My opinion, the Colts loss at home and the Titans loss as home were the biggest groin kicks to me.
KC sucked but it's KC and Mahomes and yeah. BUF sucked but it was Allen and on the road and Cheffers crew so I watched expecting short straw. And frankly I'm programmed now to expect Harbs to help blow playoff games.
But the 2006 squad was head and shoulders the best team in football that year in my view. The defense was practically 2000 level, run game was solid and McNair was a game manager type but all year long made the right decisions and the right throws at just the right time. They held Peyton out of the endzone. It was at home, coming off a bye, and the crowd was as amped up as any home crowd ever.
The TEN game was also one where the Ravens talent wise had NO BUSINESS losing to that team. Vrabel and company outcoached Harbs drastically from the moment a slightly high throw went off Andrews hands and got picked.
I think I would agree. Buffalo was never going to be easy at their place. They were undefeated at home this year and the weather factored in. I said on the playoff thread that I thought the Ravens would beat the Steelers at home and lose in Buffalo. Disappointing the way it happened, but the result was not unexpected to me. The Ravens did beat themselves, but drops and turnovers can happen if you aren't used to that kind of weather.
The ball slipped out of Lamar's hands on the fumble. Maybe that doesn't happen if they were in Baltimore. Buffalo made a good play on punch out of Andrews. He probably should have just gone straight up field instead of running laterally, but still credit Buffalo for punching it out. The bobble on the two point conversion? Again the ball is slippery.
KC is KC, you usually need to play perfect to beat them and the Ravens did not. The also went off of their game plan which should have been to run all over KC the way Buffalo did the week before.
In 2006 the Ravens offense totally sucked against Indy. But Indy had Peyton and he finds ways to win. They lost to a great QB. But they were clearly the better team they year.
But the all time disappointment as far as playoff losses go has to be 2019 in my mind. The Ravens were a #1 seed and had blown everyone away most of the year. They were double digit favorites to a Tennessee team with Ryan Tannehill. Lamar threw two picks and had a fumble, the Raven failed on two fourth down attempts where they were perfect during the season, and lost by 16 points to a team that was a 9-7, #6 seed. That is still hard to believe.