Ravens lose yet again as they take unusual spot among NFL’s worst

Nobody really expected the Baltimore Ravens to win at the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night.

The Ravens at least made it interesting at the end. Joe Flacco’s lob into the end zone was picked off by Tony Jefferson with six seconds left and Arizona held on to a 26-18 win. Keeping it close and covering the 10-point spread might be moral victories for Baltimore.

Which leads to the question: When and how did this happen? When did the Ravens become one of those terrible teams that we groan when we see they’re on prime time? Baltimore is an unfathomable 1-6 this season. The Ravens have been in existence since 1996. They’ve lost 10 or more games just three times, compared to two Super Bowl titles. Baltimore has been in the playoffs six of the last seven seasons and have been a model franchise for the NFL (and yes, this is a really cruel joke on Cleveland Browns fans).

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The Ravens are a mess this year. A touch scheduling quirk didn’t help. The Ravens have already played four road games west of the Mississippi River. They lost each one. But that doesn’t explain it all.

The lack of weapons on offense is a big problem. The team drafted receiver Breshad Perriman in the first round and tight end Maxx Williams in the second round. Perriman hasn’t played yet due to a knee injury and Williams has been mostly a non-factor. The offense isn’t as good without the leadership of Gary Kubiak, last year’s coordinator who left to coach the Denver Broncos this past offseason.

The defense has been uncharacteristically bad. Losing pass rusher Terrell Suggs was clearly a blow. Trading big lineman Haloti Ngata chipped away at the defense too. The players who are left haven’t made enough of a difference, especially in the secondary. The defense came into Monday night’s game ranked 25th in yards allowed, 29th in passing defense and allowing a 101.7 rating. Carson Palmer threw for 275 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in Monday night’s win.

The Ravens made things interesting in the fourth quarter, after they fell behind by 16 points. A blocked punt led to a touchdown, and a two-point conversion made it a one-score game. The Ravens got the ball back late and Flacco hit a jump ball over the middle to get the Ravens down near the end zone. Then Flacco tried the exact same play and not surprisingly, Jefferson wasn’t fooled again and got the interception.

But that’s the kind of thing that ruins bad teams. And make no mistake, Baltimore is a bad team. It’s just strange to say it.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab