John Harbaugh said there will be different theories explaining the Ravens' meltdown to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, but there is only one reason.
After a big emotional win against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, the Ravens came to grips with reality here at LP Field, and it wasn't pretty. In fact, it was downright ugly and embarrassing. But after watching the game, it was more in line with what we've seen through the preseason than what we witnessed against the Steelers.
A week ago, the Ravens could have owned the city. They had a strong running game. Joe Flacco looked like Joe Montana, and Terrell Suggs appeared to be the clone of Lawrence Taylor. They smacked around Ben Roethlisberger and sent their chief rival home to some nasty backlash in Pittsburgh.
If only the Super Bowl were played last week …
But then came Sunday. The stench is still strong. Flacco was awful and the offense was inconsistent. Just about everybody in the secondary got burned, and this time the Ravens made Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck look like Montana, while Kenny Britt played the role of Jerry Rice. Tennessee sent the lethargic Ravens back to Baltimore, and the main question we'll hear for the rest of the week is this: who are the real Ravens?
Are they the team that showed up in Week 1, or the one that limped through Week 2?
Here's the good news: The Super Bowl won't be played for another four months. And, oh yeah, the Ravens have that much work to do.
Against Pittsburgh, the Ravens came out with seven months of anger and playoff intensity. They weren't going to match that energy level Sunday, not this early in the season. Tennessee did because the Titans had lost their season opener and first-year coach Mike Munchak spent Saturday night telling the Titans about the old, fierce rivalry that once existed between the Ravens and Titans.
Advantage Tennessee.
But this game wasn't all about emotion.
The Titans exploited the Ravens' top weakness, torturing cornerbacks Cary Williams, Domonique Foxworth, Lardarius Webb and safeties Ed Reed and Tom Zbikowski. They ran crossing routes, back-shoulder fades and comebacks. They ran every route imaginable while running the Ravens right out of the stadium.
"Matt Hasselbeck did a really nice job of controlling the game as far as recognizing what we were in and getting them in the right play," Harbaugh said. "To me, that's what a veteran quarterback does. When he gets the ball, he's very accurate and he's got some big targets. A lot of credit goes to him. I think he was the difference in the game."
The cornerback problems are nothing new. A solution is to hope rookie cornerback Jimmy Smith is a quick healer and can get back into the starting lineup soon. The Ravens also had problems getting pressure on Hasselbeck, but that might be more the result of trying to put more players into coverage instead of trying to get to the Titans quarterback, who has a quick release.
To solve some possible pass-rushing problems in the future, the Ravens might need to get outside linebacker Sergio Kindle out of the bullpen and on the field. But at least the Ravens have some options there.
Both offensive tackles — Bryant McKinnie and Michael Oher — struggled. Oher had two false-start penalties and was handled by Titans defensive end Derrick Morgan in the first half. McKinnie was solid, but he looked slow off the ball. In all honesty, though, the offensive line played like most of us expected instead of the stellar performance turned in a week ago.
McKinnie, Oher and the rest of the offensive line will get better. In another two-to-three weeks, it should be a good group. But there were other problems that were disturbing, ones that I thought the Ravens were over. It's the same stuff as last year.
Flacco caved under pressure. His feet got nervous. He threw late and into double coverage. He even threw dump passes too low. In the first quarter, he had a zero quarterback rating. Every time I think he is on the verge of becoming a great quarterback, he makes a play like he did in the third quarter where he whirls, twirls and can't find his own position on the field with a GPS system.
That scares me. I get concerned when I see the offense looking a lot like it did the past two seasons. For nearly three quarters Sunday, the Ravens ignored their wide receivers except Anquan Boldin. Their top pass play was the check down to running back Ray Rice.
Again.
It bothers me when the officials call a penalty, have a discussion for a minute or two, and then the Ravens call a timeout because they didn't have a play called. It irritates me when the Ravens have no sense of urgency by walking to the line of scrimmage after every offensive play trailing by 10 points with nearly seven minutes left in the game.
That's poor game management. Sometimes you wonder, is this the NFL, or Baltimore County High School football?
We'll just chalk it up as a bad day for the Ravens. It had to be because Sam Koch actually shanked a punt.
We'll keep it all in perspective. Last week, Ravens fans were ready to make reservations for the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. This week, they'll wonder if this team is good enough to make the playoffs.
It's way too early to make a decision, but at least we're now more in touch with reality.