranks 28th among tight ends in Expected Points Added per target at minus-.18, and sits 67th in yards per target.
The disappointment isn’t limited to one side of the ball. On defense, the Ravens remain vulnerable late, and injuries are only making that look worse.
Trent Hendrickson’s hand and finger issue appears significant, and he’s been described as an opener - the kind of pass rusher who starts fast but can’t do much in the fourth quarter, where his pressure rate is 10.8%. Baltimore has already blown three more 10-point leads, has been poor against the pass in the fourth quarter, and has only three total sacks in the fourth quarter despite facing the most dropbacks.
The Ravens rank 25th in fourth-quarter pressure rate, and if Hendrickson is limited for weeks, quarterbacks like Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Josh Allen and Bryce Young can exploit it.
Roquan Smith and Marlon Humphrey are being grouped together as two of Eric DeCosta’s favorites who were kept too long and paid too much. Smith carries a cap hit $14 million higher than any middle linebacker in the NFL at $33 million, but he’s only fourth on the team in solo tackles, doesn’t make impact plays, isn’t the thumper he used to be and has to be protected in coverage.
Humphrey, meanwhile, has become a coverage liability even though he wants the top assignment. Top receivers have shredded this secondary, the Ravens’ corners and safeties do not have an interception, and Humphrey is the 10th highest paid corner in the league at $19.3 million with the highest cap hit on the roster.
This defense has been one of the worst second-half units in the NFL, and those two have a lot to do with it.
The criticism also lands on defensive coordinator Zach Orr. He gets some grace as a rookie head coach, but as a defensive coordinator, the job has been much rougher.
Baltimore keeps collapsing late, and that’s the kind of thing that should have been his first priority. The comparison being made is to his time with the Chargers, where he didn’t have a roster full of stars but still had a dominant pass defense built on scheme, discipline and eliminating big plays.
The Ravens, by contrast, have gone from a strong first half to a defense that fades when it matters, especially on third and fourth down against average quarterbacks. The idea now is that he may need to blitz more, play more man coverage and mix things up.
Then there’s DeCosta himself, who takes the final spot because so many of these problems trace back to roster construction. The offensive line has been bad for years.
He pushed coaches out and brought in the ones he wanted, but the line still hasn’t been fixed, forcing a panic move for an injury risk who was probably headed for a benching despite being in the concussion protocol and missing two games. He has also given away leverage in the Lamar Jackson contract situation and left Jackson behind a shaky line with only one proven downfield target, Zay Flowers, in a walk year, all while operating with a $370 million payroll.
The article points to 16 blown double-digit leads since 2019 and places that burden on the man who keeps building the rosters.
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Lamar Jacksons Ravens Return Outlook Just Put Week 7 In Doubt
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For now, the status remains unsettled, which leaves the Ravens in a familiar holding pattern heading into a divisional matchup. If Jackson is not able to go against the Bengals, Tyler Huntley is expected to step in at quarterback, keeping Baltimores game plan in flux until the practice week reveals more. [Read more 🡒]