By Jaime Suarez Del Valle
Boston University News Service
Disaster strikes in Baltimore as the Ravens begin the 2025 NFL season with a 1-4 record.
This opening stretch is Baltimore’s worst since 2015, when they finished the season with only five wins. This disappointing start from the potential Super Bowl contenders includes three disheartening losses to conference rivals: the Houston Texans, the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs. On top of that, there have been a plethora of injuries to key players that will keep them sidelined for the next couple of games. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong.
Football fans’ gameday emotions are directly related to their favored team’s performance. Ravens fans are no different, and these last few weeks have hit them hard.
“As Ravens fans, we’re not used to early struggles of this level,” said Ignacio Feliciano, a student pursuing a media venture’s master degree at Boston University.
Christian Marshall, a BU journalism student, also expressed his disappointment in the team.
“We’re not as good as we think we are,” said Marshall.
When asked about what they thought were the team’s main issues, both fans agreed: the defense is abysmal at an individual and systemic level.
“It’s the most frustrating part — there’s too much talent invested on that side of the football to be worse than last year’s unit,” stated Marshall.
The Ravens defense currently ranks last in points allowed per game (33.3) and second to last in total yards allowed per game (406.8). These numbers come after playing three top teams in the league: Buffalo, Detroit and Kansas City.
The Chiefs and Bills have historically dominated Baltimore during the Lamar Jackson era, with the Ravens holding a combined record of 3-10 with three playoff losses against them in that span. The Bills game proved devastating for the Ravens’ psyche as they blew a two-score lead in the fourth quarter with costly errors like a Derrick Henry fumble, who has fumbled three times already, matching his total from last year.
Now, injuries plague the starting roster. Many defensive stars like Roquan Smith, Kyle Hamilton, Nate Wiggins and Marlon Humphrey exited Kansas City’s game. Defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike landed on the injured reserve list before that game because of a neck injury. A second-string defensive squad will now play the next couple of games without many pivotal players.
Most importantly, MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson suffered a hamstring injury in the third quarter and is expected to miss two or three weeks, per Adam Schefter from ESPN. This means Baltimore needs to rely on backup Cooper Rush — a far less talented passer.
No Jackson is bad news for the Ravens, as evident with Rush tossing three interceptions en route to a 44-10 loss to the Texans. Now they have to face the Los Angeles Rams and the Chicago Bears, the latter coming after their bye week. Two more losses would be terrible for Baltimore, especially with how their schedule from Thanksgiving onward looks like. They play Cincinnati twice, Pittsburgh twice, New England and Green Bay.
“If they enter the bye 1-6, the season is gone,” Feliciano says.
This unexpected start to the year brings up two questions: who is to blame for this mess and how can they fix it, if possible? While players have not performed and are banged up, Marshall and Feliciano direct their discontent towards their coaching staff. Zachary Orr replaced Mike McDonald as the defensive coordinator in February of last year and the unit has struggled for most of his tenure. Meanwhile, long time head coach John Harbaugh’s impact on the team has slowly been questioned after years of constantly losing big games in embarrassing ways, including this horrid start.
In Marshall’s words: “The sky is falling this year, but the cracks formed last year.”
“The leadership looks shaky. Players don’t seem to trust the coaches and vice versa,” Marshall said. “If the season ends badly, they might need to get a new voice in the locker room.”
Ultimately, this Ravens team is a far cry of past iterations. The franchise forged its reputation with strong defense and a bruising rushing attack with the help of legends like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Jamal Lewis. Their talent is palpable and Lamar Jackson is arguably the best player in the league, leading fans to believe that a return to their franchise identity could salvage their season, once they get healthy.
“They need to remember who they are and show who they are,” Feliciano said.
As the season progresses, the Baltimore Ravens will need to solve their problems if they want to reach their Super Bowl goal. If not, a murky future looms over this team.
