NFL
By: Joey MacDonald
The Baltimore Ravens had a difficult night against the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football, as Lamar Jackson was sacked seven times despite putting up solid numbers and throwing three touchdown passes; the Ravens fell to the Detroit Lions by the score of 38-30 and fell to 1-2 on the season.
The Ravens offense has been playing really well through the three games of the season, scoring 30 points in all three games so far, but the defense has been letting down this Ravens team so far, and this game is only an example of it. But the defense couldn’t stop the Detroit offense throughout the night, and they gave up 7 3rd down plays and 3 4th down plays, and that was a key to the loss to the Lions. And, the Ravens’ run defense had a difficult night stopping the two-headed monster of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs as both ran the ball for a combined total of 218 yards on the ground.
Despite the loss, the only good thing about the Ravens was their offense, which came to play in the loss. Lamar Jackson did everything he could to keep the Ravens, and he continues his streak of not throwing an interception on Monday Night Football. And Mark Andrews looks like his old self out there on the field as he had a nice bounce back game, as he has six catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns. The good also came with the bad for the offense. As Derrick Henry had another fumble in the 4th quarter that led to the only turnover for the Ravens, it turned out to be a costly one as well. There will be some question marks about Derrick Henry moving forward in the season as he looks to get back on track in running and dominating the running game.
The Detroit Lions came into Baltimore and punched the Ravens’ run in the mouth throughout the game on both Offense and Defense. The running attack for Detroit is what made Detroit win this game, as they ran the ball for 224 yards on the ground, as both Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery wore out the Ravens’ defense on the ground. And Jared Goff looked like he was having an easy time out there, throwing the football as he didn’t get sacked once during the game. And the Lions’ defense was outstanding as they sacked Lamar Jackson 7 times in their victory on Monday night. They were putting a lot of pressure on the defense every single play. And the big play that they made on defense was forcing a fumble in the 4th quarter by Aidan Hutchinson to Derrick Henry. Through it all, the Lions came into Baltimore with a game plan, and they executed that game plan very well from start to finish, from scoring on their first drive to finishing off the Ravens in the 4th quarter. In contrast, the Ravens were looking like they were losing all over the field against the Lions.
The Baltimore Ravens are an excellent football team that needs some discipline if they want to win football games and eventually the Super Bowl. But they don’t look like that football team right now as we speak. And this loss, I believe, was all on Defense Coordinator Zac Orr. So far through the first three games of the season, Zac Orr has given up an average of 415 yards per game in 3 games this season. And, right now, he is totally on the hot seat as defensive coordinator. If things don’t turn around by Week 7, which is their bye week, I believe the Ravens will have no choice but to replace him as DC.
The Ravens now head to KC to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium, another team that’s off to a 1-2 start as well. And the Ravens can’t afford to go down to a 1-3 record, which would be crippling for a team that had aspirations for the Super Bowl this season. If they can knock the Chiefs and get back on track in the season next Sunday, it would be an excellent start for that.
