Ravens hold lengthy team meeting to address recent blunders: ‘Fine line between good and great, and breaking bad’

Ravens tight end Mark Andrews said there were too many things going wrong and that the team needs to wake up. Linebacker Patrick Queen called it the same old situation, adding that he’s sick of it.

First, it was the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3, then it was the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

“We should be 5-0, I believe,” quarterback Lamar Jackson said Wednesday from Tottenham Hotspur training ground, where Baltimore is practicing this week ahead of Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans. “We just have to put up the points on the board [and] protect the ball.”

In their loss to the Steelers, the Ravens had seven dropped passes and committed two turnovers — an interception from Jackson and a fumble by running back Justice Hill.

The script was similar against Indianapolis last month when they had four fumbles and lost two of them, with Jackson and running back Kenyan Drake each coughing it up.

There were other similarities between the losses, too. Jackson was sacked in critical moments after holding onto the ball too long, the offense failed to finish off drives, and there were special teams blunders, including a blocked punt for a safety against the Steelers.

The frustration of all the mistakes and missed opportunities led to a 45-minute team meeting Wednesday.

“The message was that, essentially, what we’re capable of doing and becoming and what we need to do to get there,” coach John Harbaugh said. “It’s a fine line between good and great, and breaking bad.

“The idea is, we’re a good football team. We’re capable of being great. Let’s go to work and do the things we need to do — every little detail — to take that next step and become a great football team. You do that week-by-week. It’s a week-to-week league. You don’t, all of a sudden you’re there, and all of a sudden you stay there. You have to do it time and time again.”

Instead, the Ravens have been making the same mistakes time and time again.

It’s why Harbaugh said that the Ravens are holding themselves back offensively with missed opportunities and turnovers, a point that was expressed to the team in the meeting.

“Coaches feel how we’re feeling,” Jackson said. “Every week we had a turnover, whether it was me or someone else. … Our defense is doing a great job, so we need to help them out if anything.”

Indeed.

The Ravens’ 12 fumbles this season are the second most in the NFL behind the Cleveland Browns. Jackson has also thrown two interceptions, compared with four touchdown passes. Baltimore’s 21.8 points per game rank 17th, just behind the Washington Commanders and just ahead of the lowly Arizona Cardinals, who have just one win this season.

Sunday, they scored just 10 points against a Steelers defense that had surrendered an average of 25 points per game through the first four weeks and twice allowed 30.

“Obviously we have to score more than 10 points,” Harbaugh said of the Ravens’ offensive struggles. “That’s something that we’re very capable of doing, and we should’ve done. [We] should’ve separated early in the game, and we didn’t do it because we didn’t do the things we needed to do. We didn’t protect the football. We didn’t score in the red zone. Just too many mistakes, pretty much holding ourselves back.”

Still, when it comes to the dropped passes, Harbaugh said he isn’t worried about that continuing.

“They were a concern on Sunday,” he said. “That was a big part of the game. They don’t need to be a concern going forward, because we need to take care of business in that area. That’s below the line, and that’s what receivers do. They catch the ball. Our guys are going to catch those balls 99 out of 100 times.”

Jackson echoed a similar sentiment and said there wasn’t any need to come down on his teammates, despite Andrews, Rashod Bateman, Zay Flowers and Nelson Agholor all having costly drops against the Steelers.

“It’s self-explanatory,” he said. “I don’t need to say anything. Those guys, they feel they feel how I feel. They want to make a play. We haven’t had that before. It was the first time it happened. It happened in a rival game when we didn’t want it to happen. I believe our guys are locked in right now. They’re going to be better, and so will I.

“I believe we’re headed to the right track. Each and every week, we’ve been having explosive plays, but we haven’t been consistent, and that’s been the biggest emphasis for us right now.”

Yet, it’s the Ravens’ own miscues that have prevented them from being what could’ve been the AFC’s only undefeated team and only the third in the NFL along with the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles.

How do they prevent ones like the interception Jackson threw to Joey Porter Jr. in the end zone late in the fourth quarter against the Steelers?

“I believe it’s just fundamentals,” Jackson said. “Guys just want to make things happen. We were trying to make something happen. … The first thing is to catch the ball, and that’s just what we needed to do. My job is to protect the ball, so when I’m in the pocket, I have to have better pocket presence. It’s just [on] all of us.

“You hate to lose. You’re going to be frustrated, but [we] can’t dwell on it.”

Week 6

Ravens vs. Titans

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

Sunday, 9:30 a.m.

TV: Chs. 11, 4, NFL Network

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

Line: Ravens by 4

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