Five things we learned from the Ravens’ 20-19 loss to the Los Angeles Rams

The Ravens mislaid to the Los Angeles Rams, 20-19, connected Sunday, yet different adjacent decision successful their archetypal five-game losing streak nether manager John Harbaugh and archetypal since losing 9 successful a enactment successful 2007. Baltimore’s playoff chances are each but gone arsenic it has gone from the AFC’s No. 1 effect to the No. 10 effect seemingly successful the blink of an eye. Here’s what we learned from different pugnacious loss:

We present cognize the communicative of the 2021 Ravens: valiant but doomed.

The Ravens had nary concern holding a pb against the Los Angeles Rams going into the last minute.

The Rams suited up Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp and Matthew Stafford and, well, you get the picture. The Ravens relied connected a backmost who had ne'er started successful the NFL earlier the 3rd play successful November and a secondary stripped of its apical 3 cornerbacks.

The Rams had won 4 successful a enactment and were warring lone for a amended playoff seed. The Ravens had mislaid 4 successful a enactment and were clinging to postseason hopes by their fingernails.

Just arsenic they had against the Green Bay Packers 2 weeks earlier, the raggedy Ravens did astir everything indispensable to propulsion disconnected an upset. They forced 3 turnovers and scored a antiaircraft touchdown for the archetypal clip each season. They built an aboriginal pb and controlled the timepiece for a important agelong of the 4th quarter.

“I thought we were successful power the full game,” choky extremity Mark Andrews said.

They needed 1 halt connected fourth-and-5 to nonstop the Rams location empty-handed. But Odell Beckham Jr. wedged his assemblage successful beforehand of cornerback Tavon Young and caught Stafford’s walk for precisely 5 yards. Another walk to Beckham, with 57 seconds to go, enactment the Ravens down for the archetypal clip each day. They would not rally.

Throw retired their 20-point nonaccomplishment successful Cincinnati past weekend, and they person dropped 4 games by a combined 5 points implicit the past 5 weeks — a horse-sized bitter pill to swallow for a squad that won six one-score games implicit the archetypal 12 weeks of the season. Can you unrecorded with disappointment similar that by looking astatine the greater discourse — the multitude of injuries the Ravens person endured, the bouts with COVID-19?

It was a testament to the brutality of this play that they astir seemed steadfast going into the Rams game, contempt the absences of their franchise quarterback, Lamar Jackson, their apical remaining cornerback, Anthony Averett, their starting center, Bradley Bozeman, and their standout rookie walk rusher, Odafe Oweh.

“We’ve got a warring team, aforesaid arsenic this city,” information Chuck Clark said, processing different down-to-the-wire decision for this battered bunch.

But the Ravens person tally retired of weeks to observe their resilience and look up to the adjacent opportunity. They volition spell into their play finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers with lone a faint accidental to marque the playoffs, somber information for a squad that arrived astatine grooming campy expecting to contend for the Super Bowl. They held the AFC’s apical effect 5 weeks ago.

“We don’t bash this worldly for motivation victories,” Andrews said.

The Ravens defence did what it could not for astir of the season: unit turnovers.

They failed to halt the Rams astatine the end, but otherwise, the Ravens did their damnedest to bounce backmost from a antiaircraft apocalypse a week earlier successful Cincinnati.

They had forced a piddling 11 turnovers coming into the game, up of lone the Jacksonville Jaguars. But Clark made a terrific work to leap successful beforehand of Rams choky extremity Tyler Higbee for a pick-six that enactment the Ravens up 7-0.

“It was conscionable thing that I’d seen connected film, individually, this week,” helium said. He made different interception, connected a leaping drawback implicit the middle, aboriginal successful the 2nd quarter.

If Clark’s pick-six was the Ravens’ astir important play of the archetypal half, extracurricular linebacker Tyus Bowser astir matched it connected the opening thrust of the 2nd fractional erstwhile helium contorted his assemblage to portion Stafford astatine the Baltimore 20-yard line. Bowser wiped retired near-certain points for Los Angeles and acceptable the Ravens disconnected connected a 14-play thrust that ate up 6:23 and built their pb to 16-7.

Even erstwhile the Ravens had played good connected defence successful erstwhile weeks, they had not changed the scoreboard truthful straight by stealing the ball. They needed specified plays to enactment with the Rams.

“It was bully to spot a breakthrough successful that area,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve been moving hard, [trying] to find a mode to get immoderate turnovers. I thought Chuck conscionable made 2 large plays backmost there.”

Tyler Huntley again played with poise astatine hard junctures, but the Ravens needed a cleaner crippled from him.

Huntley has travel up a fewer plays abbreviated against 2 of the champion teams successful the NFC, awesome for an undrafted escaped cause who had ne'er started an NFL crippled earlier the 3rd play successful November. We ne'er would person expected the Ravens to bent successful these games without Jackson. To a man, coaches and teammates spot Huntley’s calm nether fire.

But his downbeat demeanor aft this nonaccomplishment spoke to his disappointment. He knew helium had not played his champion successful the reddish zone, taking a delay-of-game punishment connected the Rams’ 4-yard-line erstwhile the Ravens had a accidental to spell up 23-14. He knew helium had overlooked chances to tally for archetypal downs and to link with Andrews and Marquise Brown connected heavy strikes.

“We’ve got to halt hurting ourselves,” Huntley said. “We controlled the crippled the full day. We’ve got to halt hurting ourselves.”

Huntley was obscurity adjacent the aforesaid leafage arsenic Brown connected a tide-turning interception conscionable earlier halftime. Brown slanted and took disconnected deep, portion Huntley seemed to expect a post-corner way to the sideline. Rams information Jordan Fuller was the lone idiosyncratic waiting for the ball, and his interception acceptable up a three-play touchdown thrust for Los Angeles.

“Hollywood bushed him a antithetic mode than I was thinking; it was conscionable a miscommunication,” Huntley said. “I privation I could person that 1 back.”

He responded with now-familiar poise, utilizing his limb and legs to pb the Ravens connected a nine-play, 51-yard thrust to prehend backmost 3 points earlier halftime. He answered the Rams’ adjacent touchdown, successful the 4th quarter, with different scoring drive. But that 1 was bittersweet, due to the fact that Huntley wanted a touchdown, not a tract goal. He thought helium had taken the drawback successful clip to debar that hold of crippled punishment connected 3rd down.

Teammates did not privation Huntley to bent his head. “I deliberation conscionable the mode helium sees the game, he’s awesome,” Andrews said. “It’s been incredibly amusive to beryllium capable to play with him.”

For his part, Huntley did not privation to beryllium graded connected a curve. He knew the Ravens did not decorativeness drives arsenic crisply arsenic they had erstwhile helium started against the Packers. This time, helium could not deed connected capable speedy passes (he completed 16 of 20 wrong 10 yards, 4 of 9 extracurricular 10 yards) to marque up for the big-play constituent that’s missing with Jackson connected the sideline.

“We had to play our champion football, but we played a small spot nether that,” helium said.

Mark Andrews became the top single-season receiver successful squad past connected a time erstwhile helium could not bask it.

Andrews gave the fans an appreciative question aft the announcement that his 18-yard drawback successful the 2nd 4th pushed him past Michael Jackson for the team’s single-season yardage record.

That reception kicked disconnected different fantabulous crippled for the Pro Bowl choky end, who snared each six passes thrown his mode and pushed his yardage full to 1,276. Only 5 choky ends successful NFL past person gone for much yards successful a season, and with a large crippled successful Week 18, Andrews could situation Travis Kelce’s grounds of 1,416. He’s 1 drawback abbreviated of 100 and 5 abbreviated of passing Derrick Mason for the highest single-season full successful Ravens history.

Again, we saw Andrews drawback a seemingly regular pass, crook upfield and resistance aggregate defenders with him for a 15-yard gain. He ever had an exceptional consciousness for slipping into unfastened pockets successful coverage, but nary 1 would telephone Andrews a finesse subordinate anymore. We routinely spot him usage his 6-foot-5, 256-pound framework to adhd yards aft the catch.

“It’s an honor,” Andrews said erstwhile asked astir his caller receiving record.

He did not look happy, however. He has averaged 103 receiving yards per crippled implicit his past five, and the Ravens person mislaid each one, intolerable for an jock who would commercialized his notch successful the grounds publication for adjacent 1 much victory.

The Ravens swore to combat on, but they’re astir surely retired of chances.

There were elaborate scenarios successful which the Ravens could person been eliminated, but careless of those arcane details, the constituent was clear: they needed to triumph to support a tenable accidental to play successful the postseason.

Going into Sunday, FiveThirtyEight said the Ravens’ playoff chances would summation to 59% with a triumph implicit the Rams. After the loss, they dropped to 6%. But they got adjacent worse arsenic the Los Angeles Chargers bushed the Denver Broncos and the Cincinnati Bengals and Las Vegas Raiders besides secured victories, meaning the Ravens’ playoff chances sat astatine conscionable 2% arsenic of Sunday night. Only the Miami Dolphins helped support them live by losing successful Tennessee.

The Ravens clung to that beingness successful the moments aft the game.

“All we tin power is winning adjacent week,” Young said. “Keep our heads up, and let’s go.”

“Win,” Harbaugh said erstwhile asked his postgame connection to the team. “Find a mode to triumph the crippled — that’s our message.”

We’ve heard akin passageway imaginativeness from the Ravens aft each of their past 5 losses, and it’s astir apt existent they volition physique to a spirited effort against the Steelers. They volition seemingly look their oldest rival, Ben Roethlisberger, for the last time, adding a complaint to the proceedings careless of playoff implications.

But their determined words carried a greater consciousness of futility this clip around. When Beckham caught those 2 decisive passes, they had to consciousness the airy blinking retired connected a frustrating season.

Week 18

STEELERS@RAVENS

Sunday, 1 p.m.

TV: Chs. 13, 9 Radio: 97.9 FM, 1090 AM

Line: Ravens by 6 ½