This season, the Ravens hoped to eliminate self -inflicted errors, but they did not succeed in week 1 against the Bills.
Just when Buffalo Bills prepared for the 32 -yard -winning field goal, the Baltimore Ravens safety, Kyle Hamiltonthe score looked, which showed that they had allowed 394 yards to pass to Josh Allen.
“I'm about to vomit in the field,” Hamilton said.
This feeling of discomfort reached the end of Sunday night's defeat by 41-40 in the first game of the season, which should not be included in the list of previous Baltimore collapses in recent games. This was a historical collapse that led the Ravens to allow 16 points without response due to problems in the defense of pass, a debatable decision of the coach and a ball loss of one of the best runners of all time.
To put Baltimore's disastrous quarter in perspective, the teams had a record of 2,312-3 (.998) with an advantage of 15 or more points in the last four minutes of a match since 2000, according to ESPN Research. When the Ravens won 40-25 with 4:48 to play, their chances of winning were 99.1%.
The Ravens began the regular season as favorites in the bets to win the Super Bowl and began with one of the most forceful defeats in the history of the franchise.
“This will undoubtedly hurt for a while,” said the Ravens corridor, Derrick Henrywhose loose ball in the last quarter changed the course of the game. “We feel we should have won, but it's over.”
Since Lamar Jackson He became his regular field marshal in 2018, the Ravens have been characterized by his explosive offensive creating plays. The reputation of not closing the matches have also been forged.
This marked the fifth defeat of the Ravens after having an advantage of 10 or more points in the last quarter in the last seven seasons. That ties them with the Chicago Bears for the largest number of two -digit collapses in the last quarter in the NFL during that period.
Throughout the preseason, the Ravens repeatedly spoke of eliminating self -inflicted errors after losing the ball three times in the defeat of the division round last season in Buffalo. In training, they emphasized to focus on the plays that win or lose closed games after the pass dropped from the closed wing Mark Andrews in a conversion of 2 points. Then, they fell to the same bad habits in week 1.
“It never ends until they are 0:00 on the clock,” Jackson said. “We discovered it tonight.”
On paper, the ravens They put together one of the best secondary defenses in the league. Baltimore has five first round selections in high school: Hamilton, Safety Big starks and cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey, Nate Wiggins y Jaire alexander.
“We really have no excuses not to leave and do what we have to do,” Hamilton said in June after Baltimore signed Alexander.
In Buffalo, the defense of the Ravens allowed 264 yards in the last quarter, its greatest amount in any room in the history of the franchise. It is also the largest amount of yards allowed in the last quarter by a team in the last five seasons.
This recalled the failures in the secondary defense of other parties in which Baltimore failed to maintain two digits in the last quarter: a 42-38 defeat against the Miami Dolphins in 2022; a 24-20 defeat against the New York Giants in 2022; a 33-31 defeat against the Cleveland Browns in 2023; and a 26-23 defeat against Las Vegas Raiders in 2024.
Hamilton wanted to know why this is still happening to the Ravens.
“At this time, we are going around,” Hamilton said. “First of all, the attack scored 40 points. There is no way we should be in that position as a defense. We just need to discover how to win matches. We are winning for 45 minutes, but you have to win for 60 minutes.”
On Sunday, Allen wore the current NFL most valuable player by becoming the first player with at least 250 pass yards and three total touchdowns in the last quarter from Ben Roethlisberger in 2010.
The Ravens coach John Harbaugh, believes that the biggest problem was his inability to contain Allen.
“We had a plan and we simply did not succeed,” said Harbaugh. “We couldn't execute it. Much of the plan was to keep it in the protection bag. We couldn't do it. That is probably my greatest disappointment.”
One of the decisions More debated in the game was taken with 1:33 for playing in the last quarter, when the Ravens faced a fourth opportunity and three in their own Yarda 38 with an advantage of 40-38.
According to ESPN Analytics, Baltimore's probability was 81.4% if the Ravens risked in that play. Instead, the Ravens cleared, which reduced their probability of victory at 73.2%.
The Bills advanced 66 yards in nine plays to prepare the winning kick when the time expires.
“You have to make the decision very fast and say: 'Do we have a decision that we really like?'” Said Harbaugh. “And Lamar left the field at that time; I saw that something was not going well and I told him that I had to get his clearance team.”
Jackson suffered cramps when he left the field, which influenced his opinion on the decision. “If I hadn't had cramps, everyone knows that I would have tried a fourth Down and three,” Jackson said.
At that moment of the game, the Ravens had allowed TouchDowns in four of their last six offensive series, including the last two. But Harbaugh indicated that he decided to clear because he believed that his defense could stop Buffalo.
“I'm not afraid to put our defense to the test,” Harbaugh admitted. “I trust our defense and I will trust it this year in many important situations. Our defense will be very, very good. And I know that there are probably doubts about it right now, but I guarantee that our defense will play a very good football this year.”
In the defeat of the divisional round Before the Bills in January, Andrews let out a conversion of 2 points that the game would have tied at the end of the last quarter. Eight months later, another Ravens star made the expensive mistake.
With the Ravens above 40-32, Henry lost the ball in the 38 of Baltimore with 3:10 to play. Four plays later, Touchdown's race of 1 Yarda by Allen reduced the advantage to 40-38.
“I have to take care of the ball,” Henry said. “I told my teammates after the game that defeat is mine. I own him as a man.”
Henry dominated the game until ball loss. Its 169 terrestrial yards were the greatest amount in a first season game in the history of the Ravens.
“I said to (Derrick Henry): 'Let him pass, man',” Jackson said. “He already did enough for us. He scored a TouchDown of 80 or 50 yards once. He put another. He was simply on a streak, but things happen. Unfortunately, it happened at the least timely moment. I will not criticize him for that. Rays! I lost the ball in the playoffs. It is what it is.”
Ravens have to find a way to stop escaping these wide advantages.
