The Baltimore Ravens’ season ends in the Divisional Round of the playoffs to the Buffalo Bills. Contributors for Baltimore Beatdown give their reaction to the season-ending game.
Only the Ravens could stop the Ravens. All season, their greatest weakness was themselves. After a season of record-breaking efficiency, production and domination, they succumbed to the greatest of errors in the worst moments. Twice, Jackson turned the ball over. Mark Andrews lost the ball, too, on a poor decision to not go down or protect the Football after a 16-yard reception. Then, with the game a two-point conversion away, Andrews failed to secure the catch.
Yes, the Bills made plays. I’m not here to discredit them. But the Ravens’ errors were theirs. Tyler Linderbaum’s bad snap put Jackson in a volatile spot. He failed to make something of it and turned it into something worse. His interception was a miscue, not a defensive back making a great play. Andrews’ fumble was a poor decision — along with a great play from linebacker Terrel Bernard. And Andrews’ drop was unforced. It was their own misdeeds to create their own undoing.
Fans will want change. But what change is there to offer? Certainly, the coaching staff has preached and coached to not make these errors. Ultimately, it’s a player’s game and the Ravens’ players made more errors. There is fault in areas from a coaching standpoint, but ultimately, the loss is on the shoulders of the errors from players, which only makes things more disappointing. — Kyle Phoenix
To win in the NFL, you have got to hold onto the football. The Ravens couldn’t do that against the Bills and were promptly booted from the playoffs as a result.
This offseason will be filled with questions about Lamar Jackson (unmerited) and the coaching staff (slightly less unmerited), but the mistakes on Sunday were spread across the roster. Football is a game of 11 players, working in perfect harmony. If one note is off, the symphony falls apart.
Of course, none of this is new to Baltimore. To that end, there’s not really that much more to say. Is it coaching? Is it nerves? Or is it just that football can be a cruel, unforgiving game, in which the best teams can have their worst games at the worst times. — Nikhil Mehta
-The Ravens lost the turnover battle 0-3 today and had four times as many penalty yards as Buffalo today. Despite that, with less than 4 minutes to go, the Ravens were within a touchdown and a two-point conversion of the Bills. You can’t change my mind on who the better team was.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter at the end of the day. The old playoff Ravens showed up. Panic, drops, mistakes, soft play, the offensive line getting bullied at times, defense too soft at times. At times there were good plays from certain units but it just wasn’t consistent. But a classic Ravens playoff drop ended the Ravens season when Andrews dropped the two point to tie it. Season over.
Blame coaching, blame mistakes, blame Lamar. It’s still the same stories from years past. Panic and looking like amateurs in the big moments in the playoffs. — Zach Canter
The Ravens inability to hold onto the ball is ultimately what cost them in this game more than the officiating or any other reasons anyone can come up with. The interception that Lamar Jackson through didn’t comeback to bite them in the end but between the crucial drops and fumbles, they literally let this game slip through their fingers on offense including on what would’ve been a game tying two point conversion. While the defense tightened up in the second half significantly, they spent most of the first half getting pushed around on the ground including in the red zone where they gave up three touchdowns. It’s sickening and maddening to come to terms with the fact that a team that didn’t punt and put up 20-plus points couldn’t find a way to win but as has been the case in all their shortcomings far more often than not, they beat themselves and now they’re going home instead of getting play for the chance to win a championship next week. — Joshua Reed
Another year, another heartbreaking end to a season which featured one of the greatest offensive runs in NFL History. This whole season, the only thing that could’ve possibly stopped Baltimore’s juggernaut offense were turnovers and penalties, and while the penalties were a non factor on offense, 3 crucial turnovers ended up being the difference in Buffalo. It’s tough to pin a loss like this on any one player but Mark Andrews had about as bad of an end to the game as you can write up, fumbling the ball and then dropping the game tying two point conversion. Lamar Jackson had two turnovers as well but led scoring drives when needed. Baltimore figures to maintain a majority of their key talent going into next year, but it’s tough to picture them replicating this year’s offensive success. — Stephen Bopst
