Baltimore possesses one of the most talented rosters in the NFL, and the 40 points the Ravens put on the board on Sunday night in Buffalo weren’t a fluke. But as Harbaugh suggested, even the strongest teams need to be prepared for all scenarios; even the mightiest militaries still need war games to sharpen their skills in case they’re necessary in a moment of real conflict.
The Ravens’ breakdown began with a three-and-out that gave Buffalo possession while facing a 15-point deficit with enough time for two more drives. It truly unraveled, though, once defensive tackle Ed Oliver knocked the football out of Derrick Henry‘s grasp for a game-altering fumble.
In that moment, the stunned Ravens were sent scrambling for answers. Harbaugh could have delivered a decisive response a few minutes later when facing a fourth-and-3 at their own 38-yard line and clinging to an two-point lead, but decided to punt with 1:33 left in the game in order to play the field-position game.
That decision has been debated tirelessly since the game concluded. The fourth-down call wasn’t the only deciding factor, though; Baltimore made three peculiar play calls on the three prior downs that failed to move the chains.
Those plays revealed how unprepared they were for the chaotic scenario, and how disjointed their communication was in the heat of battle.
“Did we call the right plays? Well, in hindsight, no, [because] they didn’t work,” Harbaugh said. “And I’m not just saying that to blow it off. Maybe we could have had some sort of a naked boot, I would’ve liked, maybe, if we’d have done that — hindsight being 20/20. I’m not sure I want a drop-back pass against [Cover] Zero right there, necessarily, but it’s not to say we couldn’t have popped it, because our guys are good man[-coverage] route runners. Maybe we’d get the ball off, and we get a catch-and-run, but that ball can get batted down, too. So that’s one that you say, ‘Would that have been a little more aggressive? That would’ve been,’ but the ball gets batted down there, and it’s like, ‘Oh, why don’t you just give it to Derrick [Henry] or just put it in Lamar [Jackson]’s hands and let him run it.’ So, I think that’s the catch-22 of the whole conversation.”
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