There shouldn’t be a full-blown panic about the Baltimore Ravens yet. But it’s close, especially with Lamar Jackson leaving Sunday’s game with an injury.
The Ravens have gone from one of the Super Bowl favorites to 1-3. The Ravens didn’t look good on Sunday in losing 37-20 to the Kansas City Chiefs. The defense played poorly again, and for the first time this season the offense wasn’t great. And even worse, Jackson suffered a hamstring injury and his day was done halfway through the third quarter.
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The Chiefs destroyed the Ravens. Kansas City’s offense, which has been mediocre to start the season, looked like it did at its peak a few years ago. Patrick Mahomes threw for 270 yards and four touchdowns. Jackson had a quiet day, which ended early. Now the Ravens have to monitor whether Jackson might miss any time, which could lead to an even bigger hole to start the season.
A 1-3 start isn’t a death sentence for the Ravens. The rest of the AFC North isn’t unwinnable. But the Ravens clearly have some issues that might not be easy to fix. Before worrying about any of that, they need to make sure their All-Pro quarterback is healthy.
Ravens defense struggles again
The Ravens haven’t lost to any bad teams. But the losses have piled up.
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Baltimore blew a Week 1 game against the Bills, and haven’t been able to shake that. The Ravens got outplayed by the Lions and then the Chiefs carved them up too.
The play of the defense is troubling. The Chiefs have had problems moving the ball this season but looked great on Sunday. Xavier Worthy’s return to the lineup helped, but it seemed like another indictment of the Ravens, who have been porous in the secondary all season.
Last season, the Ravens got off to a bad start on defense, made adjustments and became one of the best defenses in the NFL over the second half of the season. That’s not guaranteed to happen again. Baltimore still has talent on defense — most of last season’s defense returned — but it has not looked pretty so far this season.
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The offense with Jackson and Derrick Henry has been mostly good to start the season. The Ravens will score points. But it doesn’t matter if they can’t stop anyone. And it might get really ugly if Jackson misses time.
Lamar Jackson leaves game
The Ravens scored first against the Chiefs. That was the high point of their day.
The low point was obvious. Jackson injured his hamstring when he was tackled from behind by George Karlaftis. Jackson slammed his helmet as he got to the sideline. Cooper Rush came in the game after that.
Kansas City looked much better on offense as it featured Worthy, who was back from a shoulder injury suffered on the first drive of the season. On the Chiefs’ first eight possessions, they scored seven times and had a missed field goal on the other. There’s some signs of life for the Chiefs offense, especially with Rashee Rice nearing a return from his six-game suspension. But it’s fair to wonder if the offense looked a lot better because the Ravens defense has been so bad to start the season.
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Baltimore had very little go right in September. The 2001 New England Patriots are the only team in NFL history to start 1-3 and win a Super Bowl. The Ravens can’t worry about a Super Bowl yet. They just need to get back to .500 first.
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