Ravens coach John Harbaugh is in the business of winning.

When he calls a play, he obviously wants it to work.

And when it works, the team is lauded. But when it doesn’t, everyone — himself included — questions his decision-making.

Had the Ravens held their 40-25 fourth-quarter lead over the Buffalo Bills, Harbaugh probably wouldn’t have had to answer as many questions about choices made throughout the game.

But after blowing the two-score lead with minutes to go and losing 41-40, every move went under the microscope.

With 16 hours between him and the final buzzer, Harbaugh explained his thought processes after going over the film:

Fourth-and-3

All the Ravens needed was a first down and they’d win the game. But after three failed plays (explanations to follow), the Ravens were facing fourth-and-3 with 1:33 left on the clock in the fourth quarter.

Should they trust their two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson and the future Hall of Fame running back Derrick Henry? Or do they punt the ball and give it back to reigning MVP Josh Allen?

Harbaugh said they only had a short window of time to make the decision.

“You’ve got to make the decision very quickly and you’ve got to say, ‘Hey, do we have a call that we really like? Do we have a call we love here?’” Harbaugh said. “Because you’ve got to send the punt team out or you’re going to have a delay of game. Or you’ve got to send your offense out or you’re not going to get the play off, just that fast.”

The Ravens had three timeouts left.

However, Harbaugh said Jackson was coming off the field, and he could tell something wasn’t right. Jackson explained after the game that he was cramping. And so the Ravens went with the punt team.

Harbaugh said he was comfortable trusting the defense to win the game for them. The defense just had to keep Buffalo from field goal range, since the Ravens had a two-point lead.

Prior to that possession, the Ravens defense had given up a 29-yard completion that set up a Bills touchdown. The drive before that, the defense had given up seven plays of five or more yards, including three of 10 or more yards, and committed pass interference. The Bills scored a touchdown on that drive as well.

“I trust our defense and I’m going to trust our defense this year in a lot of big situations, because our defense is going to be really, really good,” Harbaugh said. “And I know there’s doubt about that right now, probably, but I guarantee your our defense is going to play really good football this year.”

The play calls leading up to fourth-and-3

A one-yard rush by Henry, followed by a Bills timeout.

Henry comes off the field. Then a read-option to Zay Flowers for no gain. Another Bills timeout.

Then Jackson runs over to wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and whispers in his ear. He connects with him for six yards when the Ravens need nine. And now the Ravens are at fourth-and-3.

Why did the Ravens take out Henry, who was averaging 9.4 yards per carry?

“[...] We took Derrick off the field because that’s a Zay and Justice [Hill]-type play that we had designed for that.”

It also gave Henry a chance to catch his breath, Harbaugh said, since they were hopeful he would have a chance to get back out there. After the play didn’t gain any yardage, the Ravens needed to rely on the passing offense as they faced third-and-long.

Harbaugh said there were a few other plays they could have run on that second down.

“Do we want to run some kind of a swap boot [play-action bootleg pass]?” Harbaugh said. “Some kind of a naked boot or a pin, some kind of a pin play and get Lamar outside the pocket? That’s definitely going through our mind. That’s on the call sheet. A drop-back pass? You can run a drop-back pass. You might get [cover] zero, have some kind of a zero check and beat them on a crossing route or something. Those are all of the types of things that are on the call sheet.”

Of course, Harbaugh wishes they had called a different play. The one they called didn’t work.

“Maybe we could’ve had some sort of a naked boot[leg],” Harbaugh said. “I kind of would’ve liked maybe if we’d have done that, hindsight being 20-20. I’m not sure I want to drop-back pass against ‘0’ [an all-out blitz] right there, necessarily. But it’s not to say we couldn’t have popped it, because our guys are good man route runners, and maybe we get the ball off and we get a catch and run. But that ball can get batted down, too.”

Clock management

When up by multiple scores in the fourth quarter, the Ravens still want to be aggressive, Harbaugh said. They also want to milk the clock.

The best way to do that is by getting first downs.

But there’s a balance that needs to be struck, he said.

While you certainly want to run off as much time by letting the 40-second play clock run down — “that’s just good clock management” — it’s not as simple as using almost all of those 40 seconds.

“You also don’t want to do it sometimes in such a way as it takes away your momentum or your ability to actually get the first down,” Harbaugh said. “Because once you start running the play clock down under five seconds, then the defense can tee off on you. I mean, they get a get-off, too, because they can see the clock and see you have to snap it on the next hut.”

Defensive strategy

The Ravens know Allen well. They’ve seen him often, and they’re familiar with all the qualities that earned him the MVP award last year.

They had a really solid plan for containing him, Harbaugh said. He’s still satisfied with that plan.

The problem was the execution.

Allen made plays with his legs. He made plays with his arm. He made plays in the pocket, and he made plays while scrambling.

Harbaugh called the defense’s inability to keep Allen in the pocket the “No. 1 disappointment for me.”

While the pass rush certainly has work to do, he said a lot more goes into it than that. Outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy mentioned after the game that the “[pass] rush and coverage didn’t marry up good enough to finish and close out the game.”

As a result, the Bills finished with 497 yards of offense. Harbaugh pointed out most of them came in the fourth quarter, a fact that safety Kyle Hamilton said had the defense “banging our heads” since the unit gave up such a large lead. The next day, Harbaugh echoed the sentiment that the defense was at a loss

“Defensively, well, we tried everything,” Harbaugh said. “We tried everything. We were playing man. We were playing zone. We were blitzing. We were coming off the edge. We were showing and dropping out of there.”

It never felt like they were out-schemed so much as they were out-executed.

For example, the Bills found success with a 51-yard catch and run from running back James Cook in the fourth quarter. But the defensive package the Ravens were in should have had that covered. Likewise, the 22-yard completion to tight end Dalton Kincaid at the end of the half that set up a field goal also should have been covered.

“That’s supposed to be defended there at that depth right there. That’s the way the defense is built,” Harbaugh said. “I think that’s part of what I was saying before. Early in this season, you find some things out, especially when you’re playing a really good offense. You get exposed a little bit. And we learned where we had to get better, too.”