Ravens have a short-week chance to prove they don’t stink on offense

Dolphins vs. Ravens Thursday, October 26 | 8:25 PM M&T Bank Stadium CBS | NFL Network | Amazon 98 Rock | WBAL-1090 AM

If the Ravens don’t get their offense fixed in time for this Thursday night game, it won’t really matter whether they’re playing the Miami Dolphins or the 1985 Chicago Bears at M&T Bank Stadium. They will lose what’s left of their turnaround hopes and their fan base if they fall to 3-5.

“At 3-4, the Ravens are already clinging to slipping playoff hopes,” wrote The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec. “They are two games behind the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North and only three AFC teams — the Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns — have worse records.”

“A win Thursday and the Ravens would be right in the playoff mix,” Zrebiec wrote. “Only seven of the 16 AFC teams will take a winning record into Week 8. The mass of mediocrity provides hope, as should a relatively favorable schedule.

“After the Dolphins game, the Ravens face the up-and-down Tennessee Titans, and after a bye week, they have a road matchup against the Green Bay Packers, who have lost their franchise quarterback, Aaron Rodgers.”

But like we said above, it doesn’t matter whom they’re playing or who’s without their starting QB anymore if the Ravens offense continues to struggle monumentally as it has over the past few weeks.

Miami is the only NFL offense that’s worse than Baltimore’s 31^st-ranked unit. It’s looking like the Dolphins will be without quarterback Jay Cutler (cracked ribs), whom the team lured out of retirement to replace the injured Ryan Tannehill. Matt Moore should get the start against the Ravens.

“It [the scoring drought] has to stop as quickly as possible and that would lead to this Thursday,” QB Joe Flacco said after Monday’s practice. “We have to get this thing going to the point where we’re putting up points and putting our team in position to win football games. It doesn’t matter how we do it, but we have to find a way.”

I know, those kinds of quotes from Joe are starting to sound very stale.

The Ravens will have to find a way to match the Dolphins’ fiery momentum. The team has been through two quarterback injuries and Hurricane Irma that wreaked havoc on the city, and it’s still 4-2 with a three-game winning streak.

“Resignation might be the Ravens’ biggest opponent at this point,” wrote WNST’s Luke Jones.  “Based on many of the post-game comments, they’re fighting doubts over whether this will improve. Terrell Suggs sounded as despondent as I’ve ever heard him and summed it up by saying, ‘Right now, we stink.’ Indeed.”