The Ravens’ glaring mistakes flare up against the Bengals as a major looming concern

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BALTIMORE – John Harbaugh wanted to congratulate Ja’Marr Chase on his extraordinary effort Thursday night.

“I looked for him after the game and I couldn’t find him,” he said Baltimore Ravens coach shortly after his team posted a 35-34 victory over Chase’s Cincinnati Bengals.

Harbaugh then briefly paused in a comedic moment of collective self-awareness before adding, “I think it was appropriate.”

The response drew laughs from reporters in the M&T Bank Stadium press room after a hard-fought victory. But Harbaugh also knows that his team’s glaring mistakes might not be a laughing matter.

The Ravens became the third AFC team to seven wins this season with the win. Their offense entered the night averaging 7.13 yards per carry. game — the second-highest in NFL history through nine games — and put on another show with 28 second-half points and four touchdown passes from quarterback Lamar Jackson, who continues to polish his recent MVP resume. .

But a game the Ravens promoted with a “Purple Rising” theme — a nod to their new alternate helmets — proved quite fitting for a defense that was crushed, beaten and maybe even exposed by the Bengals.

Chase, clearly Cincinnati’s primary offensive weapon — and especially on a night when fellow wideout Tee Higgins was inactive with a quad injury — constantly ran through and past Ravens defenders and racked up 11 catches for 264 yards and three scores, including a 67- and 70-yarders. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow passed for 428 yards and threw a fourth TD to tight end Tanner Hudson.

“It’s just not our standard of defense and we know it,” Pro Bowl defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike said.

“We’re going to find ways in practice to improve and get better, and I know guys in that locker room feel the same way I do, and we’re going to get that done.”

Still, it wasn’t just a bad night at the office. It’s a worrying pattern. The Ravens began Thursday ranked last in the league in pass defense. Then the Bengals gained 421 yards through the air – 50 more than Baltimore’s previous worst performance in 2024.

Cincinnati attacked without fear, Burrow repeatedly targeting and often connecting with Chase on long gainers. The Bengals scored touchdowns on all three of their red zone drives, chose to go for it on fourth down four times and gained 470 yards of offense.

The Ravens’ penchant for self-sabotage included prolonging Cincinnati drives with untimely penalties, one of which was the defensive team’s call on cornerback Brandon Stephens on fourth-and-goal on the game’s opening possession. Running back Chase Brown ran for a touchdown on the next play.

Stephens had a particularly rough night, just missing an interception at the end when his foot clipped the sideline. He also tried to cover Chase on the 70-yard bomb, but didn’t seem to get the inside safety help he expected. To Stephens’ credit, he answered every question that was asked after him.

“We’ve got to go look at the film, see what it was, but just a coverage,” he said of Chase’s biggest play.

“Honestly, man, we can’t afford mistakes. We can’t afford lack of coverage, lack of communication — it costs us big plays. They expose our mistakes.”

Further complicating matters was the ankle injury suffered by All-Pro defensive back Kyle Hamilton late in the second quarter. He was in street clothes after halftime, though Harbaugh didn’t seem too concerned about it after the game.

But he should be concerned about the downward defensive trend.

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These Ravens can score almost at will, their 31.8 points per game. game average is the AFC’s best. But Thursday’s win was nonetheless their fourth to come within a score.

And when Baltimore starts running into better defensive teams than Cincinnati — and the Ravens will hit the road to play the Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Chargers in their next two games — they’ll likely find that the offense can’t save them every time. turn, just as it couldn’t against the defensive-minded Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in last season’s AFC Championship Game.

“(We) have to turn every stone on it as a defensive staff and we have to figure out a way to stop those plays from happening,” Harbaugh said, “because they shouldn’t be happening.”

In fairness, this is a unit with a rookie coordinator in Zach Orr, and one that lost several key pieces in free agency — to say nothing of Orr’s predecessor, Mike Macdonald, now the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. It probably wasn’t realistic to expect Baltimore to once again give up the fewest points in the league like it did in 2023.

Still, there were positive signs Thursday.

Madubuike constantly harassed Burrow, sacking him three times after entering the game with just a pair on the season. Down 21-7 in the third quarter, cornerback Marlon Humphrey stripped Brown for a crucial fumble that led to an ensuing touchdown and sparked Baltimore’s comeback. And with the game hanging in the balance, the Ravens held strong — and you could argue the refs held their flags, too — in the final minute as Cincinnati failed to convert what would have been a clear two-point conversion.

But if those are building blocks for improvement, Harbaugh knows there’s extensive work to be done if Baltimore is going to overtake the first-place Steelers in the division and, down the road, potentially wrest the Lombardi Trophy from Kansas City.

“It’s not the standard,” said Harbaugh, sounding like Pittsburgh counterpart Mike Tomlin.

“We’ve got to be a lot better. We’ve also got to take the pressure off our offense. We’re committed to doing that on the defensive end. But for them to keep fighting like they did and find a way to win the game – in the end, that’s really what’s important.”

Especially if Harbaugh and the Ravens want confetti for them after the final game of the season.

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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.