London — If the Ravens had issue with Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Marrone's decision to call a fake punt with his team leading by 37 points in the final seconds of the third quarter Sunday, the players and head coach kept those emotions to themselves.
"I don't have a reaction," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "It's the NFL. There's no reaction to it."
On fourth-and-1 from the Jaguars' 35-yard line, punt protector Corey Grant took a direct snap and raced down the right sideline, totally surprising the Ravens. He picked up 58 yards on the fake, setting up a Leonard Fournette 3-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Ravens running back Alex Collins, who was on the punt return team, was penalized for unnecessary roughness at the end of the play. However, that was the extent of the negative reaction to the call by the Ravens, who were beaten, 44-7, by the Jaguars at Wembley Stadium and had plenty of other problems to lament.
"I don't blame them," Ravens safety Tony Jefferson said. "They're just running what they run. We have to do better. We have to execute. Whether they run a fake on fourth-and-long or fourth-and-short, we've got to stop it. We go through that stuff during the week. We didn't execute like we wanted to."
Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith pointed out that the Ravens have run fakes against teams when possessing significant leads in the past.
"It's not my job to care about what they run," Smith said. "We're supposed to stop it. If they wanted to do it, that's what they do. We'd do it. I'm sure we would. I can't be mad at it."
Ravens wide receiver Jeremy Maclin added that "anybody who is mad at that, this isn't Pop Warner football."
Marrone said the Jaguars prepared for the fake during the week and got the lookthey wanted, so they ran the play.
Ravens' DL takes another hit: The Ravens entered the game without standout defensive tackle Brandon Williams, who was inactive because of a foot injury. By the second play of the second quarter, they had lost starting defensive end Brent Urban, too.
Urban went down on Fournette's 6-yard run on fourth-and-1 in Ravens' territory. He stayed on the ground for a while before limping off the field. A few minutes later, Urban took a very slow walk to the locker room. The team announced that he has a foot sprain, but the severity of it is unclear.
With Urban out and Bronson Kaufusi and Chris Wormley inactive for the third straight weeks, the Ravens were down to five defensive linemen for the final three quarters. The Jaguars wound up rushing for 166 yards and a touchdown and didn't allow a sack on Blake Bortles.
"I think I played OK, but did some things that I don't usually do," said Ravens nose tackle Michael Pierce, who finished with three tackles. "I might have been pressing a little trying to make something happen because Brandon wasn't out there. It's hard to replace the $50 million man, but I should have been more patient."
Carl Davis started in place of Williams and Willie Henry, a 2016 fourth-round pick, was active for just the second time in his career and played a defensive snap for the first time in his career. Henry wound up playing most of the game, and undrafted rookie Patrick Ricard got increased snaps as well.
"It's football. I love to play with it. It was a joy and a sigh of relief to go out and play on a Sunday," said Henry, who finished with five tackles. "I've been dreaming about that my whole life."
Not much doing on the outside: After wide receiver Mike Wallace playfully called to get his hands on the ball more during the week, it was hardly surprising that the Ravens ran a jet sweep to him on their first play from scrimmage. That picked up 4 yards and that carry nearly equaled his receiving output.
The Ravens seemed powerless Sunday to get Wallace and Breshad Perriman more involved. The combination of Joe Flacco and Ryan Mallett threw to Wallace five times and he finished with one catch for 6 yards. Perriman was shut out on just one target.
Through three weeks, Wallace and Perriman have combined for four catches for 26 yards.
Baltimore Ravens Insider
"Do we want it to happen? Yes. I'm not concerned," Wallace said. "We have the players [and] we have the coaches to get it done. For some reason or another, it's not working. We'll get it done. We'll go back to work."
Collins gets involved: Harbaugh hinted early last week that Collins could have a bigger role with the team. That happened Sunday as the running back was their primary kick returner. He also finished with a team-high nine carries for 82 yards although most of that output came long after the game had gotten out of hand.
It was not a good day for the Ravens' other two backs. Starter Terrance West (Towson University, Northwestern High) rushed six times for 26 yards and lost a fumble. Buck Allen had just eight carries for 15 yards and five catches for 13 yards.
End zone: Maclin was put in the concussion protocol after a hard fall to the ground on A.J. Bouye's second-quarter interception, but he passed all the tests, returned in the third quarter and said afterward that he felt fine. … The 84,592 fans in attendance was the most for an International Series game in London. While they gave their fans little to cheer about, the Ravens were nonetheless impressed by how well they were supported Sunday. "It kind of felt like a home game to be honest," Jefferson said … Former Ravens Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Jonathan Ogden and Steve Smith Sr. were on the field before the game.
Baltimore Sun reporter Mike Preston contributed to this article.
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/U42R2JE5GNF5JIQKTGUVOOMSSA.jpg)
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/KSH6VKI2IZACJBCSLDXTIXISJE.jpg)
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/N5PPQDYAZFH7RDIKLU2NSC425E.jpg)
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/AENFLVIPDRDBLI6YNIWGFAR3QU.jpg)
:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/TXBO53CTWREBDP2UX5V2427IJM.jpg)