3 Ravens to blame for tough loss to Eagles: Justin Tucker continues to make life harder for Baltimore

Jalen Hurts completed 11 of his 19 passing attempts for 118 yards in Sunday's Week 13 game featuring the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens. Knowing this, it'd be easy to assume that Baltimore not only snapped Philadelphia's seven-game winning streak, but did so emphatically.

Unfortunately, that was far from the case. The Eagles won this game 24-19. Special teams were an issue for the Ravens, as was their ability to stop the run. Run prevention had been a strength on defense for the Ravens this season, but Sunday's game didn't prove that.

Now, at 8-5, the Ravens are 1.5 games back of the Pittsburgh Steelers for first place in the AFC North. A playoff berth is still likely, but the division is tougher to win with every loss. These three individuals deserve most of the blame for Sunday's defeat.

3) Ravens GM Eric DeCosta failed at the trade deadline

The Ravens made one major move at this year's trade deadline, acquiring Diontae Johnson in a deal with the Carolina Panthers. By acquiring Johnson, it felt as if the Ravens finally had a WR2 to play alongside Zay Flowers.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Johnson has been a complete non-factor since the deal. He had just one reception on five targets entering Sunday's action, and did not record a single snap during Sunday's game. This is especially noteworthy because Rashod Bateman left the game early with an injury, depleting Baltimore's receiver depth even further.

Flowers had three receptions — all of which came in the first half — for 74 yards. The only other receiver to record a reception in this game was Tylan Wallace, a 25-year-old with seven receptions all year entering Sunday's game. That just isn't good enough.

Yes, the Ravens lean on the run a lot, and yes, they do have their solid tight end duo of Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely, but it's really hard to score enough points against elite opponents with one dependable receiver. What makes this even worse is that the Eagles were without their No. 1 cornerback, Darius Slay.

Eric DeCosta had an opportunity to fortify this wide receiver room which badly needed another weapon, but he whiffed badly. Knowing that teams like the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills acquired legitimate No. 1 receivers makes DeCosta's whiff sting even more. The Ravens would be a lot harder to defend if they had another receiver to target.

2) Derrick Henry was not his usual dominant self

Derrick Henry hasn't been quite as dominant as Saquon Barkley has this season, but it's been pretty close. Henry entered this game with 1,325 rushing yards and a league-leading 13 rushing touchdowns. He was averaging 6.0 yards per carry. Lamar Jackson did plenty of damage on the ground, but Henry was not his usual dominant self in this game.

The 30-year-old did have 82 yards on the ground, but that was primarily due to a good amount of volume. He had 19 carries and averaged 4.3 yards per attempt. Notably, he did not score a touchdown for the second game in a row after recording at least one in each of Baltimore's first 11 games of the year.

Was Henry bad? No, but averaging 4.3 yards per carry is not close to the same as averaging 6.0. He was fine, but he wasn't the elite back that the Ravens need to win games like this. He averaged at least 4.3 yards per carry in all but one game this season. That game was their Week 1 loss in Kansas City. Hopefully, Henry can come back from Baltimore's upcoming bye refreshed and ready to dominate once again.

1) Justin Tucker's job had to be in jeopardy after another no-show

Are we sure that Justin Tucker is actually the player kicking field goals for the Ravens nowadays? He was once arguably the greatest kicker ever, but is now a shell of his former self.

Not only did Tucker miss two of his four field goal attempts, but he missed one of his two extra-point tries. He left seven points on the board in a game Baltimore lost by five. They might not have played well enough to deserve to win, but had Tucker done his job, they would've won. It's really that simple.

Tucker had converted just 73.9 percent of his 23 field goal attempts prior to this game, and that only went down after the contest. Tucker's struggles played a huge role in the team's loss just two weeks prior, so this is especially tough to swallow and is becoming a major problem.

Tucker has done a lot of great things in Baltimore. He has spent his entire 13-year career with the Ravens. He's a future Hall of Famer. Still, Baltimore's primary goal should be winning games. Tucker's inability to make kicks is not helping them accomplish that. The Ravens are 8-5, and could be 10-3 if Tucker was able to make kicks when needed.

The Ravens probably won't cut him, but with his struggles being a very clear issue, they ought to consider it.