Playoff Promise Turns to Heartbreak For Ravens: Same Mistakes Undo Team’s Postseason Hopes
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Heading into the postseason, and especially after crushing the rival Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card Round, it looked like this could be the year the Baltimore Ravens finally overcame their playoff demons. The offense, led by superstars Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, was playing better than it ever had before, while the defense had rounded into form after a rough start to the season. It was always going to be tough in a cutthroat AFC, but the Ravens looked like they had the tools to go all the way.
In Sunday’s Divisional Round loss to the Buffalo Bills, though, it was the same tired story all over again: the Ravens beat themselves.
Starting out with the obvious, Baltimore’s three turnovers were absolutely back-breaking. Lamar Jackson threw a bad interception on the second drive of the game, then fumbled on the following possession and the Bills returned it deep into Ravens territory. Most crushing of all was Mark Andrews’ fumble in the fourth quarter, which killed a solid drive as the Ravens desperately needed points.
Then there were the penalties. Baltimore had five of them for 43 yards while Buffalo only had one for 10 yards. There will inevitably be discourse about the validity of those penalties (Tre’Davious White’s pass interference against Keon Coleman just before halftime was especially controversial), but the simple fact is the Bills were the more disciplined team.
Finally, and most painful of all, was the Ravens’ two-point conversion to tie the game. Jackson rolled out and found an open Andrews, only for the tight end to drop the ball as he was falling to the ground. It was far from a perfect ball, but with the season on the line, they simply have to come up with that.
The worst part is the Ravens did plenty of good in this game. They held Josh Allen to less than 150 yards of total offense, and rushed for nearly six yards per carry, just to name a couple of examples. However, it still wasn’t enough when they kept shooting themselves in the foot, just like they did in nearly every other playoff loss in the Jackson era.
If the Ravens want to win a Super Bowl with their current core, then they simply have to figure out how to not beat themselves. Every additional loss adds more and more questions about whether they can do that, though, and this one is among the most painful of all.
