Improved Offensive & Defensive Lines Could Put The Baltimore Ravens Right Back In Contention After Shocking Failure To Reach The Playoffs

The Baltimore Ravens will be desperate to bounce back as quickly as possible after failing to make the playoffs this season, having gone into freefall following their capture of the No.1 seed as the regular season wound down.

It must have been very painful to watch as Chris Boswell scored a field goal from 36 yards out to give the Pittsburgh Steelers a 16-13 win on Sunday. The loss ensured that the 8-9 Ravens ended the season as the first team to go from No.1 to not making the playoffs just six weeks later in the last 19 years.

Strong safety Chuck Clarke didn’t have much to say after the defeat.

“I really only have one message for all of the questions, you know what I’m saying?" he said. "So, every question that is going to come after this, as respectfully as I can say as possible, just watch how we bounce back. That’s all I have to say”

Baltimore made some unwanted history this season, recording one of the worst collapses in NFL history. They were on top of the AFC with an 8-3 record on November 28, which was all the more impressive as they had lost their two best running backs in J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards, as well as a pair of Pro Bowl cornerbacks, Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters and All-Pro left tackle Ronnie Stanley for the season.

Confidence was brimming after wins over the Kansas City Chiefs, Indianapolis Colts, and Los Angeles Chargers, and ESPN’s Football Power Index had their playoff chances at 93.1 percent.

The Ravens would finish the season without another win, racking up six consecutive losses as they began struggling to finish games. The deficits in five of those losses amounted to a combined eight points, with regrettable two-point conversions, defensive mistakes late in games and an unfortunate injury to quarterback Lamar Jackson saw to marginal defeats.

Such drops in form aren’t unusual in the NFL but Baltimore’s recent showing has been a rare occurrence over the last 30 years. The last team to go from No.1 to not making it to the playoffs was the Miami Dolphins, who went from 7-4 in Week 12 to missing the postseason in 2002.

"We fell short in numerous games here down the stretch in the sense that we just couldn’t find a play,” head coach John Harbaugh said. "We couldn’t find a play that we needed.”

Team management will be revisiting the drawing board ahead of next season as there will be no placating Baltimore fans without an immediate return to the playoffs. Maryland sports betting sites will likely have bets in favor of the Ravens as, when fully healthy, they are one of the best teams in the league.

They will have every chance of finding success next year if they return to play at full strength. Of course, some changes are to be expected.

Former team GM Ozzie Newsome always spoke about building the team from the inside out and claimed to believe that everything would fall into place once the Ravens got strong offensive and defensive lines together.

He certainly couldn’t be blamed for thinking as much as the most successful Ravens teams were the ones who could control play at the line of scrimmage. The AFC North is a very physical division, the stronger lines, the better the team.

Current GM Eric DeCosta will likely be guided by such thinking in the offseason after watching on helplessly as Baltimore got destroyed by injuries and late-game breakdowns. The Ravens have plenty of needs, but they will need to place extra focus on the aforementioned lines if they are to dominate the conference next term.

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