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The Ravens beat the Tennessee Titans 24-18 but lost quarterback Lamar Jackson to an ankle injury. Mounting health woes are threatening the stability of a 3-1 would-be contender. Here are five things we learned from Sunday’s game.
Lamar Jackson’s injury transformed a comfortable win into an uncomfortable afternoon
Amid the jubilation inspired by Tyler Loop’s 64-yard field goal to end the first half, few people in M&T Bank Stadium noticed that Jackson had limped off the field after being tackled around the ankles a play earlier.
This unsettling development did not dawn on the home crowd until the Ravens emerged from the locker room and Tyler Huntley was the one taking warmup snaps from center Vega Ioane. Jackson came out moments later, still in uniform but wearing a winter beanie instead of a helmet.
Thus the Ravens stepped back onto the same anxious treadmill that loomed over their wildly disappointing 2025 season. Baltimore fans know the agony of wondering every week whether their team’s defining figure is well enough to play. It’s simple: The Ravens without Jackson bear no resemblance to the Ravens with him. This was terrifyingly plain Sunday when their offense went from inextinguishable in the first half to incompetent in the third quarter.
We’re right back to guessing which version we’re going to get for the remainder of a long season.
That it happened on a day when they were handling their business against an overmatched opponent felt cruel, but really, there is no good time.
The best-case scenario is that Jackson, who paced the sideline for much of the second half, might have been able to stay in a higher-stakes game. Perhaps the Ravens simply chose caution on an afternoon when they were likely to win regardless.
Coach Jesse Minter didn’t offer any detail on Jackson’s condition other than to say team officials at least discussed whether he could play in the second half. The two-time NFL Most Valuable Player left the stadium wearing a walking boot to protect his ankle.
Even if he’s back sooner rather than later, the fear will linger that a hurting Jackson won’t be able to stress defenses as a runner. We saw that last season, when he averaged a career-low 5.2 rushing attempts per game. A lesser Jackson is better than no Jackson, but the Ravens need the authentic item to chase their full potential.
Four weeks in, attrition is gouging at this team’s foundation. In addition to Jackson, guard Andrew Vorhees, tight end Durham Smythe and cornerback Marlon Humphrey departed the game, leaving the Ravens dangerously thin at multiple positions.
The parade of afflictions sucked the joy from a day that was shaping up to be a celebration of the Ravens’ renewed ability to win on their home field. From Jackson’s brilliant connections with Zay Flowers to Loop’s field goal, the longest in the history of the stadium, they were on their way to trouncing the Titans.
The Ravens had not won at home since besting the lowly New York Jets four days before last Thanksgiving. Their next two games, in Atlanta and Cleveland, no longer look as cakey as they did going into the season, so banking a win against offensively challenged Tennessee was a must.
They checked that box, but what should have felt like easy work transformed into a gloomy spectacle, not just because of the injuries but because of 131 penalty yards and the Huntley-led offense’s inability to complete a drive.
Vega Ioane did fine in his first start at the center of a line facing a slew of destabilizing injuries
The concern wasn’t Ioane’s ability to handle All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, who does most of his damage against guards. It was the domino effect created by the rookie’s position shift, which forced the Ravens to rely on Vorhees, a major culprit in the team’s 2025 blocking woes. Would a guard tandem of Vorhees and John Simpson hold up against a gnarly interior defense? Would Ioane keep the operation running smoothly as a novice starter?
Ioane handled his difficult assignment more than adequately, though he was hard on himself afterward for imperfections in his snapping and handling of the offense’s cadence.
“I think he’s done great,” Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley said. “I think that’s one of the hardest positions to play mentally and, communication-wise, you have to be able to control the field and talk to both sides of the line. I thought he did a great job physically but also mentally, understanding the concept of each play and being able to direct traffic either way.”
Minter agreed, saying the offensive line as a group would want some plays back, especially in run blocking, but that for Ioane, “I bet you the film will probably look pretty good from his regard.”
Even if the rookie’s destiny lies at guard, he’s given every indication he could be the team’s best solution at center for the remainder of this season, a credit to his talent and adaptability.
The problem is that injuries — they’re now down three centers and a key reserve in Vorhees — have destabilized a unit that the Ravens hoped would be much improved from 2025. Vorhees struggled on the 28 snaps he played, and the next man up, 2025 third-round pick Emery Jones Jr., has yet to convince coaches he can be a reliable starter.
“It’s very challenging,” said Stanley, who returned Sunday after a toe injury sidelined him the previous week in Brazil. “But I think that’s what preparation is for. The week-in, week-out stuff has prepared us for those moments and put each player in a situation where, when they get out there, it’s not a surprise.”
The Ravens have no choice but to look at it that way. The offensive line might be the hardest position group to bolster in season. No team seems to have enough proven blockers.
At least Ioane helped the Ravens avoid an all-out crisis by taking on his unfamiliar role with aplomb.
Without their best pass rusher, the Ravens couldn’t get a struggling quarterback to the ground
The injured extremity we expected to talk about Sunday was Trey Hendrickson’s finger, which he had surgically repaired last week. How would a Baltimore pass rush that had failed to slam the door the previous two weeks look without its most dynamic performer?
The answer turned out to be incomplete, because the Titans and their skittish second-year quarterback, Cam Ward, weren’t equipped to provide a four-quarter test.
There was good news. Nnamdi Madubuike, who had at least three hurries, according to Pro Football Focus’ in-game tracking, has returned from his neck injury as a steady force inside. Second-year outside linebacker Mike Green, whose snap share increased in Hendrickson’s absence, delivered his most productive game of the season, with multiple hurries and quarterback hits. Rookie Ethan Burke recorded his first career sack on a dogged rush up the middle.
But the Ravens again struggled terribly to get an opposing quarterback to the ground, finishing with just that one sack and losing contain on a 22-yard Ward scramble late in the fourth quarter. We could chalk it up to a conservative game plan against a team that couldn’t hurt them in chunks. But the fact remains that one of the league’s worst offenses drove 70 yards against the Baltimore defense in the closing minutes of a game that should never have gotten tense.
The Ravens aren’t terrorizing anyone right now.
“I thought there were a lot of plays where we affected the quarterback,” Minter said. “We didn’t finish our pass rush the way that we were capable of. When you get a game like that, a lead like that, there are a lot of plays where we’re close. He’s in our grasp or he’s rolling away, throwing the ball away. … I thought we rushed OK, but again, we need to strive so that hopefully, down the road, that type of game is a four-, five-, six-sack type of game.”
Flowers’ evolving partnership with Jackson is the best reason to remain excited about this team
Jackson badly overshot an open Mark Andrews in the end zone on the Ravens’ first drive, setting up an early test of the team’s struggling short-yardage offense. On fourth-and-1 from the Tennessee 5-yard line, coordinator Declan Doyle did not hesitate to call Derrick Henry’s number a week after the superstar runner was stuffed repeatedly in similar situations.
“I can’t stop thinking about them,” Henry said of those failures. But he quickly put them to bed against his former team, powering through contact to pick up not just the first down but his seventh touchdown of the season.
From there, Henry’s day turned frustrating. He averaged just 3.2 yards on 23 carries behind inconsistent run blocking.
Instead of ground-and-pounding the Titans, the Ravens again built their advantage with Doyle’s cherished explosive plays. And it’s abundantly clear after four weeks that Flowers is the straw that stirs the drink when this team moves in chunks.
In the second quarter, Jackson spotted his favorite target one-on-one with Titans linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. and whipped the ball to a spot where only Flowers could catch it. Flowers thought he was held; he nonetheless snatched the ball, turned upfield in a blink and sprinted for a 19-yard touchdown.
On the Ravens’ next drive, Jackson popped the top off Tennessee’s defense with a 52-yard bomb to Flowers that set up an easy touchdown toss to Andrews.
Early in his career, Flowers scared teams mostly by catching passes close to the line of scrimmage and adding yards after the catch. His average depth of target in 2023 was only 8.4 yards. That was up to 12.2 this season going into Sunday’s game.
Flowers is still a menace when he takes a jet sweep handoff from Jackson and accelerates toward the edge of the defense, as he did in setting up Henry’s early touchdown. But he’s now a nightmare to cover for every layer of the defense. The prospect of watching him and Jackson play high-speed chess at Doyle’s direction is probably the greatest reason to feel optimistic about this team.
The magic vanished when Huntley entered. After catching six passes for 119 yards in the first half, Flowers caught two for -1 yard in the second.
Overly protective officiating has made it too onerous to play defense in the NFL of 2026
What exactly was Kyle Hamilton supposed to do? Ward took the snap and dropped back as if to pass. His blockers fired off their marks. Hamilton blew around the right edge, made a clean hit to Ward’s chest and offered his hand to help the Tennessee quarterback to his feet. Nothing dirty to see there.
Only the Titans had called a timeout a split-second before the snap and Hamilton did not hear an official’s whistle over the sound and fury of a typical NFL third down. What appeared to be a sack turned into an unnecessary roughness penalty on Hamilton and a massive assist to the Titans’ scoring chances (the Ravens ultimately stopped them near the goal line). The home fans reacted with their angriest serenade of the young season.
The call against Hamilton was only the latest illustration of how maddening it is to play defense in the NFL of 2026. A week earlier, it was cornerback Nate Wiggins, called for pass interference when he was the one pulled to the turf at a critical juncture of the Ravens’ victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
So many of the costliest flags in the modern game — interference, roughing — lean toward protecting a quarterback or wide receiver. Defenders simply throw up their hands at the injustice of it all, understanding the best they can do is move on to the next play.
“The rules have been adjusted for safety but also for the benefit of the business of the game,” defensive elder statesman Calais Campbell said. “When people are scoring touchdowns, I think more people watch the game. It’s good business, but it sucks for us on defense. That was a tough call. I didn’t hear a whistle on that play. I’m sure Kyle didn’t hear a whistle, because he would have stopped. If I was in that situation, I would’ve done the same thing.”
Points are fun, and honest attempts to improve player safety are essential to the future of the sport, but we can tell the truth here. The balance has shifted too far toward offense. The 2000 Ravens defense, so revered, could not exist a quarter of a century later. Not even close. It would be buried in yellow flags week after week.
Baltimore defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, drafted to the team as a defensive end in 2002, was recently asked about this sea change.
“I would have much rather had this role in 1998, where you can hit guys all over the field and attack quarterbacks and intimidate through violence,” he said. “But I understand the safety rules that have been instituted to protect players, which I think are obviously important. You just adjust and adapt, right? You adjust and adapt. It’s certainly more challenging.”
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