Ravens star LB 'sick' of late-game collapses

The Baltimore Ravens are 3-2 and both of their losses can be attributed to their inability to close out games after getting out to an early lead.

Baltimore was up 7-0 on the Indianapolis Colts and faltered down the stretch, losing 22-19 in overtime on Sept. 24. And on Sunday, they had a 10-0 lead on the Pittsburgh Steelers and lost 17-10. 

This pattern of losing has leaders inside Baltimore's locker room fed up. 

“Same old scenario every time,” Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen said. “I’m pretty sick of it. Gotta clean it up.”

How exactly Baltimore cleans it up remains to be seen. They brought in a new offensive coordinator this season, but the offense has still been dysfunctional and lacks cohesion. Receivers dropped key passes in the loss to the Steelers, and quarterback Lamar Jackson threw an interception and lost a fumble. Running back Justice Hill lost a fumble. The Ravens allowed a blocked punt for a safety. 

Defensively, they're a good unit but have given up chunk plays that have put the team in a hole. These happenings will do any team in and there isn't an easy answer as to how Baltimore overcomes these kinds of collapses. They aren't playing fundamentally sound in any facet of the game. 

“We have to finish plays and do things like that and what you need to do to win a game like this, and we have to fight for that going forward,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “A lot of football to be played. It’s going to be Week 6, and we need to clean that stuff up and finish games.”

Jackson referred to the woes as "little mishaps," but there's a fine line between mishaps and systemic issues, and if Baltimore doesn't fix things in a hurry their season could spiral out of control. While Baltimore should be 5-0, they're 3-2 and now second-place in the AFC North. Pittsburgh currently leads the division at 3-2, the Cleveland Browns are in third at 2-2, and the Cincinnati Bengals are last at 2-3 but can't be counted out with Joe Burrow leading the charge. 

Tight end Mark Andrews says the team needs to "wake up." The good news for the Ravens is it's still early enough in the year to correct the issues that have plagued them through the first five weeks. However, they need to look in the mirror and get it together before they keep losing games and fall further down in the divisional standings. 

Next up for Baltimore is a showdown in London against the 2-3 Tennessee Titans, a team coming off a 23-16 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. The last time Baltimore played in London back in 2017 they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 44-7.