Ravens Lose An INSANE Overtime Game In Vegas 33-27
Gross. So fucking gross.
When teams grind out a win in ugly fashion, the phrase "team win" is often thrown around.
This was a team loss. I don't have enough fingers to point tonight. The offensive line was garbage all night long. The playcalling was questionable for the first 3 quarters. Lamar played a pretty decent game overall, throwing that sick TD to Hollywood and leading not one but TWO late scoring drives to put the Ravens ahead in the 4th... but clearly made a pair of mistakes to contribute to the losing effort.
The reason those two go-ahead scoring drives went to waste is because the defense ran out of answers and ran out of gas too. Reminded me so much of the Browns MNF game last year where they simply had nothing left in the tank. Only Lamar Jackson and Justin Tucker heroics could bail them out of that one. Tonight that wasn't enough. The goal line INT was just an unnecessary kick in the dick.
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It's only one week, but this has all the telltale signs of a season from hell. Feels like 2015 already. We lost a bunch of tight games early in that season and then the injuries started coming and they didn't stop comin. We've already got the injuries. Now we've got the Chiefs and Travis Kelce coming to town and seemingly no answer to stopping an elite pass-catching tight end. Darren Waller had his way with us entirely in the 2nd half tonight, and that opened up the entire offense for Derek Carr. Imagine what Patrick Mahomes is gonna do?
So here we are, staring down the barrel of 0-2 without an elite cornerback, our top 3 RB's, and an offensive line that can't protect shit. There's always hope in a given week because of what #8 brings to the table, but he doesn't stand a prayer if he has to play 17 games behind a line playing that poorly. I don't know what our answer is there, but this ain't it. I have some hope that getting Nick Boyle back will add some beef back to our running game, but there's still so many questions up and down this roster. You're just not gonna win giving up 435 yards to the likes of Derek Carr. You're just not.
The coaching staff is not absolved here either. Everything seemed peachy and right on track at 14-0, and then the Raiders made adjustments and we didn't. We had opportunities to shove the ball down their throats and protect a lead and we didn't do that. It was clear we couldn't pass pro, and we waited too long to let Lamar take the rock on designed runs. The only reason we had a prayer at the end was because of his magic. Him and JT.
Maybe in an alternate universe the kid on the other side doesn't make the 55-yarder and we make out of there like bandits. But I'm telling you, I don't think I would have felt all that much better. The writing is on the wall already.
The 2021 Ravens are in big trouble already and they better figure it out quick.