In a weekend of upsets in the NFL, from the Saints throttling the Cowboys in Dallas to the Buccaneers edging out the Lions in Detroit, nothing was more surprising than the Ravens falling to 0-2 after a loss to the Raiders in Baltimore.
The Ravens blew a 10-point lead as the Raiders scored 13 unanswered in the final 10 minutes for a 26-23 victory. Baltimore, the AFC’s top overall seed in the playoffs a year ago, is off to an 0-2 start for just the second time in John Harbaugh’s tenure.
“We’re not going to be defined by everyone that’s saying we’re not any good, that we’re good (or) that the season is over after two games,” Harbaugh said. “That’s what’s going to be said, and we understand that, but they’re not here; they’re not inside. No one inside is going to say that. We know that we’re a good football team, and we’re going to go keep getting better and better and better and define the season by the way we play.”
The Ravens lost by a toe, literally, in the season opener at the reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs in Week 1. In Week 2, they were heavy favorites to knock off a Raiders team that has posted consecutive losing seasons.
After running back Derrick Henry scored a touchdown to make it 23-13 early in the fourth quarter, it seemed like the Ravens would cruise to a victory in their home opener. Then the Raiders had three straight scoring drives to finish the game while forcing a couple of three-and-outs by the Ravens’ offense.
Reigning MVP Lamar Jackson finished 21 of 34 for 247 yards passing with one touchdown and one interception, and he rushed for 45 yards on five carries. According to ESPN, Jackson is just the fourth reigning MVP to lose his first two games of the season since the 1970 merger and the first since Kurt Warner in 2002 with the Rams. The Rams went 7-9 in 2002, a year after reaching the Super Bowl.
“I’m definitely going to talk to my guys because we’ve got to find our mojo,” Jackson said. “We’ve got to find (it), and do what we do, because that’s not us at all.”
The season is still young, of course, but an 0-2 start has been historically difficult for teams to battle out of, with less than 10 percent of teams to start this poorly reaching the postseason in the expanded playoff era.
Getting out of this hole won’t be easy for Baltimore, either. The Ravens’ next game is at the Cowboys, a fellow 2023 playoff team that will be looking to bounce back after a forgettable performance. Then, Baltimore hosts Buffalo, a team that has made five straight postseason trips and is off to a 2-0 start.
But the schedule could be viewed as an opportunity for the Ravens. They can turn their season around and reestablish themselves as legitimate contenders. However it’s viewed, there’s no question; it’s surprising to see Baltimore in this position this early on.
Most would have expected Baltimore (0-2) to be flipped with Pittsburgh (2-0) in the AFC North given the Ravens returning the MVP at quarterback and the Steelers bringing in rebuilding projects at the position.
As the great Bill Parcells said, you are what your record says you are. And the Ravens are 0-2.
“Our standard is very high,” tackle Ronnie Stanley said. “That’s definitely not OK for us to start that way.”