OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- A day after the Baltimore Ravens' 26-23 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, a composed John Harbaugh spoke to reporters for 28 minutes about the long list of issues surrounding his team.
The Ravens are dejected. They're a little stunned. But, as far as they've shown publicly, no one is panicking despite Baltimore being 0-2 for the first time in nine years.
"I've heard it said [that] the NFL season is a race to improve, to become the best team that you can over the course of the long haul," Harbaugh said. "The race is a marathon, and we have to try to continue to improve as much as we can every single day. We need to keep pounding the rock and the rock is going to crack."
This has been a teamwide breakdown. The revamped offensive line, which has been the team's biggest question mark, has struggled to create holes in the run game and has failed to hold up in pass protection. In their home opener, running back Derrick Henry averaged 2.61 rushing yards before contact, while quarterback Lamar Jackson was sacked twice.
The defense, which was among the most dominant last year, has allowed the most passing yards in the league (514) under new coordinator Zachary Orr, including 233 against the Raiders.
The usually strong special teams have floundered, from Justin Tucker's 56-yard miss to Jordan Stout's 24-yard punt in the fourth quarter. Plus, there has been undisciplined penalties and unsuccessful replay challenges by Harbaugh, which have taken away timeouts that Baltimore needed at the end of games. Two replay challenges failed against the Raiders, one in the first half and another in the second.
"This just felt more self-inflicted," offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley said after the Ravens failed to hold a 10-point fourth quarter lead. "I felt like there [were] many, many opportunities for us to put the nail in the coffin and we just didn't end up doing that."
Eight months ago, the Ravens finished with the best record in the NFL at 13-4. Jackson was in the midst of another NFL Most Valuable Player campaign and Baltimore allowed the fewest points per game on defense (16.5).
Two weeks into this season, the Ravens are one of nine winless teams.
"There's no way we should be 0-2," Ravens middle linebacker Roquan Smith said. "But it is what it is."
Since Jackson took over as the starting quarterback midway through the 2018 season, the biggest stumbling block has been the postseason. Jackson is 2-4 in the playoffs.
After losing to the Kansas City Chiefs and the Raiders, the Ravens understand that getting to the postseason is not guaranteed. Last season, of the nine teams that started 0-2, the Houston Texans were the only team to rebound and advance to the playoffs.
At the start of the 2024 season, Baltimore's chances of reaching the postseason were 78.5%, according to ESPN Research. The odds have dipped to 42.2%.
"We've been here before with our backs up against the wall, and that's never stopped us," Ravens tight end Mark Andrews said. "So, I'm excited about going forward and playing the next games."
Here's a closer look at what Baltimore needs to fix to get back on track:
Offensive line woes
After Las Vegas tied the game at 23 in the fourth quarter, Jackson got the ball back with 3:54 remaining. But any hope of taking back the lead was quickly squashed. On first down, Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby beat right guard Daniel Faalele to the inside and sacked Jackson, driving him into the ground.
"When you put a young group of guys out there, young players at any position, especially it the offensive line, there are going to be growing pains," Harbaugh said.
Baltimore's revamped offensive line has caused major pains for Jackson and the running game. This offseason, the Ravens made the decision to go younger up front with Andrew Vorhees, 25, at left guard, Faalele, 24, at right guard and Patrick Mekari, 27, at right tackle. It looks like rookie second-round pick Roger Rosengarten could take over at right tackle, and there have been increasing questions about whether Faalele will get benched.
In two games, Jackson has been pressured on 28 of his dropbacks, tied for fourth with New England Patriots' Jacoby Brissett and New York Giants' Daniel Jones. Only Tennessee Titans' Will Levis (29), Denver Broncos' Bo Nix (30) and Cleveland Browns' Deshaun Watson (35) have been pressured more.
Henry is not getting many open lanes, averaging 2.32 yards before first contact. That ranks 26th in the NFL.
"You talk about the offensive line, I think that's a fair evaluation, it's inconsistent," Harbaugh said. "It's almost randomly inconsistent."
The Ravens parted ways with experienced right guard Kevin Zeitler and right tackle Morgan Moses because they wore down toward the end of last season. With Jackson being one of the highest paid players in the NFL, Baltimore couldn't sign comparable free agents to replace them and needed to rely on developing draft picks.
Then, longtime offensive line coach Joe D'Alessandris died this summer. George Warhop, the new offensive line coach, was hired 22 days before the season opener.
"No matter what line I've been on in my previous seasons here, we've always gotten better throughout the season," Stanley said. "That's going to continue to happen with the line we have now -- it's going to continue to get better."
Inconsistent secondary
The Ravens thought they had quarterback Gardner Minshew and the Raiders where they wanted them. With 11:00 remaining in the fourth quarter, Las Vegas faced a second-and-20 from its own 35-yard line.
But the Baltimore secondary allowed Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams to move Las Vegas 56 yards downfield on the next two plays. Adams caught a 26-yard pass over the middle and then made a spectacular grab along the sideline for 30 yards, setting up a field goal to keep Las Vegas in the game.
"The secondary overall is on track, but we're not consistent," Harbaugh said. "The fade ball on the left sideline to Adams, that's well played. That's an offense making a really good play. There's other plays where we don't play it as well as we could; we're not in position, [or] we don't see it quite the same way, [or] we react a little late."
Last season, the Ravens allowed the fewest pass yards per attempt (5.9). This season, they are allowing 8.6, tied for third most in the NFL.
This is essentially the same secondary as a year ago with starting cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey and Brandon Stephens and safeties Kyle Hamilton and Marcus Williams. The biggest departures were in the coaching staff. Mike Macdonald, the Ravens' defensive coordinator last season, is the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, and Dennard Wilson, Baltimore's defensive backs coach a year ago, is the defensive coordinator for the Titans.
"Everybody takes responsibility for pass defense, across the board," Harbaugh said. "And this past game, we have a 10-point lead; it's on all of us as a team to maintain that lead. Giving up a fourth-quarter lead is never OK -- it's not acceptable; it should never happen."
Can Tucker bounce back?
It's going bad for the Ravens when the most accurate kicker in NFL history is no longer a sure thing.
Tucker was wide left on a 56-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter Sunday. He's 0-for-2 from 50 yards or longer this season and he's 1-of-7 from that distance over the last two years.
"As simply as I can put it, it's not my favorite topic of discussion, but I just missed the kick," Tucker said. "When I go out on the field, I'm confident that I'm going to nail every single kick, no matter where we are on the field.
"[I] left three points out there that we certainly could have used down the stretch in this game, but at the exact same time, trying to overanalyze or dwell on a mistake or a performance that is not up to our collective standard."
It was three years ago when Tucker set the NFL record with a game-winning, 66-yard field goal in Detroit. Tucker, 34, is still No. 1 all-time in field-goal percentage among those with at least 100 attempts, converting 89.8% of his tries (397-of-442). On Sunday, he hit field goals from 32, 42 and 48 yards.
"[We have the] utmost confidence in Justin, absolutely," Harbaugh said. "[We have the] utmost confidence in him to send him out there every time we need a kick, and [we have] the utmost confidence that he's going to be the best at it and do a great job and do what he does. He's our guy. We believe in Justin, for sure."
Tucker, who is the only player left from the 2015 Ravens team that started 0-2, had a message to his teammates: Trust the process.
"We've had experiences in the past where we've had to really grind to get going, or we really had to slug it out to get our first win," Tucker said. "But this team is too talented, too hard-working with the leadership that we have in the locker room and all throughout our coaching staff. We have every reason to be confident."