National Football League

That's So (Not) Raven: Why Baltimore's season is already on the brink

Updated Sep. 18, 2024 5:02 p.m. ET

They lost one game by a field goal with 27 seconds remaining. They lost another by literally a sliver of a shoe. So it's not like the Baltimore Ravens have been a disaster at the start of this season.

It just feels that way to their undeniably stunned coaches and players who were sure they were part of one of the best teams in the NFL. After all, a year ago they were in the AFC Championship Game, painfully close to a trip to the Super Bowl.

Now, seven months later, for just the second time in John Harbaugh's 16 seasons as their coach, they are at the bottom, with a record of 0-2.

And there is a legitimate worry that it could get worse for a team that was one of the favorites to represent the AFC in Super Bowl LIX. They play at Dallas on Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET on FOX) against a dangerous and angry Cowboys team looking to rebound after being blown out at home by the New Orleans Saints. Then they return home to face the 2-0 Buffalo Bills in primetime the following weekend. Then it's on to Cincinnati to face a Bengals team that is 0-2, but was supposed to be one of the AFC's best too.

So yes, it's too early to be worried about the Ravens. But even the Ravens know that they're running out of time.

"We've got to find our mojo," quarterback Lamar Jackson said after the Ravens' loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, 26-23, on Sunday afternoon. "We've got to find (it), and do what we do, because that's not us at all."

Maybe not, but if the Ravens really are going to salvage their season and turn back into Super Bowl contenders they'll need to prove that against what suddenly looks like a vulnerable Cowboys team. The Saints just picked the Cowboys apart for 432 yards and scored touchdowns on each of their first six possessions. They even ran all over the Cowboys defense, picking up 190 yards on the ground.

That should play right into the biggest strength of the Ravens, who were the No. 1 rushing team in the NFL last season and then went out and added running back Derrick Henry this offseason. They should head into Dallas confident that there's a weakness they can exploit.

But that's only if they start to actually play like they're supposed to be capable of playing. Because despite how close their first two games have been, the truth is they haven't looked much like the Ravens at all.

"I've heard it said the NFL season is a race to improve, to become the best team you can over the course of the long haul," Harbaugh said Monday. "We had a disappointing game (Sunday). We're not happy about it. We want to play better. We want to play winning football. We didn't.

"So we've got to keep pounding the rock, and the rock is going to crack."

Reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens are a disappointing 0-2 on the season. (Getty Images)

Will it? Only if they can fix some of the many problems that have pushed them to the brink over the first two weeks. And those really run the gamut across both sides of the ball.

The Ravens offense, for example, actually ranks first in the NFL (417.5 yards per game), but it's deceptive because they only rank 14th in points (21.5 per game). A big part of that is that their running game, while still potent, has struggled with consistency mostly because the offensive line, which returned only two starters from last season (left tackle Ronnie Staley and center Tyler Linderbaum), has been erratic.

Jackson has been under constant pressure, but Henry seems to have felt the brunt of the line's struggles. He has 130 yards in two games on 4.2 yards per carry, which isn't bad, but it puts him on pace for his lowest full-season total since 2018.

"We've just got to do what we do still because Derrick was running the ball tremendously (Sunday)," Jackson said. "He had a few bursts out there (and) a few plays that he burst out on, and (the offensive) line was doing their job. We've just got to find a way to just get the ball rolling and stay consistent."

Meanwhile, the Ravens' run defense has been excellent. They gave up just 27 rushing yards on 17 carries to the Raiders. But they've given up more passing yards (514) than any defense in the league. They're getting pressure — they have seven sacks, including five against the Raiders — but the secondary has seemed to struggle under new defensive coordinator Zachary Orr.

All that is a problem because running the ball and playing stingy defense have been what the Ravens have been known for under Harbaugh and those have not been strengths so far. Their overall struggles go even deeper, though. They've been oddly undisciplined, with 18 penalties so far this season, including a ridiculous 11 against the Raiders. And even their always-reliable kicker, Justin Tucker, has missed both of his field-goal attempts longer than 50 yards.

It's frustrating and surprising. And yet they still might have beaten the Chiefs if tight end Isaiah Likely's toe had landed in the end zone, instead of on the white line, on the final play of Baltimore's 27-20 loss in Kansas City on Opening Night. And they still would have beaten the Raiders if they could've held onto their 10-point lead in the final 9 ½ minutes of the game.

They're 0-2, but they can't overlook the fact that they really are that close to being 2-0.

"We're not going to be defined by everyone that's saying we're not any good, that the season is over after two games," Harbaugh said. "That's what's going to be said, and we understand that. But they're not here. They're not inside. No one inside is going to say that.

"We know that we're a good football team, and we're going to go keep getting better and better and better and define the season by the way we play."

Maxx Crosby sacks QB Lamar Jackson during the Raiders' Week 2 win over the Ravens. (Getty Images)

Henry pointed out that "There are a lot of teams that start 0-2 and then finish the season strong," which is true. But history is certainly working against the Ravens when it comes to achieving more than a strong finish. This is just the fifth time in their 29 seasons that the Ravens are 0-2, and the previous four times it happened they did not make the playoffs. Even worse, since the NFL expanded their playoffs to 14 teams back in 2020, 32 teams have started 0-2, and only two of those teams (Cincinnati in 2022 and Houston in 2023) reached the postseason.

And don't forget, the Ravens' goals went far beyond just a playoff berth. And only three teams in NFL history ever started 0-2 and won a Super Bowl — none since the New York Giants did it 17 years ago.

The Ravens, of course, believe they're capable of doing just that, that this is just a momentary stumble, that they're too good for this unexpected, season-opening slide to continue. They believe they don't need to make major changes for things to turn around.

"I'm not used to being 0-2," said Jackson, who has never been 0-2 in his career and is the first reigning MVP to start 0-2 the next season in 22 years. "Just got to catch our momentum and get it started right away."

"That's our job," Harbaugh added. "To keep pounding, not get discouraged, not think all is for nothing. Continue to work and our reward will be out there in our future."

He's probably right. The Ravens might be 0-2, but they are literally seconds and inches from being undefeated. And for all their apparent flaws, they still have the NFL's top offense, top rushing defense, and the reigning MVP on their side.

But they can't think long-term anymore. They dug an early hole and there's not much time to find their way out of it. The next three weeks could tell the story of their season. One more stumble, and they might not have much of a season to look forward to at all.

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.