Adding Injury to Insult in Ravens 44-7 Loss to JAX

As if the collective embarrassment of laying a big egg in London wasn’t bad enough, the Ravens got pounded in the injury department.

They lost another key player to a long-term injury, as defensive end Brent Urbansuffered a Lisfranc foot injury in Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He will require surgery.

The Ravens will now likely turn to second-year defensive end Bronson Kaufusi and/or third-round rookie Chris Wormley to take Urban’s spot.

Defensive tackle Willie Henry slid over to fill Urban’s place after he went down trying to stuff a fourth-down run by big-bodied Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette.

If Urban is placed on injured reserve, it will inflate the Ravens’ league-high total to 16 players, and that doesn’t include tight end Dennis Pitta.

By the way, QB Joe Flacco was not injured in London. But he was taken out of the game (when it had gotten so out of hand) to protect him from unnecessary risk.

John Harbaugh pulled his starter at the beginning of the fourth quarter with the Ravens trailing by 44 points. There was no need for him to go on.

Flacco threw for a career-low 28 yards. He completed just eight passes, which is the fewest he’s ever had in a regular-season game in which he was slated to play the entire way.

He threw two interceptions, zero touchdowns and posted a career-low 12.0 quarterback rating.

It wasn’t just Flacco who had a rough go of it.

“We couldn’t complete a pass, we couldn’t get chunks and we couldn’t get first downs,” Flacco said.

“We all traded turns making our bad plays and that leads to big losses and bad football. … You can’t put your finger on one specific thing, but when you go back and watch the tape, there were a bunch of things that weren’t good on our front.”

The entire offense struggled mightily against a talent-rich Jaguars defense. Baltimore posted just 186 net yards after averaging 302 over its first two games. The Ravens got just 12 first downs – half as many as the Jags – and avoided a shutout with a touchdown in the last few minutes.

It was ugly, very ugly.

Wide receivers had passes bounce off their hands and didn’t make any plays down the field.Mike Wallace caught one pass for 6 yards and Jeremy Maclin caught one for 8 yards and spent part of the game in the concussion protocol.

“They had a good game plan,” Maclin said, adding that the Jaguars took away the middle of the field. “It’s our job to adjust and today we didn’t do that.”

Baltimore’s running game, which had been the engine of the offense in the previous two wins, grinded to a halt until late in the game. Terrance West rushed six times for 26 yards and lost a fumble that was nearly returned for a touchdown. Javorius Allen ran eight times for 15 yards.

Alex Collins sparked the Ravens’ only touchdown of the game with nine carries for 82 yards, capped by a 6-yard touchdown pass fromRyan Mallett to tight endBenjamin Watson.

“Nothing went according to plan,” Watson said. “I’ll give their defense credit. They pretty much imposed their will.”

The biggest difference with the offense was that it was missing six-time Pro Bowl guard Marshal Yanda, who went on injured reserve last week with an ankle injury.

Tony Bergstrom, who came in for Yanda last week, was inactive. Matt Skura started and rotated with rookie London native and fifth-round pick Jermaine Eluemunor. Flacco was only sacked twice, but was often on the run.

The Ravens’ 37-point loss matched the largest margin of defeat in the franchise’s 21-year history. Baltimore allowed points on five of the six drives in the first half, and the Ravens didn’t get a first down until four minutes before halftime.

“[The Jaguars] have a good defense,” Flacco said. “I’ve been saying that all week. They play fast, they play hard. They are strong, they’re physical. They create issues for a lot of teams. We weren’t able to get going early. I thought we could probably take some shots outside, but just weren’t able to get it done.”

With a 37-0 lead at the end of the third quarter, the Jaguars pulled off a fake punt that led to their final touchdown of the game. It occurred on fourth-and-1 from the Jacksonville 35-yard line, where Corey Grant took a direct snap and ran 58 yards against an already devastated Baltimore team.

Asked for his reaction to the fake punt, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said, “I don’t have a reaction. It’s the NFL. There’s no reaction to it.”

“We got our butts kicked in all three phases,” Ravens safety Eric Weddle said. “That might be one of the worst losses — if not the worst loss — I’ve ever been a part of.”

Final:

	1	2	3	4	T
BAL	0	0	0	7	7
JAX	10	13	14	7	44

Scoring Summary:

FIRST QUARTER		BAL	JAX
	FG 9:05 Jason Myers 23 Yd Field Goal 9 plays, 58 yards, 4:27	0	3
	TD 3:32 Marcedes Lewis 17 Yd pass from Blake Bortles (Jason Myers Kick) 7 plays, 80 yards, 3:53	0	10
SECOND QUARTER		BAL	JAX
	FG 10:49 Jason Myers 45 Yd Field Goal 10 plays, 34 yards, 6:16	0	13
	TD 4:55 Allen Hurns 5 Yd pass from Blake Bortles (Jason Myers Kick) 8 plays, 28 yards, 3:11	0	20
	FG 0:38 Jason Myers 29 Yd Field Goal 9 plays, 66 yards, 2:15	0	23
THIRD QUARTER		BAL	JAX
	TD 9:42 Marcedes Lewis 30 Yd pass from Blake Bortles (Jason Myers Kick) 2 plays, 32 yards, 0:43	0	30
	TD 7:48 Marcedes Lewis 4 Yd pass from Blake Bortles (Jason Myers Kick) 2 plays, 2 yards, 0:25	0	37
FOURTH QUARTER		BAL	JAX
	TD 14:56 Leonard Fournette 3 Yd Run (Jason Myers Kick) 7 plays, 85 yards, 3:28	0	44
	TD 3:24 Benjamin Watson 6 Yd pass from Ryan Mallett (Justin Tucker Kick) 9 plays, 76 yards, 5:09	7	44

Matchup
1st Downs	12	24
Passing 1st downs	4	13
Rushing 1st downs	6	7
1st downs from penalties	2	4
3rd down efficiency	3-11	3-12
4th down efficiency	0-1	2-2
Total Plays	54	68
Total Yards	186	410
Total Drives	12	13
Yards per Play	3.4	6.0
Passing	52	244
Comp-Att	14-27	20-33
Yards per pass	1.8	7.4
Interceptions thrown	2	0
Sacks-Yards Lost	2-12	0-0