Ravens determined to right their wrongs of the past by prioritizing the little things

New York Times

6 days ago

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Baltimore Ravens' first week of training camp featured little drama, no distractions and a business-like, team-wide approach that suggests the players and coaches understand what's at stake this season.
The Ravens believe they're going to be very good. They also acknowledge the legitimacy of a question that will loom over this team over the next six months: Will they be good enough when it matters?
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They haven't been in recent seasons, particularly over the last two years when they've posted 25 combined regular-season victories but only two in the playoffs.
'I think this group is determined to right the wrongs that we've had,' veteran outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy said last week. 'We've felt like we've let some games slip, and we just got to knock it off, just in general as a team.'
Ravens coach John Harbaugh made clear on several occasions last week that he has neither the time nor the appetite for 'narratives,' and that included the notion that this is a Super Bowl-or-bust season in Baltimore. That won't stop outsiders from labeling it as such.
Offensively, the Ravens return their entire coaching staff and all but one starter. Veteran wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and now-healthy running back Keaton Mitchell should augment a unit that was arguably the best in the NFL last season. Defensively, the Ravens appear much deeper with the acquisitions of veteran cornerbacks Jaire Alexander and Chidobe Awuzie and the selections of safety Malaki Starks and edge rusher Mike Green in this year's draft.
Like 31 other teams, the Ravens have depth questions at a few spots, and they are a ways away from learning whether they've found an acceptable successor to longtime standout kicker Justin Tucker. However, that didn't stop ESPN last week from ranking the Ravens' roster as the best in the NFL. That hasn't and won't stop other pundits from including them on the list of teams with legitimate Super Bowl upside.
'It's always cool to be on a team with high-caliber players who have incredible talent, but I think you've got to put the work in,' running back Derrick Henry said last week. 'Everybody can look good in the jersey and have a big name, but it is about the work you put in, the chemistry you build on the field each and every day, pushing each other to get each other better. We're all more interested in the work than all the hype and what it looks like.'
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Henry is readying for his second season with the Ravens, but he's plenty familiar with the franchise's recent playoff heartbreak. It was Henry's Tennessee Titans that, in the divisional round of the 2019 playoffs, went to Baltimore and upset a top-seeded Ravens team that had gone 14-2 in the regular season. That game was arguably the most disappointing loss in franchise history, but other candidates have emerged in the years that have followed.
With two-time MVP Lamar Jackson as the starting quarterback, the Ravens are just 3-5 in the postseason. In the 2020 divisional round, they were beaten 17-3 by Buffalo. Three years later, they had a chance to book a trip to the Super Bowl on their home field and laid an egg in a 17-10 AFC Championship Game loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Last season, they were beaten 27-25 in Buffalo, again in the divisional round.
Those losses all featured similarities. The Ravens turned the ball over offensively and didn't force turnovers defensively. They lost the battle at the line of scrimmage. The overriding theme was that an often dominant team in the regular season rolled into the playoffs and suddenly lost its form and identity at the worst possible time.
'I'm not going to say we've underperformed, but I feel that we've had championship-caliber rosters,' Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said earlier this offseason. 'I feel that we've prepared like a championship team, and there's just been something we have to do, but I don't feel that we're far off.'
Asked last week whether he's pondered what has held the Ravens back in the postseason, Van Noy said, 'We could be here all day talking about that.'
'If we just continue to play complementary football, which we do a majority of the season, I think we'll put (up) a better performance in the postseason,' Van Noy continued. 'The coaches do a great job of getting us ready. Us players, leadership, we are on the same page, but just with the right mindset every single time, and be cohesive and execute at a high level during the high-pressure games.'
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The recent playoff flameouts have certainly produced plenty of scar tissue and added to the pressure that these 2025 Ravens face heading into the season. It was a popular topic last week, and to their credit, the Ravens didn't hide from it.
'I'm really not trying to think that far (ahead), because every time we had those discussions, man, we get to the playoffs, but we don't punch in,' Jackson said. 'We don't finish, so I'm pretty much just trying to finish camp the correct way and then get ready for the Bills (in Week 1). I'm not really trying to think about the Super Bowl yet.'
If there was an easy answer to why the Ravens haven't been at their best in the playoffs, the team's widely respected brain trust and its deep bench of analysts and coaches presumably would have corrected the issue by now. Trying to figure out that elusive solution was at the forefront of the organization's priorities this offseason.
To that end, Harbaugh and his coaching staff established a detailed grading system that rates everything about every player each day. Players are graded on things like how they run to the ball and ball security. There's a greater emphasis put on certain fundamentals and characteristics that Harbaugh and the staff feel are essential to playing winning football in January.
The daily grades are strategically posted on walls and monitors throughout areas of the Under Armour Performance Center that the players frequent daily. The idea beyond the system is for it to be a reminder to players of what they need to focus on, so a crash course isn't needed come December and January.
'It's the details that matter, it's the details that win games,' said tight end Mark Andrews, whose fourth-quarter fumble and drop of a potentially game-tying two-point conversion were defining plays in the playoff loss to Buffalo in January. 'For us, this is the start of training camp, so we have to be diligent about doing the little things right and carrying those over to make them second nature. So, I think to the point of having those grading scales of the different things that the coaches are doing, (it) just puts an emphasis on, throughout practice or games, to make it a habit. That's an awesome thing.'
Van Noy, a two-time Super Bowl champ, said the little details matter a lot, particularly late in the season.
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'When you get into the playoffs, those little details need to be executed at a high level,' he said. 'You can't just talk about it. You have to be about it every single day. I think we're doing that.'
The players have vowed to do their part as well. Jackson has spoken about spending more time with his receivers outside the team facility and holding each other accountable. Several established Ravens players stayed on the field after select practices last week to work on different skills. One day featured tight end Isaiah Likely and safety Kyle Hamilton going over releases and jams at the line of scrimmage.
Humphrey, Alexander and wide receivers Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman have reinstated the 'Breakfast Club' lift, a trend initially started by former Ravens safety Eric Weddle. A small group of players gathers at 6 a.m., nearly eight hours before practice is set to begin, and works out together. The only rule is, if you come in at 6:01 or later, you're not allowed to take part in the workout.
'We're trying to create an environment where everything matters,' Humphrey said last week. '6:01 a.m., does it really matter? No. But does it? Yes. So, it's kind of just another thing we're trying to do. Everything matters. Accountability is going to be the key to the season.'