Ravens’ struggling secondary biggest impediment to a title run
Ravens Pro Bowl safety Kyle Hamilton dropped an easy interception with just over a minute remaining that could have sealed the win against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. His frustration was evident as he lay on the ground, face-down, after the play.
His frustration mounted on the very next play when Browns quarterback Jameis Winston threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Cedric Tillman to give Cleveland a 29-24 victory. Safety Eddie Jackson was beaten badly on the touchdown.
“We weren’t well organized on that play,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said about the winning touchdown. “There’s no doubt about it. That play was not a good play for us.”
Hamilton felt awful about the missed opportunity, but he did have a strip sack of Winston late in the first half that led to a Ravens touchdown. His teammates in the secondary had few good plays to point to. Fellow safety Jackson was often lost in coverage and gave up the winning touchdown to Tillman. Jackson also dropped at least two interceptions.
Hamilton left the locker room without speaking to reporters.
“I just have to continue to work on it [and] see the ball through,” Jackson said. “It’s like a funk right now. Like I said, there’s no big theory behind it, [I] just have to catch the ball. It sounds crazy, but I just have to come up with them. … We just have to keep our foot on the pedal. Everyone [has] to be on one accord, continue to play [and] not get relaxed. Like I said, we have to make those plays. There’s no excuse for anything that happened out there, we just have to make those plays when they come to us.”
There were also miscommunication issues in the secondary that led to long plays and easy touchdowns. These have been problems for the Ravens the entire season, and heading into Week 9 it’s not a small sample size.
Safety Marcus Williams was apparently benched, not entering the game even though Jackson was struggling.
“It was a personnel decision,” Harbaugh said. “We’re kind of working through some things there, [and] I feel very confident Marcus is going to be out there playing great football the rest of the season. I’ll just talk about it being an internal type of situation.”
The secondary was bad, but it can’t take all of the blame for the loss against Cleveland.
Wide receiver Rashod Bateman had two critical drops on third down that would have extended drives and potentially changed the course of the game.
“First and foremost, I don’t think we executed at the highest level,” Bateman said. “We played behind the chains a lot, and we can’t do that. We’ve just got to continue to make plays – somehow, someway – and [be] consistent going down the field.”
Justin Tucker missed another field goal from over 50 yards that would have tied the game in the third quarter. Tucker is now 3-for-10 on kicks from over 50 yards over the past two seasons and there doesn’t appear to be any remedy for that situation.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson deserved better. He threw for 289 yards with two touchdowns but was hampered by the drops. Jackson also avoided several sacks and ran for 46 yards on eight carries.
After his final pass fell incomplete as time expired, Jackson slammed his helmet to the ground.
“We just have to put points on the board,” Jackson said. “We’re doing a good job of moving the ball, and then we just get stopped as soon as we change fields. We just have to do a good job of making downs count. [On] first and second down – [we have to] stay out of third-and-long, stuff like that, second-and-long.”
The question is whether the Ravens can overcome their weaknesses. Only time will tell but teams have an obvious blueprint on how to beat them: attack the secondary with deep passes and exploit the middle of the field because of consistent breakdowns in coverage.
Look for general manager Eric DeCosta to be aggressive at the trade deadline.
The Ravens need the help.
“I mean we just have to get better,” safety Ar’Darius Washington said. “We really got to catch the ones that they throw to us. We had a couple of chances to end the game, and even on that third-and-6 when I was out there – I should’ve been in a little tighter to him and made that play. So that’s kind of how it is.”