OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens knew what was in store.
They still got picked apart by the Kansas City Chiefs.
"We were excepting it; we just didn’t handle it very well," said Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh. "I thought what they did was really good; a lot of misdirection, jet screens, ghost motions, Casper motions, as we call them, screens, double screens, the crossing routes off of that, passes off of that, draws off of that. It was just a really well-executed gameplan. It’s a lot of stuff they did that caused us a lot of problems."
It sure did, to the tune of a 34-20 defeat in primetime. Lamar Jackson couldn’t match the offensive punches thrown by Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Jackson threw for a career-low 97 yards in a game reminiscent of his last playoff loss.
"It looked like the same thing from the Tennessee game to me, to be honest. That’s all," said Jackson. "We’re going to gameplan better, we’re going to talk to our offensive coordinator (Greg Roman), our offensive unit, and then we’re going to go from there."
K.C. on Monday keept much of their defense covering in the middle of the field, forcing Lamar to look outside and deep.
"We just weren’t on-point tonight, that’s all. Got to get ready for practice and get better," he said.
Jackson was 15-28 passing with a touchdown and no interceptions. He rushed for 83 yards on nine carries.
Mahomes was 31-42 for 385 yards in the air with four touchdowns and no picks. He also rushed for 26 yards and a touchdown.
"I think the good thing about playing a team like that – that is just hitting on all cylinders right now – is they can show you where we’re weak at, and they did. So, we get the chance to go back and fix it," said cornerback Jimmy Smith. "So, I don’t think our team is discouraged by any means. I think it’s just an opportunity to go see what happened, look at it, fix it up, tweak some things, maybe add some new things and go out and play.”
The Ravens (2-1) visit Washington (1-2) on Sunday afternoon.
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