Special teams still a problem:
Led by a former special teams coach in John Harbaugh, it’s been rare Baltimore’s special teams units have been bad. But this season we’ve seen some unexpected lapses, leading to this week where they were just downright dreadful in every facet of the game.
There was a missed extra point, blocked punt returned for a touchdown and regular great kickoff and punt returns by the Jets. It’s not a stretch to say the Ravens’ special teams groups were responsible for most of New York’s points this week, which is a problem moving forward.
You better believe every AFC playoff team is going to be copying the film of this game and studying it closely to see what went wrong. While it wasn’t the deciding factor against a bad team like the Jets, against squads like the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers or Kansas City Chiefs; it could be a killer that kicks Baltimore from the postseason earlier than they should be.
I’d expect plenty of screaming and yelling in the meeting room when the Ravens return to practice next week. And as we’ve seen previously this season, players could find themselves unemployed because of this lone performance. At this point, Baltimore has to do something to get those issues under control.