AP

The Ravens rank last in the league in total yards, passing yards and net yards per passing attempt through the first three weeks of the season, but Joe Flacco isn’t willing to concede that those numbers mean the offense is in dire straits.

Flacco was willing to concede that last Sunday’s outing against the Jaguars was a disaster, but he said the way the previous two games — both of which were wins — played out meant that the statistics weren’t particularly impressive. That’s why he thinks it’s unwise to lump all three games under the same heading

“I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves when we all of a sudden start saying we haven’t played well for three weeks,” Flacco said. “We played terribly last week. There’s no way around that. But the other two weeks, we did what we had to do to win football games and I don’t think that’s anything that we can hang our head over.”

Flacco’s point about the first two weeks of the season has merit as the Ravens led by a combined score of 38-7 at halftime and spent the rest of the day running out the clock while also easing Flacco back in after his back injury this summer. Keeping things conservative won’t work every week, though, and the Ravens offense needs to show some signs that they’re capable of living another way if they’re going to hold onto a winning record beyond the opening weeks of the season.