Ravens’ Mental Toughness & Coaching Again Drag Down the Index

The Ravens played their worst game of the year on Thanksgiving night hosting the Bengals.  While the September disaster against Houston was uglier and never even in doubt, that one was doomed from the start given Baltimore’s injury issues. This time, the team was healthy, had all the motivation, was facing a division rival missing two of their most impactful players…and they laid an egg.

Luckily the Steelers lost and the Ravens remained atop the AFC North, with a game against those same Steelers coming up this week. They now have another issue on their hands with Cincinnati suddenly feeling new life but at least they control their own destiny.

A Look at AFC North Tiebreaker Scenarios

For this week’s stock report, there was only one thing I could pull out of that performance that was a positive and worthy of being on the “buy list…”

Stock Up

Lamar’s Mobility

The only thing to hang our hats on after that “performance” is that Lamar Jackson moved around better than he has since coming back from the hamstring injury. This offense is always much better when he is a threat with his legs. Jackson mentioned last week that he was feeling better in some areas. If he continues to feel better and his mobility remains on the upswing, the offense should get back to where we expect it to be.

Stock Down

Lamar’s…Everything Else

Lamar played that game like he has played playoff games. I know Ravens fans hate to hear that and some even push back hard on it. I get it, you want to defend your guy, but the bottom line is that Lamar will come up small in big moments at times and this was one of those times.

Of couse, it wasn’t all his fault. One touchdown pass was fumbled as Isaiah Likely crossed the goalline. A second came back on a ticky-tack offensive pass interference call. Jackson’s second fumble was also a very iffy decision by the officiating.

But all that aside, once things started going wrong, we saw what we’ve seen from Jackson in postseason games (Buffalo aside): a cascade of errors, rather than righting the ship. He was off most of the night, his first fumble was inexcusable, easy throws fell to the turf, he made bad reads in the option running game, and more.

If his shoulders are turned that way, it’s a give read to Derrick. That dude’s not coming down the line of scrimmage. Nobody expects Derrick to have the ball. Big play incoming! #FootballStrategy #GameAnalysis pic.twitter.com/b0oC8ZLibL

— Ivan Evans (@CoachEvans9) November 30, 2025

While the mobility being better is a good sign, the rest was not. Jackson must be better. Fortunately, I’m confident he will be.

Pass Rush

It was nonexistent. They were playing a subpar offensive line, and while Joe Burrow is great, he hadn’t played since early September, and they did very little to disrupt him at all. Burrow missed some throws on his own or else things could have been worse sooner. The pass rush has certainly been subpar all year, but showed some signs of life lately. However, as it seems to in big moments and big games, it once again disappeared.

Zay Flowers

While Zay Flowers should have had the long TD, he had a bad game overall, with just two catches for six yards and a terrible fumble to douse any hope of a comeback.  Zay has had a solid year. He is top 20 in yards and receptions, but his impact from game to game is inconsistent and he has had some fumbling issues this year.

Weapons Usage/Play Calling

We need an investigation on what is going on Rashod Bateman. He is barely targeted anymore and while I get that he was coming off an injury week and didn’t have a lot of practice time, this has been an issue all season long. He has just 32 targets this year after 72 a season ago.

Next up, Keaton Mitchell. He is barely getting touches despite being the most explosive weapon on the team, which he showed again with the touchdown run. Mitchell needs to start spelling Derrick Henry more. Give Henry a little more of a breather and use these two similar to how Detroit uses Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery.

Why they refuse to put the ball in the hands of some of their best playmakers is astonishing to me.

That’s all on top of the fact that they won’t just commit to the run. I don’t get what the plan is.  After scoring his TD on the first drive of the game, Henry had two carries the rest of the half. He then got five carries in the third quarter and none after that.

I know they were down, but they just aren’t beating the accusations that they completely abandon the run way too early in big games. Just go look at what Detroit did to the Giants a few weeks ago as an example.

Rasheen Ali getting more snaps than any RB is just inexcusable:

Ravens snap counts in loss to Bengals: Ali leads all RBs in snaps with 29; Emery Jones plays 16 snaps in debut; Bateman second in WR snaps but held without a catch. Hamilton doesn’t miss snap on bum ankle. Lawson has an assisted tackle on 26 snaps in debut. pic.twitter.com/ctlarK3k8H

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) November 28, 2025

Mental Toughness

Let’s face it, this team lacks it. Whether its ill-timed penalties or carelessness with the football, they’re once again lacking something between the ears that has held them back for years and will likely do so again this year.

Coaching

Where is it at? They can’t scheme a pass rush, can’t coach up the offensive line or scheme up a game plan to suit it, can’t get the players to stop screwing things up and even when they insist on deciding game day rosters based on special teams contributions, those units struggle in return coverage, as they have the last few weeks.

I believe the players ultimately have accountability and need to execute better, but this coaching staff isn’t putting them in the best position to succeed, and they aren’t coaching them up as well as they have in the past. Coaching and the decision-making that comes with it will be, yet again, what will hold this team back in January if they manage to get there.

It will take a 2012-like performance for this team to do much in a wide open AFC.  The Ravens should be taking advantage of the entire conference being down (and hey, maybe they still will) but even the most positive of Ravens fans has to doubt this team and how far they can go.

The post Ravens’ Mental Toughness & Coaching Again Drag Down the Index appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2025/12/02/ravens-stock-exchange/mental-toughness-coaching/