The Baltimore Ravens’ five-game winning streak came to an end with a 29-24 road loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, and the worst part is it was entirely preventable.
There were no shortage of self-inflicted wounds, but none bigger than the many, many dropped balls throughout the day.
Several of said drops came on defense, which continued an unfortunate trend throughout the season. Two of those drops would’ve been easy interceptions by veteran safety Eddie Jackson, who took ownership after the game.
“[I] just have to come down with it. [I] just have to continue to work on it [and] see the ball through,” Jackson said postgame. “It’s like a funk right now. Like I said, there’s no big theory behind it, [I] just have to catch the ball. It sounds crazy, but I just have to come up with them.”
However, the most costly drop of all came from star safety Kyle Hamilton, normally one of the most dependable players on the defense. With just over a minute to go, Hamilton had a perfect opporunity to end the game, only for the ball to slip right out of his hands. On the very next play, Jameis Winston hit a wide-open Cedric Tillman for Cleveland’s go-ahead touchdown.
Don’t worry, because the offense had more than its fair share of drops as well. The most egrigious one came from wide receiver Rashod Bateman, who dropped a wide open deep pass from on a third and 14.
“No, I saw the ball all the way up to the last minute, and then the ball went directly into the sun,” Bateman said. “I can’t do anything about that, so God just got me on that one, I guess. That’s all I can say.”
In a lot of cases, it feels like the Ravens beat themselves more than their opponent beats them, and that certainly felt like the case on Sunday. Not to take away from how well Cleveland played, but if even just one or two of these drops go differently, Baltimore probably wins.
At the end of the day, it’s a a costly lesson for a good, but flawed team.
“We definitely have had our opportunities,” Jackson said. “We had some opportunities in this game, even late in the fourth to end it. But it’s tough – we just have to capitalize when we get our hands on the ball – that [would] give us an opportunity to get off the field and give our offense the ball back.”
