Ravens Must Clean Up This Potentially Fatal Flaw

The Baltimore Ravens must clean up this potentiall fatal flaw before the playoffs.

Nov 17, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh watches warm ups against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium. / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens are hoping to make a Super Bowl run this season.

While they have shown flashes of being that caliber of a team, there are also a lot of issues that have been apparent throughout the course of the regular season. There are a lot of things that the Ravens need to focus on fixing before the postseason arrives.

At this point in the year entering Week 15, Baltimore holds an 8-5 record. They're expected to make the playoffs, but that is not a guarantee yet.

Keeping that in mind, one potentially fatal flaw has been brought up as a major priority.

Joshua Reed of Baltimore Breakdown has named "penalties" as a flaw that the Ravens cannot afford to keep dealing with.

"Though they were called for the second-fewest penalties in a game of the season and last week with just four accepted flags for 20 yards, the Ravens remain the most penalized team in the league through 14 weeks, ranking first in both call (105) and yards against (885)," he wrote. "In the playoffs, being undisciplined in tight games gives the opposing team an edge within the margins which could prove costly in the end, another lesson the Ravens can take from their shortcoming in last year’s conference title appearance."

Reed is 100 percent correct. Penalties can be a major killer, especially come playoff time.

Far too often, Baltimore has shot themselves in the foot this season. That cannot continue to happen down the stretch of the season and into the postseason. They have to figure out a way to get the issue under control.

As was mentioned in the above quote, they did do better last week. That trend needs to continue.

On paper, the Ravens have the talent to make a deep run in the playoffs. This could be the year that they finally put everything together and get back to the Super Bowl. Or, the season could end in disappoint once again.

Being able to limit penalties will be a huge deciding factor in which route they end up going. Hopefully, they can get control of the penalty problem and take their level of play to the next level before the playoffs get underway.

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