Two weeks into the 2024 campaign, last season's No. 1 seed in the AFC is languishing at 0-2.
The Baltimore Ravens controlled the majority of their game against the Las Vegas Raiders, if only narrowly, but due to uncharacteristic self sabotage and a feisty opponent, lost a 10-point fourth-quarter lead to put themselves in a precarious hole.
“We’ve got to find our mojo and do what we do, because that’s not us at all," Lamar Jackson said following the 26-23 loss.
Head coach John Harbaugh proved more verbose, and he also provided a more detailed plan for the future.
“Disappointing loss," he told reporters postgame. "Tough loss. Could have gone our way for sure, but we didn’t get the job done. 0-2. We are gonna play a 17-game season, and we will be defined by the next 15 games. So that’s gonna be our objective to play the best 15 games we can, be the best football team we can be. If we do that we’re going to have a really good season and have a shot to win a lot of games and get in the playoffs and make a run. So that’s what we have to do big picture.”
Baltimore started off the game offensively and finished it on both sides in a manner that was anything but typical Ravens fashion.
Jackson and Co. led the league in rushing yards in 2023 and placed fourth in overall scoring, but on Sunday were stifled in both aspects during the first half. By the end of the second quarter, Jackson was the team's leading rusher with 11 yards, while Derrick Henry, brought in over the offseason to further the havoc wreaked by Baltimore's rushing attack, had a measly 5 yards on seven attempts.
The Raiders, led by Maxx Crosby, who was even more game-wrecking than usual with four tackles for loss and a pair of sacks, limited Jackson to pocket-passing work over those two frames, which also allowed them to limit Baltimore to three field goals.
The tide seemed to turn in the second half. Jackson kept connecting with wide receiver Zay Flowers (seven catches for 91 yards), leading to a third-quarter touchdown pass, and Henry found more room against a seemingly softened front to eventually total 84 rushing yards and add another score in the fourth.
Both of those TDs provided Baltimore with 10-point leads when they occurred, but the operation fell apart late outside of that.
Trailing, 23-16, after answering Henry's score with a field goal and forcing the Ravens to punt, Las Vegas went on a 70-yard march, aided by a Brandon Stephens pass interference on a third-and-17 that placed the ball at the 1.
Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams cashed in on the very next play with a TD catch, after which Baltimore went three-and-out before allowing a go-ahead field goal with 31 seconds remaining -- Las Vegas' fourth straight scoring drive.
The Ravens stalled at the worst times, unlike in almost any of their games last season, riddled by the Raiders D and affected even more so by penalties in multiple phases. They committed 11 for 109 yards versus Las Vegas' three for 15, a gargantuan hill to climb in a contest decided on the margins.
Just as in the game, Baltimore now has another hill before it.
The Ravens sit at 0-2, already halfway to their loss total from 2023 and going up against history -- the franchise has never reached the postseason after dropping its first two games in a season.
Harbaugh is well aware many will now cast doubt on them. It also doesn't get any easier with their next three games coming against the Cowboys, Bills and Bengals.
Still, none of those doubters will play a part if the Ravens end up rediscovering some magic and turning things around.
“The message [is] that we define our season," Harbaugh said. "We’re not going to be defined by everybody’s that gonna say that we’re not any good, that we’re done, that the season’s over after two games. That’s what’s gonna be said. We understand that. But they’re not here. They’re not inside, and no one inside’s gonna say that.”