OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens are in unfamiliar territory. They are 0-2 for the first time since 2015 and second time since John Harbaugh started his tenure as head coach in 2008.
After digesting the game film from Sunday's 26-23 upset loss at the hands of the Raiders, Harbaugh said he is searching for consistency.
"We have a lot of good plays happening out there, but we’re just too inconsistent. And you talk about the offensive line, I think that’s a fair evaluation, it’s inconsistent. It’s almost randomly inconsistent; that’s something that we have to work through, but also across the board with our whole team," said Harbaugh on Monday. "We’re not a consistent football team right now. And if we become a consistent football team, and when we become a consistent football team, then we’ll be a winning football team."
The 0-2 start is not a cause for panic. But it is certainly a cause for concern.
"I’ve heard it said the NFL season is a race to improve, to become the best team you can over the course of the long haul. The race is a marathon and we’ve got to continue to try to improve as much as we can every single day," said Harbaugh. "I think sometimes your improvement shows up and sometimes it doesn’t. We had a disappointing game yesterday. We’re not happy about it. We want to play better. We want to play winning football. We didn’t. We didn’t do the things that we needed to do to win. We need to keep pounding the rock, and the rock is going to crack. But that’s our job to keep pounding [and to] not get discouraged, not think all is for nothing, and continue to work, and our reward will be out there in the future if we continue to do that."
Harbaugh said the 11 penalties his team committed against the Raiders is a "massive point of emphasis".
Things get no easier for the Ravens in the weeks ahead. They travel to Dallas next Sunday then host the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 29 in an 8:20 p.m. kickoff.
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