The Baltimore Ravens failed by a hair’s breadth at the playoffs last season. The bitter end to the launch of the Free Agency is still in our minds: The offense needs a new face, but at the same time we are in a difficult starting position – the Ravens are in a bad cap situation. What is the future of John Harbaugh and Joe Flacco and how will the good defense remain in its constellation?
“I’ve been a Raven for fifteen years now,”said Terrell Suggs minutes after it was clear that Baltimore had missed the playoffs on the last day of the match,”This is the most shocking defeat I’ve experienced here. I will never forget her!”
Suggs was certainly not the only one whose mood was very low after the bitter final. A 44-second breakdown in their own secondary produced a 49-yard touchdown of the Cincinnati Bengals, resulting in a 27:31 defeat for the Ravens – which meant surprisingly missing the playoffs.
In 2017, the Ravens were one of the more consistent teams and, thanks to their usual strength on the defensive side of the ball, they did their homework reliably. Before the last matchday, they only had one defeat against a team that was not represented in the playoffs later on. In a weak AFC, this was almost enough for the playoffs. But only almost.
At the end of the day, as in the previous year, it was the very reliable defence that collapsed at the decisive moment. In 2016, where 21 eligible points in the fourth quarter of the post-season duel against Pittsburgh in 2016 meant that it was once again the defensive game that failed to hold its own at the decisive moment.
“A sober head coach John Harbaugh said after the bankruptcy,” The game is a little bit like the course of our season, but we have fought our way back, but in the end we don’t manage to finish the game. It can’t get any harder.”
Harbaughs Persona was discussed despite his impressive overall record of 94 victories and 66 defeats at the Ravens. Owner Steve Bisciotti even confirmed at the annual “State of the Ravens”press conference shortly after the season that dismissal was “definitely being considered”. The reason for this is the missing of the playoffs, for the third time in a row.
It is now clear that Harbaugh will be back for an eleventh season. An improvement can come under Harbaugh, according to the evaluation of the franchise. Maybe it just needs more luck. For example, with regard to injuries.
The Ravens have placed 17 players on the Injured Reserved list this past season. Among them were important pillars such as Guard Marshal Yanda and Cornerback Jimmy Smith early in the year. Last year Baltimore listed 271 players as abstainers due to the IR mention. A mark that represents a peak over the last six years.
Even before the season, Alex Lewis and Nico Siragusa lost the offensive line of the Ravens. In week two the injury of Yanda was added and yet there were ways to keep the line competitive through different combinations. From the second half of the season at the latest, the O-Line of the Ravens was again among the better of the league. Football Outsiders lists the Ravens-O-Line in Run-Blocking even on the league sixth place with 4.36 Adjusted Line Yards.
Injuries are therefore not the only problem with which the Ravens have fought. The difficulties in moving the offense did not only have injuries as a cause. In Baltimore they point out the predictable play-calling, the generally slow offense and the progressive loss of performance of quarterback Joe Flacco. Some mention Running Back Alex Collins as the only bright spot in the offense.
Flacco, for his part, has certainly not had the best season of his career. After nine games there were 1,551 passing yards, eight touchdowns and ten interceptions, the yards scored per successful pass attempt at 5.33 were the worst value of all quarterbacks at that time.
His play was marked by inaccuracies and Flacco was certainly one of the reasons why offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg was over-cautious week after week. Fairly enough, however, one must also mention here that the receiving corps provided little support: Breshad Perriman, Benjamin Watson, Mike Wallace and Jeremy Maclin were all unable to convince and are now facing an uncertain future.
Flacco rehabilitated himself in the second half of the season at least to some extent and looked more like the quarterback that had been missing for three years. The ever better functioning running game around Collins opened up possibilities for play action. Downfield passing attempts increased with increasing self-confidence, as did his numbers: he ended the year with 3,141 passing yards, 18 touchdowns and eleven interceptions.
Nevertheless, Flacco remains a point of contention. The mega-contract signed in 2013 has meanwhile been extended by three years at changed conditions – the Ravens consider the first financially reasonable exit option to be after the 2019 season. Flacco carries a cap hit of 24.75 million dollars with him in 2018 and sees guarantees of 44 million dollars in his working paper.
His price-performance ratio is more than debatable for the team with the current fourth-lowest cap space of the league, but Baltimore’s hands are tied: 28.7 million dollars dead cap would remain in this release, 16 million would be there next year and no team will trade for Flacco with this contract. For the time being, the Ravens will probably or badly continue to arrange themselves with the fact that Flacco needs to be supported as much as possible and that the defense has to carry the team decisively.
All this also means that the Ravens are confronted with some difficult free agency decisions. Perriman’s option for a fifth year could be waived due to the lack of an increase in performance. There is also the possibility to part with contract options from Maclin, Cornerback Brandon Carr and Right Tackle Austin Howard. This would generate a total of twelve million dollars.
This is a big problem of the Ravens: The wide receiver position. In the Free Agency, Allen Robinson and Sammy Watkins could enter the market depending on how the jaguars and rams deal with them.
One will probably also observe how the Dallas Cowboys behave in the case of Dez Bryant and the Green Bay Packers with Jordy Nelson. Both would be players after a cut of the respective teams, who are also not available at favorable conditions. Jarvis Landry is also traded as a possible trade candidate in Baltimore. The draft, on the other hand, is not as well occupied this year, at least in the receiver tip, as some of the past few years.
Baltimore will also be strengthening the Interior Offensive Line. The Ravens will most likely do without Ryan Jensen and James Hurst. In addition, there is a lack of clarity due to the many serious injuries, while Yanda turns 34 in September.
Meanwhile, the future of the Defense’s face should be less unclear: The Ravens will be used at C. J. Mosley will definitely want to take the option for the fifth year in any case and also want to agree on a long-term contract as soon as possible. Mosley made it to the Pro Bowl for the third time this year.
On the defensive side, one could say goodbye to Safety Lardarius Webb and Cornerback Brandon Carr. These measures would also result in savings of just under six million dollars. Furthermore, the future of Suggs is not entirely clear. The linebacker tends to come back, but will have to prepare for a new defensive coordinator.
In the future, Don Martindale will hold the strings at Ravens-D in his hands. He doesn’t have much to change here: Baltimore has a lot of talent on both outside-linebacker positions. Apart from Suggs, Matt Judon also plays excellently and so you shouldn’t change the personal constellation and the 3-4 formation. The Secondary also belongs to the top of the league with Eric Weddle, Tony Jefferson, Marlon Humphrey and a fit Smith.
Although the Ravens’ defences were never bad under Defensive Coordinator Dean Pees, they tended not to be able to withstand pressure situations in important moments. Martindale must also do psychological work and give the young players the confidence they need in such situations. At the same time, it is also necessary to initiate or drive forward change in various positions.
Situations like those against Cincinnati in the last minute must not happen again if a team is dependent on one side of the ball as its centrepiece. And not even if you want to achieve high goals, as Weddle puts it:”We have improved a lot in my two years here. The next step is to go into the playoffs. No: To win the division and go into the playoffs!”