BALTIMORE — The Ravens’ offense could not get in sync in a deflating 26-23 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 2.
Baltimore had several fourth-quarter drives stall, which led to a Las Vegas Raiders comeback culminating in Daniel Carlson’s game-winning, 38-yard field goal with 27 seconds left.
It’s the Ravens first 0-2 start since 2015. Only 9 percent of the teams since 1970 that started 0-2 made the playoffs — 407 teams lost their first two games and only 39 made the postseason.
To offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s credit, he kept giving the ball to running back Derrick Henry after he managed just 5 yards on seven carries in the first half. Henry got better as the game wore on, and he finished with 84 yards on 18 carries.
But he was not a factor late in the game because the Ravens were trying to push the ball downfield with disappointing results.
For the second straight game, the Ravens’ wide receivers failed to make much of an impact except for Zay Flowers, who caught seven passes for 91 yards with a touchdown. Both the Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs, who defeated the Ravens in Week 1, did an effective job limiting Flowers’ yards after a catch.
Rashod Bateman had three catches for 40 yards, but he bobbled a pass that turned into an interception and led to seven points for Las Vegas.
After setting career-highs with nine receptions for 111 yards and a 49-yard touchdown last week against the Chiefs, Jackson targeted tight end Isaiah Likely just three times. Likely finished with two catches for 26 yards.
Fellow tight end Mark Andrews, who has been one of the Ravens’ top playmakers, had five targets, three more than last week. Andrews was second on the team with 51 yards receiving on five receptions, but he needs to be more involved in the offense.
The Ravens will do a lot of soul-searching this week as they prepare for a tough game at the Dallas Cowboys.
It’s not the start coach John Harbaugh envisioned.
“[It was] a disappointing loss, a tough loss [that] could have gone our way for sure, but we didn’t get the job done,” Harbaugh said. “[We’re] 0-2. We’re going to play a 17-game season, and we will be defined by the next 15 games, so that’s going to be our objective – to play the best 15 games we can, be the best football team we can be, and if we do that, then we’re going to have a really good season, have a shot to win a lot of games and get in the playoffs and make a run, so that’s what we have to do.
“Big picture – short-term – we have to go back and look at every little thing, continue to clean up the things that we know we can clean up and get better at the things that make a difference in games. We’ll continue to work very hard to do that.”
