Patrick Ricard cleaned out his locker on Monday, surrounded by teammates who also gathered their possessions.
The mood was subdued. The Ravens were packing to go home without going to the Super Bowl. It's a routine that Ricard, a five-time Pro Bowl fullback, has gone through since his 2017 rookie season in Baltimore.
Ricard is rightfully proud of what the 2024 Ravens accomplished, winning the AFC North for the second straight year and being part of a historic offense. He is part of a winning culture that has helped the Ravens make the playoffs six times in the last seven years, an impressive span of consistent winning.
However, losing in the playoffs never gets easier, and the emotions from the 27-25 loss to the Buffalo Bills in Sunday's Divisional playoff game were still raw in the locker room on Monday.
"Whenever you don't go to the Super Bowl and win it, it's disappointing," Ricard said. "But you still have to have pride and look at the memories.
"This season and everything we accomplished as a team and individually, this is the most fun I've ever had playing football, best offense I've ever been part of. I got to play with the best running back in football (Derrick Henry), the best quarterback in football (Lamar Jackson). It's a lot to hang my hat on. At the end of the day, I want a Super Bowl. I want Baltimore to have another Super Bowl. But I don't look at it as a failure. We did a lot of great things, a lot of things we can learn from and improve."
The Ravens will replay Sunday's defeat in their minds, just as they rehashed last season's 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship. They committed three costly turnovers against the Bills on Sunday, and the final blow was Mark Andrews' dropped pass on a two-point conversion attempt with 1:33 left to play that would have tied the game.
Committing turnovers and not getting takeaways have been postseason issues for the Ravens since Jackson's arrival in 2018. During that span, they have played nine playoff games and have committed 16 turnovers while forcing just three. Baltimore had three turnovers on Sunday night while the Bills had none.
During the Ravens' 17-3 loss to Buffalo in the 2020 playoffs, a pick-six that Jackson threw was the game's biggest play, and it was another contest in which Baltimore did not have a takeaway. Collectively, the Ravens simply haven't taken care of the football well enough during the playoffs, nor have they been opportunistic enough on defense.
"You just have to make the plays when the plays are there to be made," running back Justice Hill said. "In the last couple of years, we've turned the ball over, and we just haven't been able to play those perfect games that you need to play in the playoffs to win.
"We're definitely capable of playing those games and winning those games. We've just been falling short. We have to continue to learn from those mistakes – and we've made lots of them in the last couple of years – to eliminate those in the future. If we eliminate turnovers, I don't think there's really any team that can hang with us."
Jackson's frustration after Sunday's game was obvious, and he was especially livid about his two turnovers (lost fumble and interception).
"If I protect the ball, we're not having this conversation," Jackson said. "If we protect the ball, we're still on the field, and I believe we're driving the ball down the field, and we're putting points on the board. There were three opportunities that those guys had on their defense that they made for their team to win.
"We didn't do what we were supposed to do. Protecting the ball – that's the number one priority – and we didn't do it, especially me. I'm the leader. I have to protect the ball, so I'm hot."
Baltimore has shown admirable resiliency during Jackson's era, returning each season with a new resolve. After starting this season 0-2, the Ravens stormed back to the playoffs and Jackson had the best season of his career, blossoming in his second year with Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken. The Ravens became the first team in NFL history with 4,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing, and Jackson is still only 28 years old.
However, each season without winning a Super Bowl requires the Ravens to deal with more disappointment. Hill believes the Ravens will bounce back strong, once they've had some time to process.
"I guess it would be getting harder, the more you go through it," Hill said. "It's just more frustrating than anything. Only one team wins it at the end of the year. There's 31 other teams that have the same exact feeling. We just have to continue to do the things that we can to improve overall and make sure we're that one happy team at the end of the year."
