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Multiple things can be true about the 2025 Ravens:

  1. This team can still win the AFC North. Given the general volatility of the Steelers, the Bengals putting themselves in too deep of a hole and the Browns being, well, the Browns, Baltimore can still win the division and make the playoffs. If it beats Cincinnati on Sunday and then takes down the Steelers in Week 18, The Athletic gives Baltimore a 79% chance of making the postseason. All of this seems doable! However, that leads me to my second point:
  2. This is a very flawed football team. The 2025 version of the Ravens feels toothless in a lot of areas. With the mentioned division games left and tilts against the Patriots and Packers still on the schedule, Baltimore and head coach John Harbaugh are running out of time to find the answers to their problems, and it could lead to some serious soul searching in the offseason.

Offense stuck without Lamar at full strength

Perhaps the most baffling thing about the Ravens this season has been how inept the offense has looked at times. 

Since Lamar Jackson's return from injury, their points per drive have dropped to 1.96, just above the Chargers, who are starting you and me on the offensive line. Their drive score percentage (percentage of drives that end with a touchdown or field goal) is tied with the Texans, who are still struggling to find themselves offensively. Their EPA per play is tied with the Cardinals, who have Jacoby Brissett at quarterback. 

The vibes are in shambles for this Ravens offense, and there's not a lot of time to turn it around for a playoff push.

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Lamar Jackson
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Where I think the first issue within the Ravens offense lies is simple: despite being back, Jackson isn't healthy. It's evidenced by not only the amount he's scrambling, but also how effective he is. 

According to NFL Pro, Jackson has scrambled on 16.9% of his dropbacks this season, the lowest output of his career. In addition, since returning from injury he's only had 4.6 carries per game between designed runs and scrambles, well below his career average of 8.9. Across the entire season, his designed run rate has been the lowest since Todd Monken took over as offensive coordinator, a sign that he just might not be fully back yet.

The Ravens' entire offensive ecosystem is reliant on Jackson's legs -- not only to move the football himself, but the gravity he has as a runner opens lanes for Derrick Henry and opens up the rolodex of plays for Monken. You can call longer developing, explosive passes with Jackson using his legs, because he can buy himself time with his mobility. 

Without Jackson's legs, the margin for error in this offense gets razor thin, and it shows you just how much Jackson props up this entire unit. The offensive line only replaced one starter from last year (left guard Andrew Vorhees replaced Kevin Zeitler), but regression across the board has limited their capabilities in the run and passing game. Baltimore's 1.85 yards before contact per rush is the lowest mark of the Monken era, and you can really feel it when they get into the red zone. 

Because the Ravens lack physicality up front, they can't displace people like they did in 2024, making red zone trips a LOT harder. This season, only 44.9% of the Ravens' red zone drives end in a touchdown, 30th in the NFL. Their rushing success rate in the red zone is 27th in the NFL, unbecoming of a team with Jackson and Henry. 

Most of the time, these runs look like this: Baltimore is trying to run outside zone to the right, with tight end Mark Andrews releasing to the second level. However, right guard Daniel Faalele can't sustain his block, and the play ends up only gaining one yard.

The passing game has also suffered from the ineffectiveness of the offensive line, taking explosives off the field because of quick pressures up the middle. This should be an explosive, the perfect play against Inverted Cover 2. Instead, Faalele oversets and gives up a quick pressure and Jackson is forced to check it down.

AFC North playoff race, scenarios, odds: Why Steelers have major edge on Ravens with four weeks to go
Zachary Pereles
AFC North playoff race, scenarios, odds: Why Steelers have major edge on Ravens with four weeks to go

Defense plagued by explosive plays and no pass rush

Flipping it to the other side of the ball, the Ravens are simply bad on defense this year, giving up far too many explosives. On Sunday, Aaron Rodgers -- who is tied with Browns rookie Dillon Gabriel for the lowest air yards per attempt of qualifying NFL QBs -- had four completions of 20 or more air yards against the Ravens' defense. The last time he had a game with that many explosive passes was November of 2020 against the Lions. Baltimore has given up 53 plays of 20 yards or more this season, fifth-most in the NFL. Only the Bengals, Bears and Lions have given up more passes of 20 or more yards this season. 

According to TruMedia, defensive success rate quantifies how often you keep a team from gaining at least 50% of yards gained on first and second down and then preventing a first down on third and fourth. The Ravens are actually ninth in defensive success rate, meaning they don't allow teams to move the ball consistently on them. However, Sumer Sports has them ranked 22nd in EPA per play, simply because they allow so many big plays. 

Why they allow so many explosives is twofold.

The first is that there's no pass rush. According to TruMedia, the Ravens' team pressure rate of 30.4% is the lowest it's been in three years, the effect of not having Pro Bowl defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike on the field. Kyle Van Noy is finally looking his age, rookie Mike Green still hasn't found his footing, and the defensive line depth took a hit after the Odafe Oweh trade.

Playing against Rodgers will always make a pass rush look lackluster given his razor quick time to throw, but Rodgers was also creating outside of the pocket and had a lot of time to shred the Ravens' pass coverage. The Ravens actually have this perfectly covered, but because Rodgers is afforded enough time because of the pass rush not getting home, he finds DK Metcalf for an explosive pass.

Because of their lack of pass rush, defensive coordinator Zach Orr has to blitz much more often than his predecessor, Mike Macdonald. The Ravens' 26.1% blitz rate is the highest it's been since 2022, often having to use Kyle Hamilton and Marlon Humphrey as blitzers to force the issue against quarterbacks.

That opens up the next reason why they give up so many big plays: there are busted coverages every week. Under Orr, it feels like they haven't been as in sync as they need to be, and you see a lot of big plays given up as a result. Third-and-4 with the chance to get off the field down four points, and they just fail to cover running back Jaylen Warren out of the backfield and he runs into the end zone untouched.

What doesn't get noticed on the TV copy, however, is that tight end Pat Freiermuth is ALSO open by a wide margin, and could've also been hit for a touchdown. A monumental coverage bust in the moment the Ravens needed to be the most on point.

Coaching concerns are coming to the forefront

On both sides of the ball, the Ravens lack the focus of a championship team. Coverage busts, drops at inopportune times and the lack of any bite up front could potentially sink this team's playoff hopes.

The lack of focus falls on the coaching, which is where the Ravens may have to ask themselves some tough questions after the season. 

Now, I'm not calling for John Harbaugh's job yet, but if this team misses the playoffs given the way they've looked all season, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that Harbaugh is no longer the leader of the Ravens.

To put it simply, the time to figure things out for Baltimore is over. If it can't get wins right now, someone has to pay the bill.