BALTIMORE — During postgame interviews on Sunday, the Ravens were glad they had beaten Minnesota, 34-31, in overtime, but there was a more serious, business-type attitude following the win than in previous contests.
Such was clear by the subdued on-field celebration of Justin Tucker’s game-winning kick.
The Ravens, especially on offense, know they can play better.
They’ll talk about resiliency and how they are 3-1 this season when trailing by double-digits in the second half of games, but the Lombardi Trophy usually goes to the team peaking in December and the momentum carries over into the postseason.
Oh, the Ravens are happy to be 6-2 and in first place in the AFC North, but they don’t want to continue to live dangerously. Following the win against the Vikings, the second most important thing to come out of the game was the tone.
“That’s always the best idea — come out [with] a fast start,” said Ravens rookie receiver Rashod Bateman. “You want to play fast the whole game, you want to accelerate in the middle, you want to finish strong. You want to do all those things necessary to make sure you get that jump. But as a group, we do feel like we need to come out fast; we’re going to do everything that we can to do that.”
That’s what you want to hear.
It’s great to stack wins in the first half of the season to gain separation in the standings but the Ravens won’t be playing Detroit (0-8), Minnesota (3-5) and possibly even Kansas City (5-4) in the postseason — at least if the Chiefs keep misfiring on offense.
The Ravens resemble Kansas City of the previous three years with so much firepower on offense, but it’s hard to play several games against top teams in the postseason coming from behind. Kansas City did it last year, but that was an aberration.
Defensively, the Ravens have allowed 42 plays of 20 yards or more. Only the New York Jets (2-6) and the Miami Dolphins (2-7) have allowed more.
Thank goodness for No. 8.
But even Jackson knows the “resiliency theme” is great to have, like having the hidden ace in a card game, but the goal is to put together a full 60 minutes. It’s true the NFL is a week-to-week league, and no conference exemplifies that more than the AFC. But quietly, the Tennessee Titans and the New England Patriots have been putting some pieces in place to possibly make a strong run.
The Ravens want to make similar moves.
“The sky is the limit,” said Ravens receiver Devin Duvernay of the offense, which has scored only 24 points in the first quarter. “We’ve just got to keep doing the little things, keep honing in on the details like blocking, route running, catching, run after the catch, and I feel like we can do what we want.”
The offensive players seem to be following Jackson’s lead. Every week he keeps hearing the same old accusations about him finally proving that he can lead a comeback. Or there are some ridiculous questions about some record he has broken set by other former top quarterbacks like Michael Vick or Dan Marino. And he just shrugs them off with the usual response:
“That’s dope.”
Ask Marino what is missing from his Hall of Fame resume? He’ll be the first to point out he has zero Super Bowl rings. That’s all Jackson wants to talk about. Forget the records. Forget the contract talks. All he wants is what former Ravens defensive end Terrell Suggs called “a piece of some Lombardi.”
“We’ve got to just make things happen early, if anything, but I don’t know why,” Jackson said of the team’s slow starts.
The Ravens have a good shot at winning the next two games. Miami is ranked No. 30 in total offense and last in rushing. The Dolphins are also ranked No. 30 in total defense and have given up an average of 280.9 yards passing. After Miami, the Ravens travel to Chicago to face the Bears (3-6) and their rookie quarterback Justin Fields.
But then it gets interesting. Baltimore has five AFC North games and faces the Packers and Rams in its final seven games. The Ravens know it’s time to pick up the pace.
There are few things they can do with their defense, which is still ranked No. 23 overall and 31st against the pass. But there is still a lot of progress to be made on offense. The receivers are young, with the exception of Sammy Watkins. Tight end Mark Andrews is a playmaker, Marquise Brown is a game-changer, Bateman is starting to develop into a key weapon on third down and Duvernay and James Proche II complement all of them.
The Ravens’ running game is below average except that Jackson elevates it to another level. And then there is Jackson himself, the best in the NFL at masking team weaknesses. But if the Ravens can take it to another level, that would take some of the pressure off Jackson.
If they can raise their game offensively and become more consistent then the opportunity to go deep into the playoffs will increase. Few teams ever play a perfect four quarters, but that’s the goal.
“I’d rather not be behind,” Jackson said. “I’d rather just step on the gas and just keep going, just keep scoring. I’d rather not be playing from behind. But our team, we’re fighters. We believe in each other. We’ve got faith. We’ve just got to keep it going. Hopefully, we won’t be in any more overtime games.”
And here is the dream, which leads to titles.
“The fact that our guys just stand back up strong and keep fighting, that’s what makes it special,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “But we would like to chase winning football. The thing we’ve been blessed with through all this is that when we’ve made mistakes, we’ve overcome them, but we’ve also paid for them.
“We’ve paid dearly for them with touchdowns. The idea is not to give your opponent anything; it’s to take what you can and give away nothing — that’s winning football.”
