My parents taught me a lot of things throughout my lifetime. One of the things that always stuck out to me, and rang true, is how important it is to be your authentic self. My mom used to say that being your true self will always outweigh being someone you’re not.
The Baltimore Ravens can learn a lot about staying true to their authentic selves if they want to win it all.
If common sense was common, the Ravens would’ve been Super Bowl champions this past season.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. This is common sense. Well, if common sense was common, the Ravens would’ve been Super Bowl champions this past season. Instead, we are here. Follow me for a minute.
The Ravens lost the AFC Championship game to the Kansas City Chiefs in January because they chose to be some other team in the biggest game of many players’ careers, including two-time MVP Lamar Jackson. Going into the game, the Ravens had finished the regular season as the number one rushing offense, averaging 156.5 yards per game, against a Chiefs defense that gave up 113 yards per game on the ground. This was the perfect opportunity for the team to be their authentic selves, right? Instead, the Ravens decided in their biggest moment to become a passing team, one that finished 21st in the regular season, against the fourth-best pass defense. The Ravens finished the game with just six rushing attempts by their running backs. Six!
If you’re really good at something, and the other team struggles to stop that thing you’re good at, then you go with your strength.
Now, I’m not a rocket scientist or anything, but I’d like to think I know a lor something about football (yes, I typed this in my Baltimore accent). If you’re really good at something, and the other team struggles to stop that thing you’re good at, then you go with your strength. It’s the simplest equation known to man — or so I thought. And yet, somehow, the Ravens threw away their chance at a Lombardi trophy by doing the exact opposite of what they were best suited to do.
Back in May, Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken finally spoke out for the first time about the devastating loss to the Chiefs in January. “We didn’t play well enough, didn’t coach well enough,” Monken said. “In general, we needed to run the ball better and we didn’t … you can’t control the game if you can’t run the football.”
Where was this not-so-critical thinking on January 28, when you needed it most? Also, you didn’t need to run the ball “better,” what you needed to do was run the ball more! It was not only stupid but negligent to choose a game this important to forget what you do best.
Nobody knows why the team suddenly changed its philosophy, but I have some theories. One theory is that the Ravens panicked too early after being down 17-7 and abandoned the run. But the theory I believe in most is that the Ravens and Jackson let the outside noise in. Jackson is pretty active on social media, so it is probably hard to ignore the discourse about the way he plays the game. Despite winning his first MVP award after his first full season as a starter, Jackson has seen people calling him a running back, saying he can’t throw outside the numbers and other things that have discredited him as a passer. I believe that the Ravens and Jackson allowed the outside noise to win. They changed the game plan quickly to allow him to throw and quiet the naysayers. Instead, it gave them more ammunition with the outcome.
The Ravens have had the whole offseason to think about the loss while watching key players like Kevin Zeitler, Jadeveon Clowney, Morgan Moses, and Patrick Queen either leave via free agency or trade. For many outsiders, 2023 was the year the Ravens HAD to win it all. In a year that saw the Chiefs struggle to catch the football consistently, the Buffalo Bills learning to run the ball late in the season, and the Bengals losing Joe Burrow due to an injury, this was the best year to punch their ticket to the biggest game of the year. Instead, it became the year they were overwhelmed with questions about not only the game but the future of the team.
For many fans, the question is: What now? What do the Ravens do from here? The question is valid considering the personnel losses they endured this offseason. But all hope is not lost. The Ravens signed Derrick Henry in the offseason, making their backfield even more powerful than before. The 2020 Offensive Player of the Year seems to have a lot left in the tank after finishing the 2023 season second in rush yards, despite playing behind one of the worst offensive lines in Tennessee. The signing leaves many fans hoping the Ravens will focus on the run game when it counts.
The Ravens have never had an issue running the ball in the regular season. They’ve always found a way to remain true to themselves. The issue has always been in their biggest moments, including the 2019 divisional game against the Titans when Jackson threw the ball 59 times (yes, you read that right) while the running backs had nine total carries. That resulted in a 28-12 loss at home, with the same questions we were left with after the AFC Championship game loss.
When the going gets tough, do you stay true to yourself or try to conform to someone you’re not familiar with? Someone once said, “If you let others tell you who you are, you are living their reality, not yours.” Now, I’m not sure who that Ravens team was on January 28, but it certainly was not the team with the best record, who solidified the number one seed in the AFC after playing the second-hardest schedule in the entire NFL. Being untrue to themselves caused them to miss out on multiple opportunities to win it all.
The Ravens have had an entire offseason to do some soul-searching, but the answer is simple and one that my Mama taught me very early in life: Be your authentic self. Be true to who you are, and the benefits of your authenticity will come. Hopefully, for them, they’ll remember who they are and will hoist the Lombardi trophy in New Orleans in 2025.
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