Baltimore's offense started with a bang, but finished Sunday's 16-10 loss to the Washington Redskins amidst boos from the home crowd.
The Ravens offense once again struggled, and once again spoiled a strong game by the defense.
For the second straight week, it came against a low-ranked defense. The Redskins entered the game as the No. 29-ranked unit in the league, but held Baltimore to just 306 total yards and shut them out in the second half.
After the game, quarterback Joe Flacco had a litany of descriptions for how he felt, but few explanations for what's going wrong likely because it can't be pinned on any single facet.
"Definitely, definitely not fun out there today after the first series," Flacco said.
The quarterback also said it was "frustrating" and "embarrassing."
"It's embarrassing to run off the field in front of your home fans, in front of your teammates," Flacco said. "Our defense is putting up some awesome fights every week, and we're just running on and off the field, basically."
After the game, the offense was questioned from multiple angles.
There's the passing game not hitting plays down the field. Terrance West and the running game started hot, but didn't get many opportunities in the second half. The banged-up offensive line once again gave up too much pressure. Penalties and drops plagued the unit.
Add it all up, and the Ravens offense hasn't found its footing yet after five weeks.
"I think we have to find our offense," Head Coach John Harbaugh said. "We've had that all year, basically. That's been the story of the season. We can't find continuity on offense."
Baltimore started out with a perfect opening drive. The Ravens went 75 yards on nine plays, featuring a 35-yard run by West and capped off by a 7-yard touchdown catch by tight end Crockett Gillmore.
It was the offense's first touchdown to open a game this season, and gave hope that Baltimore may have finally found its offensive footing.
The Ravens drove again on their third drive, going 67 yards, but settled for a 31-yard field goal at the start of the second quarter. That was the last scoring drive Baltimore mounted.
Baltimore posted back-to-back three-and-outs at end the first half. Flacco was sacked to end the half before he could let loose a Hail Mary.
The Ravens opened the second half with two more three-and-outs, then a four-and-out, three-and-out and four-and-out. Baltimore mounted a comeback drive at the end of the game, but Flacco's potential 23-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Breshad Perriman was overturned when replay showed his foot was out of bounds.
Flacco didn't even get excited when he saw the original ruling of a touchdown on the throw to Perriman. He said he just walked off the field.
"I didn't celebrate at all," Flacco said. "I never really believed it because you know how many things can happen, and you know that's going to get looked at [by replay], so I wanted to kind of hold my emotion until I knew for sure."
The Perriman play was an example of Flacco's playmakers not coming up with the big play for him. Perriman also had a perfect deep pass down the sideline go fall through his hands. Wide receiver Mike Wallace also had a ball bounce off his hands on Flacco's last pass that would have given Baltimore a first down.
The passing game once again didn't take many shots down the field, and often checked down to whoever was underneath. The Ravens lost yardage on multiple passes behind the line of scrimmage, and the dinking-and-dunking is wearing on Flacco.
Asked if he thinks the offense needs to be more aggressive, Flacco said, "probably."
"You've got to be patient, be as patient as you can, and that's tough. I've got to be honest; it's tough," Flacco said. "I'm trying to be as patient as I can today and do all the right things, and when things aren't working out, it is not pretty. It does not feel good to continue to score points.
"Right now, we're playing to win on the last drive or have our defense hold on the last drive, and it's not a good formula."
While taking more shots down the field is one issue, the running game is another. West ran the ball only six times in the final three quarters after gaining 60 yards on five carries in the first quarter. After running the ball 11 times in the first quarter, the Ravens ran it just eight times the rest of the game and didn't run at any point on their final three drives.
"If we only had eight rushes the rest of the game [after the first quarter], then we should have run it," Harbaugh said, though he later said he didn't think the Ravens abandoned the run game.
"You have to move the ball, you have to get first downs. We have to have more plays."
When asked about his limited carries, West said, "that's not my decision."
"I don't call the plays," West said. "We came up short. When they called my number, I just tried to make a play."
At the end, there is no easy answer to the Ravens' offensive troubles. But if Baltimore is going to turn things around after two straight home losses, it's going to have to get fixed quickly.
"There was just a lot of bad play," Flacco said.
"It doesn't feel good as the quarterback, the leader of this offense, to continue to do that. I'm going to stand tall. I'm going to take it. It definitely is not fun, and it definitely is not a good feeling, and I feel that."
