The Baltimore Ravens are entering uncharted territory in the Lamar Jackson era as they enter the 2024 season after two weeks without a win. The Ravens were expected to dominate the Raiders as they were heavily favored across the board, but failures in all aspects of the game have left them 0-2. Here are my winners and losers.

Winners

OLB Odafe Oweh — The Ravens’ 2021 first-round edge rusher has been criticized for being excellent at generating pressure but unable to finish with sacks. Today, he capped his plays by sacking Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew 2.5 times, including a strip sack (recovered by the Raiders) on the first play from scrimmage. Had this game gone differently, the talk of the town would have been about how the pass rush, the defense’s expected weakness, was its strongest unit. In total, Oweh produced five tackles, 2.5 sacks, two tackles for loss, three quarterback hits and a forced fumble.

OLB Kyle Van Noy — In a similar vein, Van Noy brought pressure to the Raiders by tackling Minshew twice. Van Noy was questionable to play after missing all but Friday’s practice following a fractured orbital bone 10 days ago against the Kansas City Chiefs. He excelled in chasing the quarterback, finishing with two sacks, three tackles for loss and three quarterback hits.

DT Travis Jones — Virtually every defender got in on the action to pressure Minshew and Jones was no exception, winning his reps and flushing Minshew out of the pocket or into another defender as a result.

WR Zay Flowers — The bond between Jackson and Flowers grew as the duo scored 91 yards and a touchdown on Sunday.

Run Defense — The Ravens were mighty against the run, holding the Raiders offense to 27 yards on 17 carries. By halftime, they had allowed just four yards on the ground.

Losers

Pass Defense — The expected top-tier defense allowed the Raiders to go from 43 passing yards in the first half to 276 yards and a touchdown. In the second half, Minshew finished 16 of 23 for 229 yards and a touchdown, including six completions of 25+ yards.

Secondary- Yes, the defensive pass interference penalty on cornerback Brandon Stephens was bullshit. Even CBS Sports Rules Analyst Gene Steratore said so. But that aside, the reporting was flawed. Gardner Minshew threw a secondary into pieces that many expected to be among the NFL’s top five players this season. The cornerbacks didn’t execute in the second half. The safety play wasn’t impactful. Both Marcus Williams and Kyle Hamilton haven’t made the impactful plays they were expected to make in two weeks. The Ravens may be without former defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson at this point.

Pass Protection, Linebackers — Through two games, the Ravens have struggled with tight ends and slot receivers targeting Roquan Smith, Trenton Simpson and Malik Harrison. Chiefs’ Rashee Rice sliced ​​through the middle in Week 1. Raiders’ Brock Bowers caught all nine of his targets for 98 yards in Week 2. The back end hasn’t played up to their level.

Inner attack line — Two weeks in, and the Ravens’ attempt to be young on the offensive line and believe in their development has not paid off. There were glimpses of them holding pass rusher Maxx Crosby in check for the second and third quarters, but the game-wrecker came out strong in the first and fourth. Defenders are teeing off their guards and cutting through the interior to get pressure on Jackson quickly. Henry is getting hit with high frequency around the line of scrimmage, and the hope is that he can get through 300-pound defenders and make something happen.

Head Coach John Harbaugh — Two challenges, both honored. The first seemed like a no-go and the second, judging by the video board replay, also seemed like a no-win. The process for doing these challenges seems flawed because while Harbaugh said he can’t expect to be undefeated in challenges, he’s won just five of the last 18 challenges, according to Pro Football Reference.

Those lost challenges meant lost timeouts, something they could have used in both the first and second half of this game to put points on the board. Instead, they were forced to be more conservative to close out the first half and struggled to come back in the fourth quarter.

Fourth quarter collapses — Four times in the Jackson era, with Jackson in the lead, have the Ravens let up double-digit fourth-quarter turnovers. In 2022, they lost to the Dolphins and Giants. In 2023, it was to the Browns. Now, in 2024, they’ve failed to lead by 10 against the Raiders. The Ravens should have the defense to hold a lead. They have the offensive playmakers to hold a lead. Their special teams unit should be talented enough to execute. But they’ve all failed at inopportune times, and their opponents have taken advantage. There’s a lack of — and I hate this term — clutch factor.

Entering this game, the Raiders had lost 49 straight games when trailing by 10+ points in the fourth quarter. They were 1-75 since 2013 when trailing by 10+ points in the fourth quarter. They had not won a game with fewer rushing yards since the 1990s (27). They were outscored by more than 100 yards and in such games the Raiders were 9-119-1.

P Jordan Stout — The Ravens needed a field-flipping punt to keep the Raiders from an easy midfield march to take the lead. Instead, Stout delivered a 24-yard punt with 2:27 left, putting the Raiders in plus territory to begin their game-winning drive. It all came crashing down, and this was another costly mistake in the fourth quarter.