The Sports Xchange

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh doesn’t care about the naysayers. Despite a 1-5 record following a loss to the San Francisco 49ers the previous day, the coach was defiant, resilient and downright optimistic in his Monday press conference.

The Ravens have lost their five games by a total of 22 points. Baltimore has also squandered leads in the fourth quarter in three of those losses. The Ravens will now need a miraculous turnaround to make the postseason for the seventh time in the past nine seasons.

Still, Harbaugh has every intention to keep fighting and not looking toward 2016.

“We’ll fight, man,” Harbaugh said. “We’ll come out swinging. We’ll find a way to win, and we will turn it around. There’s no doubt about it. It’s going to happen, no matter how much some people doubt us.”

On defense, Harbaugh said the team simply has to stop giving up big plays.

The Ravens were further exposed in Week 6 against San Francisco. The secondary was continuously beat downfield because of blown coverages. When Baltimore did have a chance to make a play, cornerback Jimmy Smith and linebacker Albert McClellan both dropped passes that were directly in their hands for potential interceptions.

The Ravens have already made several roster moves to fix the secondary and none of them have worked. That group will once again face a stern challenge with Cardinals’ quarterback Carson Palmer, who went 9-4 against them when he was with the Bengals.

“He’s throwing accurately,” Harbaugh said about Palmer. “He’s making throw under pressure. He looks good.”

On offense, Harbaugh said the team needs to start making some big plays. So far, quarterback Joe Flacco cannot effectively stretch defenses because he doesn’t have a legitimate downfield threat. Flacco had a pair of costly interceptions against the 49ers before putting together a couple of scoring drives to get his team back in the game. He is simply going to have to play better for the Ravens to string together some victories.

“We had two stupid mistakes by myself and the one gave them three points and took points off the board for us,” Flacco said. “It all starts with me not making those mistakes. We can’t afford to do that right now. We have to go out there and play fundamental football, take care of the football, and when the plays present themselves, we’ve got to make them. We weren’t able to do that. I didn’t play smart and we didn’t make the plays here and there to get us going.”

Baltimore’s top receiver Steve Smith has become the heart and soul of the team, but he has already announced his retirement effective at the end of the season. Smith, who is playing with microfractures in his back, caught a big 34-yard touchdown pass late in third quarter after committing two drops in end zone. Despite being hampered by the sore back, Smith still caught more than twice as many passes (seven) as any other wide receiver.

The Ravens would have options leading up to the NFL trade deadline on Nov. 3 to stock draft picks. With the recent extension for Marshall Yanda, Baltimore might not be able to meet a potential market demand for left guard Kelechi Osemele. Numerous teams could use help on the offensive line. Teams that need a pass rusher might be interested in linebacker Elvis Dumervil.

However, trading away any of their top talent does not appear to be any part of the plan.

“As coaches, we find the stuff that we do well and we’ve got to make sure they go out there and do it,” Harbaugh said. “That’s on coaches, that’s how I see it. I’m not making excuses for injuries or for what players we might have or don’t have. You always have good enough players. You find a way to put them in a position to get the job done. Don’t just throw plays out there. Throw plays out there that are going to work, that have a shot to work.”

REPORT CARD VS. 49ERS:

–PASSING OFFENSE: C-minus. Quarterback Joe Flacco completed 33 of 53 passes for 343 yards with two touchdowns and the two interceptions. His receivers had some costly drops. Steve Smith returned after missing the previous game and caught seven passes for 137 yards with a touchdown. The rest of the receiving corps was contained.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: C-minus. Running attack Justin Forsett managed to play after leaving the previous game with an ankle injury. He finished with 62 yards on 17 carries after rushing for more than 100 yards in each of the past two games. Baltimore was forced to throw more because it trailed the entire game.

–PASS DEFENSE: D. This unit struggled again and allowed several big plays, most notably a 76-yard touchdown from Colin Kaepernick to former Raven Torrey Smith. Another former Raven, Anquan Boldin, had five catches for 102 yards.

–RUSH DEFENSE: B. The Ravens rush defense was once again stellar. 49ers running back Carlos Hyde was held to 55 yards on 21 carries. The Ravens also kept San Francisco’s running attack out of the end zone.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: C. Kicker Justin Tucker missed another field-goal attempt. This time, he slipped trying to boot one from 45 yards. Jeremy Ross was a spark returning kicks for the second straight week and he has forced himself into the lineup.

–COACHING: D. The Ravens got off to another slow start and San Francisco made them pay. The coaches also squandered two timeouts — one on a challenge that did not appear to have any chance at being overturned. Baltimore got the ball back with under two minutes left in the game but could not stop the clock and that proved costly.