If you happen to know a sports fan in Baltimore, do be gentle with them today. Summer’s officially over; a Nor-easter is ravaging the area as we type. The Orioles’ disappointing, injury-riddled season is well in the distance. There’s no major professional hockey, basketball nor even soccer to look forward to. And oh, those damn Ravens.
A season that began with realistic hopes of a third Super Bowl in their 30th year as the much-coveted replacement for the Colts has unraveled like a roll of toilet paper in said storm. CBS SPORTS’ Jeremy Perles accurately captured the mindset and zeitgeist in the wake of the latest disappointment yesterday:
Zay Flowers trudged off the field with his helmet off, not quite able to fathom losing a fumble for a second straight possession. He put his helmet back on, removed it once more to watch the replay on the Jumbotron, and looked away. Then he reached the bench, raised his helmet to slam it down before simply setting it down in resignation.
The fumble didn’t even belong to him, after all; he had never possessed the football. The “credit” for the fumble went to Cooper Rush, the backup quarterback filling in for the injured Lamar Jackson, even though the handoff looked clean.
But perhaps that’s the issue with the Ravens. There are so many different aspects that deserve credit — or blame — for the 1-5 start, tied for the franchise’s worst ever through six games, after a 17-3 loss to the Rams.
RAVENS WIRE’s Glenn Erby piled on with some additional and less sympathetic thoughts:
One of the top wide receivers in the NFL, Flowers had two costly fumbles on Sunday, essentially costing the Ravens the game. Flowers fumbled on a catch-and-run and also fumbled a handoff on an end-around. Overall, Flowers had six catches for 46 yards on 10 targets…Rush went 11-19 passing for 72 yards, one interception, and a 44.2 QB rating before getting benched and replaced by Tyler Huntley.
Yet for as bleak as things looked on a dismal afternoon in Charm City, there is still an almost relentless belief that somehow this team may somehow be able to rally for a legitimate playoff run, as Erby valiantly strived to point out:
It was the fifth time in the first six games that they’ve faced a team that won its division title in 2024, but the Ravens defense responded and played well after trading Odafe Oweh to the Chargers for safety Alohi Gilman. Gilman started the game at safety and logged seven tackles on the afternoon. Baltimore will look forward to the return of quarterback Lamar Jackson(.)
It is that last sentence from whenst the straw that the worst may be behind them can be grasped. And at least the Ravens aren’t protesting when their coach offers his State of the Nest address which Perles played up:
“Obviously, I am getting a little tired of getting up here and having this conversation, but we had our opportunities,” head coach John Harbaugh said postgame. “We created our opportunities, and we put ourselves in a position where we could have won that football game. Probably, you could say, in some ways, we should have won it, but we didn’t do the things that you have to do to win the game. We made some critical mistakes that cost us an opportunity to win the game, and that’s really what it boils down to. So, that’s what we have to get straightened out.”
Contrast that to the sh-tstorm happening a few hundred miles to the South, as NEWSWEEK’s Michael Gallagher revealed:
Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel likely knows he’s on thin ice. His team lost four of five games heading their Week 6 matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers, and things didn’t get any better on Sunday.
The Dolphins fought back from a 26-13 deficit to take a 27-26 lead with just 46 seconds left, but the Chargers drove 44 yards in 41 seconds and to set up Cameron Dicker’s 33-yard game-winning field goal with just four seconds left.
The last-second defeat brought about some pretty amplified emotions from Dolphins players and fans, prompting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who threw three interceptions in the loss, to call out the team’s leadership, which many interpreted as a veiled shot at McDaniel.
“I think it starts with the leadership and helping articulate that for the guys and what we’re expecting out of the guys, right?” Tagovailoa said. “We’re expecting this, we’re getting that, we’re not getting that. “We have guys showing up to player-only meetings late; guys not showing up to player-only meetings. There’s a lot that goes into that… It’s a lot of that nature that we have to get cleaned up and it starts with the little things like that.”
Yeah, these Fins are most def NOT up. And when one takes a jaunt up Alligator Alley one can clearly see that there are more productive ways to deal with adversity than either the Ravens or Dolphins have shown. Per TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS ON SI’s River Wells:
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ended up with no starting skill position players midway through their game against the San Francisco 49ers, but it was no problem — they won the game anyway. The Bucs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 30-19 in their most complete win of the season to move to 5-1.
And as CBS SPORTS’ Cody Benjamin detailed:
Baker Mayfield…was all but superhuman for the other side, showcasing otherworldly grit on some second-half highlights to overcome his own club’s bumps and bruises… Mayfield was without all four of his top wide receivers by the end of Sunday’s contest, with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Jalen McMillan and star rookie Emeka Egbuka all sidelined with injuries. That didn’t stop him from tossing two critical scores, including a 45-yard bomb to rookie Tez Johnson, and evading San Francisco’s pass rush to outduel Jones at Raymond James Stadium.
Once regarded as more reckless than heroic, Mayfield is doing it all. He’s a rugged scrambler when he’s needed. He launches it deep with touch. And he’s thrown just one interception through six games. He is the Bucs’ offense. And he is award-worthy.
Ya see what’s possible when both the rain and finger-pointing stops?
Courage…