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Jamison Hensley
BALTIMORE — When Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh stepped to the podium on Sunday, his first words to reporters spoke as much to the exasperation of the season as the 17-3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
“Obviously, I am getting a little tired of getting up here and having this conversation,” Harbaugh said.
The Ravens (1-5) have lost four straight games to tie the worst start in franchise history, which sets up the most critical bye of Harbaugh’s 18 seasons in Baltimore. The Ravens’ mindset this week is to clean up the surprising mistakes, which have heightened the frustration level around the team.
Baltimore’s fix-it list includes areas that have gone from sources of pride to glaring weaknesses: short-yardage offense, turnovers and pass rush. Even though Baltimore will get a boost from the expected return of injured quarterback Lamar Jackson from a hamstring injury, the Ravens understand their margin of error is extremely thin.
“The only worse thing is 0-6, so yes, it’s a big hole,” Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum said. “We’re going to have to bounce back and take some time to reflect on this bye week. We have 11 games left to try to run the table.”
If the Ravens fall short of the playoffs, one of Baltimore’s biggest regrets will be how they fell one yard short Sunday.
In the final seconds of the first half, it looked like Baltimore was going to take a 10-3 lead over the Rams when it faced second-and-goal from the 1-yard line. But the Ravens failed to punch the ball across the goal line on three tries, which included two tush pushes with tight end Mark Andrews.
“That kind of pisses me off,” running back Derrick Henry said of the Ravens’ goal-line troubles. “That’s just unacceptable. That’s not good enough, It just seems like a repetitive thing, which is kind of frustrating.”
The Ravens had been nearly automatic when they got close to the end zone last season. Baltimore scored touchdowns on 31-of-35 goal-to-goal drives (88.6%), which was the third-best rate in the NFL.
This year, the Ravens have reached the end zone on 4-of-7 goal-to-go situations (57.1%), which ranks 28th in the league.
“I’d have to say it’s been surprising,” Harbaugh said. “That’s like the No. 1 thing in my mind on offense is short-yardage and goal-line; we should be better. We should be way better than we are. We’ve never struggled in those areas [before], and I don’t really understand why we are 1760535360. So, if we want to be the kind of team that we have, if we want to have a chance, we have to get that fixed.”
The Ravens have a saying: When you have the ball in your hands, you hold the “dreams, goals and aspirations of everyone in the program.” But, in every loss this season, Baltimore has dropped the ball.
The Ravens’ 10 turnovers this season are the third-most in the NFL and just one shy of Baltimore’s total giveaways from last season. Henry fumbled in each of the first three games, backup quarterback Cooper Rush threw four interceptions and wide receiver Zay Flowers lost the ball twice on Sunday.
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“To me, [ball security] couldn’t be more emphasized in practice or games,” Harbaugh said. “It just couldn’t be, but we’re going to have to find a way to make it more important, because it’s happening too much. You can’t win by turning the ball over. You want to look at why the record is the way it is; start with that.”
Last season, the Ravens only turned the ball over 11 times, which were the third-fewest in the league. In Harbaugh’s first 17 seasons (2008 to 2024), Baltimore committed the fifth-fewest turnovers.
The biggest point of contention for Harbaugh is the fumbling. Baltimore has lost five fumbles, which rank only behind the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans.
The coaches teach a technique called “the Raven claw” to secure the ball. When a player has the ball, his loose hand is used to grip the other wrist to essentially lock in the ball.
“We’ve never been a fumbling team,” Harbaugh said. “Now, all of a sudden, we fumble; that’s surprising. But it’s happening way too much, so it has to stop. That’s the responsibility of everybody, but it’s mainly the responsibility of the person who has the ball in their hands, and they all know that. And they’re very conscientious. So, it has to get done.”
Last week, no position on the Ravens took a harder hit than outside linebacker. Baltimore traded former first-round pick Odafe Oweh to the Los Angeles Chargers on Oct. 7 and then watched Tavius Robinson break his foot on Sunday, which will sideline him for six to eight weeks.
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The loss of those two outside linebackers will hurt an already struggling Baltimore pass rush. The Ravens’ eight sacks are their fewest through six weeks under Harbaugh.
“It’s been a challenge all year to generate pressure, so we are going to have to manufacture pressure,” Harbaugh said. “Our guys are going to have to step up and create pressure on the four-man rush. We do it with simulated pressures, too, a lot of times; we did that in the [last] game. So, we have to build off of those things and do the job with the guys that we have.”
In the previous two seasons, Baltimore has produced the most sacks in the NFL with 114. Now, the Ravens are without one of their top edge rushers in Oweh and their best interior rusher in Nnamdi Madubuike, who is out for the season with a neck injury.
Baltimore currently has three healthy outside linebackers in Kyle Van Noy, rookie Mike Green and David Ojabo. Harbaugh was asked if the Ravens would look outside the organization to add another outside linebacker or promote from the practice squad.
“Yes to all of the above, I would say,” Harbaugh said.
The Ravens understand the challenge ahead of them. The last team to make the playoffs after a 1-5 start was the 2020 Washington Football Team.
Ravens nose tackle John Jenkins was asked what he would tell those who have written off this team.
“The only thing I do know is that I come to work every day, and I see a lot of guys who are hungry, who put the work in,” Jenkins said. “So, as long as I see that every day from the guys in the locker room, in the building and the organization, it’s tough to listen to what people say.”
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