The Ravens lost the 5th game of this season. The Eagles flew ahead of them with 24-19. One freshly acquired player, the WR Diontae Johnson could have made a difference, but the HC John Harbaugh benched him. No one understood why he wasn’t playing. But we got an update.

During the post-game conference, the head coach said, “I’m not really ready to comment on that right now. I will be. Just don’t have enough information right now to talk about that.” The team did not even keep him in the substitutions. That’s surprising.

While the HC kept the exact issue hidden, the most probable cause could be his ankle injury, which limited his performance. Just 10 days before the Ravens acquired him, he also had ribs and a hamstring injury. Though John Harbaugh gave him limited playing time and started him only in 1 game, it might affect the locker room morale.

It’s a critical time of the season where every game is necessary. The Eagles game looked in fine balance at halftime, as the Ravens were 12-14. But they couldn’t take the lead at the important stage. Lamar Jackson & Co. would be looking at the film and finding the areas where they lagged. The 2023 MVP understands that the results going into the playoffs matter. And they still have to win at least 2 more games to stay in the wild cards.

John Harbaugh’s quarterback talks about the need of the hour

In the AFC North division, the competition is getting intense. The Steelers won their week 13 game against the Bengals and cruised to the top of the table with 9 wins and 2 losses. The Ravens had a good chance to match them in the number of wins, but lost and are behind.

Lamar Jackson had a different viewpoint on the race, as he said after the defeat, “We don’t need to worry about the Steelers. We need to worry about us.” John Harbaugh would be listening to his signal caller. While Jalen Hurts only had 11 of 19 passes (58% completion rate) in 118 yards with 1 touchdown, Jackson outpaced him in every department with 23 of 36 yards (64% completion rate) in 237 yards and 2 touchdowns. But the end result, they lost.

The Ravens need to sort out their problems during the bye week. They have 2 weeks to find the solutions. Can they do it? We’ll find out soon.