Baltimore Ravens must overcome another collapse, which is becoming theme of 2022 season

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Odafe Oweh and Brandon Stephens had their tablets in front of them some 30,000 feet in the air Sunday, not long after the Baltimore Ravens suffered another second-half collapse on the way to a 28-27 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars that came down to the final minute.

The stench of defeat filling the plane cabin, Owen and Stephens were reliving the shortcoming when a veteran member of the defense strode up the aisle with instructions.

"One of our old heads was like, 'Yo, put that down. Focus on the next one,'" Oweh, a second-year edge rusher, told USA TODAY Sports. "Because if you keep watching the film, you keep on watching the negative stuff, it's going to get in your head and you're not going to play as efficient as you want to next week."

Oweh didn't want to divulge who told him to stop watching the tape, but the team-wide philosophy for Baltimore this week is a familiar one the Ravens have had to confront this season. On Monday, head coach John Harbaugh called it for what it was: another fourth-quarter collapse.

"That’s what it is in the grand scheme," Harbaugh said.

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All four of Baltimore's losses this season have followed the similar script. The Jaguars scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to escape with a win. In Week 2, the defense allowed 28 points to the Miami Dolphins in the final quarter. The New York Giants trailed the Ravens during most of their Week 6 matchup, only for New York to force a key turnover late and score 14 points in the last 15 minutes. Against the Buffalo Bills two weeks prior to that, the offense went scoreless in the second half and overtime while Buffalo scored 20 unanswered for a 23-20 win.

Against Jacksonville, the Ravens offense only had the ball for 4:37 in the fourth quarter (but also scored more than at least 10 points in the fourth for the fourth straight week). Five of the Jaguars' 10 longest plays came in that quarter, all going for 15-plus yards.

"If you lose you're going to be discouraged, obviously, by the nature that you lose," Oweh said.

He added: "You got to, really, just wipe it off and just move to the next because the next opponent is worried about what you did before. They're focused on what you are as a player right now. So you got to make sure that player shows up."

Oweh said the nature of the loss could be discouraging.

"It's going to make you feel some type of way, but you got to move on. We got two historical, weird losses (Miami and Jacksonville) that we just went through — even the Bills game. We're up, and then we just lose."

For defensive end Calais Campbell, a 15-year veteran, the teams he has belonged to with playoff aspirations did not dwell on losses. The Ravens are still in first place in the AFC North and host Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

"We put all that fire and fury into the next week's opponent," Campbell told USA TODAY Sports.

Harbaugh said he would not shy away from addressing the "psychological" part of Sunday's loss. His talk with the team Tuesday focused on corrections and was short and sweet.

"It was essentially about moving forward and channeling energy," Campbell said.

But Campbell said Harbaugh had a rousing talk that had him on the edge of his seat in the team meeting Wednesday. The message was about "December football" and the opportunities it presents.

"If we get better on defense in the fourth quarter and offense in the fourth quarter, obviously, we’re not going to have any more issues with fourth-quarter collapses, so to speak, and if we don’t, we are," Harbaugh said. "That’s up to us. That’s our job. It’s (up to) our guys, our coaches, players, all of us, to get the job done, and we’ve got to find a way to do it."

Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca. 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Baltimore Ravens look to put fourth-quarter collapses behind them