Opinion: If the Ravens lose to the Jets, just forget about the Ravens 2016 season

The New York Jets announced earlier this week that quarterback Geno Smith will be the starter vs. the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday due to the struggles of now backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Let’s cut to the chase. If the Ravens cannot beat the 1-5 Jets led by Smith at quarterback, just forget about the 2016 season.

I have seen enough excuses from the Ravens over the last year. I don’t care to discuss the issues with the penalties or with the injuries everyone has talked about it over and over and have beaten a dead horse with it. This team doesn’t know how to win anymore and it can’t win by double digits. The last time the Ravens won a game by double digits you would have to go back to the 2014 AFC Wild Card game when the Ravens beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road. The Ravens are just not a fun team to watch. It is like a chore watching this team.

When the Ravens started the season off 3-0 this year, I thought this team was learning from its mistakes from the 2015 season in late game situations. I was wrong and it is starting to look like the Ravens 3-0 record was fools’ gold. The Jets defense is struggling and the Jets offense is struggling. The Jets are a bad team. Can the Ravens exploit the flaws on the Jets roster? I doubt it.

The Ravens have a knack these days for letting the opponent’s weakness because a strength when playing the Ravens. The New York Giants have a bad offensive line in pass protection and the Ravens pass rush made the Giants offensive line look like the 95 Dallas Cowboys offensive line.

The week before in week 5, the Ravens played a Washington Redskins defense that entered the matchup being ranked 29th in yards allowed, 30th against the run, 25th against the pass, 32nd in third down defense (57 percent), 26th in points allowed and 23rd in red zone defense. The Ravens offense scored 10 points.

In week 4, the Ravens played an Oakland Raiders defense that was giving up over 130 yards a game rushing. Instead of running the ball in the first half, the Ravens threw the ball 30 times. The Ravens started to run the ball until it was too late.

So looking at the last three losses by the Ravens, what makes anyone think that the Ravens will actually exploit the other team’s weakness? It is highly likely that the Ravens won’t exploit the Jets which is part of the reason why the Ravens haven’t had a double digit win in almost two years.

I don’t care if Joe Flacco starts at quarterback for the Ravens or if Ryan Mallett does. The Ravens better win. Because if the Ravens lose this week and go 3-4 on the season, not only can the Ravens forget about any postseason hopes, the team better be ready to clean house in the 2017 offseason in a big way.

The reason why I say that people should forget about the Ravens this year if the team loses to the Jets is because the Ravens finish the season against the New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals. Three of those games are on the road.

There is no way you can lose to the Raiders, Redskins, Giants and Jets in a single season and say that the Ravens future as a franchise is ok.