Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh promised all week that his team had learned from their past transgressions and there was no way they would come out flat against the Seattle Seahawks after a big win last week over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Twice before this season it had happened and both times the Ravens lost to teams with one win. Now they faced the Seahawks in the same possible scenario and are repeating history for the third time.
Trailing 19-7 at the half, the Ravens got off to a horrible start right off the bat with a failure to go for it on third and short in what is considered "No Man's Land," too close to punt and too far to kick a field goal. For whatever reason, Harbaugh chose the FG and it was way short which gave Seattle the shorter field to score the opening TD. Conversely, Seattle kicker Steven Hauschka has four field goals to haunt his former team.
A fumble by David Reed, who followed that mistake with an unsportsmanlike penalty and another fumble the next two chances he got, has the Ravens in another halftime hole. One of the big questions that Harbaugh will have to answer is why he continues to give David Reed chances when he consistently proves his is not up to the task and has no place on this team, much less in the NFL.
While not quite the 18 point deficit the Ravens faced at home against the Arizona Cardinals, the Ravens are on the road and the longer Seattle stays in the game, the longer the home team "12th Man" can help them keep their momentum.
The Ravens can certainly comeback and win this game, but another loss in this situation will certainly put them in a tough situation the rest of the season and confirm their reputation as a playoff pretender as opposed to a contender.