The Ravens are not staring at disaster after one bad Sunday. They’re 1-1, not 0-2, and there’s no need to hit the panic button after a loss to the New Orleans Saints.
But there was plenty in that 24-17 defeat to examine, and Baltimore made life harder on itself in a game it led 17-9 entering the fourth quarter. The Ravens had chances to widen the gap, seize control and finish the job. Instead, the Saints walked out with the win, and now Baltimore heads toward a Week 3 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys in Brazil carrying a short list of fixes.
One of the biggest concerns is Tyler Loop. He hasn’t been awful, and there is a fair argument that his missed field goal against New Orleans would have been good if it hadn’t been tipped at the line of scrimmage.
Special teams don’t always break your way. Still, a miss is a miss, and Baltimore is used to a very different standard at kicker.
The real test is simple: if the Ravens need a field goal to beat Dallas in the final seconds, how much trust does Loop have? That answer needs to become obvious fast.
The other issue was wasted field position. Baltimore had several chances to turn possessions in Saints territory into points and came up empty every time.
On the final drive, the Ravens reached the New Orleans 37-yard line before Lamar Jackson’s deep pass was picked off by Julian Blackmon with 13 seconds left. Earlier, after forcing a three-and-out while up 17-9, Baltimore got the ball at the Saints’ 49-yard line late in the third quarter thanks to sacks by Trey Hendrickson and Mike Green that led to a bad punt.
That possession should have been a chance to stretch the lead. Instead, a pre-snap penalty pushed the Ravens backward and the drive ended with another punt.
Three possessions that started in or crossed into Saints territory produced no points, and that kind of waste is exactly what a team can’t afford against Dallas.
Baltimore also has to clean up the little mistakes that give opponents extra life. The penalty total itself wasn’t extreme, but the timing hurt.
After Chris Olave’s touchdown trimmed Baltimore’s lead to two points, the Ravens appeared to stop New Orleans on a two-point conversion attempt. Then a penalty moved the ball closer to the goal line, the Saints got another try, and Travis Etienne Jr. tied the game at 17 on the second attempt.
Those are the kinds of moments that flip momentum in a hurry, and Dallas has too many weapons to be handed extra chances.
Then there’s the workload for Derrick Henry. Sixteen carries for 68 yards would be fine for plenty of backs, but Henry is not just any back.
Baltimore gave him 16 carries in a game that stayed close all the way through, and he was even on the sideline for a key short-yardage snap. The Ravens ran the ball only 22 times as a team.
Against a Cowboys offense built to make you pay, ball control could be one of Baltimore’s best tools, and that starts with Henry. Nobody is suggesting the Ravens should force-feed him every snap, but if the game is tight, it is hard to imagine many fans objecting to a heavier dose of No.
Baltimore doesn’t need a makeover after one loss. It does need to stop beating itself.
Clean up the kicking questions, cash in when the field position is there, avoid the penalties that extend drives, and give Henry more of the load in close games. Do that, and Week 2 can become a lesson instead of the start of a bigger problem.
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