Ryan Clark, Marcus Spears criticize Ravens OC Todd Monken for conservative play-calling in 4th quarter of Week 1 defeat to Bills

The Baltimore Ravens moved and ran the ball at will for the first three quarters of Sunday’s Week 1 road game against the Buffalo Bills. Their last three drives in the fourth quarter was a different story.

Baltimore ran eight plays for 17 yards. Running back Derrick Henry, who rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns, fumbled with 3:10 left on the clock, leading to a Buffalo score four plays later. The Bills defeated the Ravens, 41-40, on a Matt Prater 32-yard field goal as time expired, completing the fourth quarter comeback. ESPN‘s Ryan Clark was confused by Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken‘s play-calling late in the game.

“My biggest thing is this, though; your run plays don’t have to be conservative because you have the ultimate weapon at quarterback. Let’s put somebody in a quandary. Let’s make you make a decision,” Clark said on Monday Night Countdown. “Do I take the dive? Am I getting the quarterback? Who has to be accountable? Where is my assignment? They didn’t do any of that.

“They said we’re going to line up and we’re going to hand the ball off to Derrick Henry. And, we’re going to make you use your timeouts. Todd Monken tucked his whistle. And he didn’t say, ‘Let’s go get it.'”

Ravens offense disappears late in Week 1 loss to Bills

The Ravens’ ineffectiveness on those three drives allowed the Bills to claw their way back into the game. Like Henry, quarterback Lamar Jackson was picking up easy yardage with his legs. He finished the game with 70 rushing yards on just six carries. Marcus Spears, Clark’s ESPN colleague, also pointed the finger at Monken.

“You go condensed formation, and you’ve got Lamar Jackson back there,” Spears said. “Todd Monken swallowing his whistle or whatever the hell he was thinking, find this man some space pre-snap and live and die if you don’t get it by Lamar Jackson taking care of the football and trying to go make a play for three yards.”

The Ravens let this one get away late, and that’s been a troubling trend under head coach John Harbaugh. According to Benjamin Solak of ESPN, Baltimore has lost 8 games since the 2021 season in which they, at one point, had a win probability of at least 90%. That is three more than the next closest team.