Ravens Playoff Woes Come Down to Same Issue

The following year in 2023, the Ravens were the hottest, most dominant and well-balanced team down the stretch in the second half of the season on their way to securing the No. 1 seed in the AFC and home field advantage throughout the playoffs for the second time in five years. They routed the Houston Texans in the second half of the Divisional Round but couldn't get past a flawed Kansas City Chiefs team in the first-ever AFC title game held in Baltimore, as familiar fatal flaws wound up leading to their downfall.

Not only did they lose the turnover battle yet again, but the three possessions that ended in takeaways came at the worst possible time and either directly cost them a chance of even getting a field goal or set the Chiefs up in prime scoring position to extend their lead.

The most soul-crunching and pivotal of the bunch was the fumble by first-round wide receiver Zay Flowers at the goal line. He had a record-breaking rookie season and was having a monster game up until that point when he tried to stretch the ball across to break the plane, but got it punched out of his grasp by Chiefs cornerback L'Jarius Sneed before he could.

Had Flowers not lost control of the ball or even if one of his teammates had fallen on it in the end zone, the Ravens would've been down by just a field goal with all the momentum on their side and plenty of time left to complete a second-half comeback. Instead, a pressing Jackson turned the ball over for the second time in the game after getting strip-sacked in the first half by throwing an ill-advised pass to the end zone into triple coverage that got intercepted, squandering another chance to make it a one-score game as they went on to lose 17-10.

Just when it seemed like the devastation of falling one game shy of the Super Bowl at home couldn't be topped, the 2024 Ravens found a way to come up short in even more painstaking fashion in the Divisional Round. Going up against a Buffalo Bills team they had shellacked and run roughshod over during the regular season, they lost the turnover battle 3-0 yet again, with a fumble by three-time Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews in the second half being very pivotal. But even that would've been overcome had the same player not dropped a crucial two-point conversion that would've tied the game, and they lost 27-25.

Whether it's not tucking the ball away near the goal line or while running in the open field, not putting it at risk by throwing it into a crowd where defenders outnumber the intended target or their defenders getting baited into committing bone-headed penalties because they let their emotions boil over, the only team that has consistently kept the Ravens from advancing to Super Bowl is the Ravens.

The trait that has been the biggest common denominator in all three of their most recent playoff losses has been a lack of composure and execution in the most crucial moments in the second half of these games. Jackson has proven he can overcome mistakes made early in games as long as he has more possessions in the second half to make up ground, but not even the two-time league MVP can control how others around him overcome or utterly collapse under pressure when they need to be at their best in a win-or-go-home situation.

As long as Jackson is healthy under center, not only are the Ravens almost always a sure bet to record double-digit wins and make the playoffs, but they are perennial Super Bowl contenders. The only thing stopping them from going from prime contenders to outright champions is their inability to make more pivotal plays than mistakes in the playoffs, because a lack of talent hasn't been the issue and surely won't be again with how loaded their 2025 roster is on paper.