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The Ravens walked off the field Sunday to a shocking sight and a sobering sound. The scoreboard inside M&T Bank Stadium read: Houston Texans 44, Ravens 10. Boos rained as players and coaches trudged to the locker room following a third straight loss.

“They expect excellence, and it’s our job to deliver that,” wide receiver Rashod Bateman said Wednesday. “And we are not upholding the standard right now, so we deserve all the criticism. We take it, we’ll handle it, but we’ve just got to fix it.”

Solutions won’t be any easier this week. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is expected to miss his second straight game with a hamstring injury, and the defense could again be without inside linebacker Roquan Smith (hamstring) and cornerback Marlon Humphrey (calf) against an explosive Los Angeles Rams attack.

As the Ravens (1-4) look to stabilize their spiraling season before a much-needed bye, here’s what to watch in their Week 6 matchup against the Rams (3-2). All stats are courtesy of Sports Info Solutions, Pro Football Focus and the NFL’s Next Gen Stats unless otherwise noted.

1. It’s hard to tackle Derrick Henry. It should be even harder to tackle him in the rain, which could blanket the Baltimore area Sunday afternoon.

But the All-Pro running back can’t bowl defenders over if he never breaks into the second level, and the Ravens’ recent run blocking has not provided much of a runway. Over the past four weeks, Henry has been hit at or behind the line of scrimmage on 24 of 46 carries. He averaged 0 yards before contact Sunday against the Texans.

Those clogged running lanes have made Henry an easier target. In Week 1, when he rushed for 169 yards against the Buffalo Bills, Henry forced three missed tackles. In the four games since, he’s rushed for 148 yards and forced one missed tackle.

“I think he’s running hard,” offensive coordinator Todd Monken said Thursday. “Again, it’s a culmination of things — creating space, creating opportunities. Because just a few weeks ago, on third-and-1, we hit a ‘downhill power’ [against the Detroit Lions] and he went for [28 yards] on third-and-1, and there you go.

“So sometimes it just takes a play here or there, and you have to get the defense worn down a little bit. You think about some of the games we had last year; where did some of those big plays come from? We’re no different than other teams where you see the running backs late in the game making these big runs. We haven’t gotten there.”

2. Could practice squad quarterback Tyler Huntley start over Cooper Rush or at least cut into his playing time? Coach John Harbaugh left the door open Monday, saying the Ravens would “consider everything.”

Speculation over another quarterback change has died down in the days since. Asked Wednesday about the absence of Jackson, wide receiver Zay Flowers said the Ravens “believe in ‘Coop.’” He did not mention Huntley.

As the Ravens look for more consistent production on offense, Rush’s biggest asset might be a surprise: his pressure mitigation. In his 12 games with the Dallas Cowboys last year, Rush allowed a pressure to be converted into a sack 17.3% of the time, the 11th-best mark among the NFL’s 32 most active quarterbacks.

As for the more mobile Huntley? In his five games with the Miami Dolphins, his pressure-to-sack rate was 25.4%, which would’ve ranked third worst among those 32 quarterbacks last year.

Huntley’s quickness could be his ticket onto the field for short-yardage and goal-line situations Sunday — he had 26 carries for 135 yards and two touchdowns last season — but sacks are often drive-killers. And the Rams rank seventh in the NFL in pressure rate (41.3%).

“We just haven’t sustained and created a rhythm on offense enough,” Harbaugh said Monday. “Now we’ve scored points in some games, and that’s been good, because we’ve had so many big plays, but that’s not really a rhythm, either. We’re not on the field enough. … We’ve been between ... 50 or 55 plays, so that puts a lot of pressure on your defense. That’s complementary football. You have to be able to sustain drives, get first downs and get ahead of the sticks.”

3. The Ravens’ trade for safety Alohi Gilman should free Kyle Hamilton to play closer to the line of scrimmage, where he can help a run defense and pass rush that desperately need playmakers. But his most important support could come in coverage.

With Smith expected to miss Sunday’s game, the Ravens will need Hamilton’s awareness in the middle of the field. On between-the-numbers throws aimed 5 to 15 yards downfield — a wide patch of grass that their second- and third-level defenders have struggled to defend — the Ravens have allowed 28 catches on 34 targets for 367 yards and four touchdowns this season. On a per-play basis, every attempt has amounted to more than a point in overall expected value for opposing offenses.

That definite weakness happens to be a definite strength for Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, who leads the NFL in receiving yards (588). On his 20 intermediate targets between the numbers this season, Nacua has 20 catches for 235 yards, 15 first downs and a touchdown. Nacua’s contributions as a run blocker — he occasionally cameos as a lead blocker on outside runs — make him even harder to scheme against.

“It’s hard to get a beat on where he is going to line up at and what he’s going to do,” defensive coordinator Zach Orr said Thursday. “I think the key is just making sure that we’re lined up correctly, and we have our cleats in the ground, because they do a lot of motions and shifts. They probably motion more than any team in the National Football League. So we have to make sure that we are aligned right, that we’re aligned quickly and we’re communicating and on the same page so we can give ourselves a chance.”

4. A week ago, Orr was asked how the defense planned to fix its takeaway problem. His answer: “Hit people harder.”

It didn’t work. The Texans didn’t fumble or commit a turnover in their blowout win Sunday.

On Thursday, Orr was asked again about takeaways. He again came back to physicality: “There are, what — 50, 60, 70 plays [on offense] being played? So, regardless of if a team is running the ball or throwing the ball, knock the ball off of them. Let’s go make a play. Let’s get our hat on the football.”

The Ravens might have better luck on a rainy Sunday. Rams running back Kyren Williams has fumbled 10 times since 2023 and has lost seven of them, the most among running backs in that span, according to ESPN. His fourth-quarter fumble near the goal line cost the Rams a potential go-ahead touchdown in their overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 5.

5. The Ravens haven’t lost three consecutive home games in one season since 2021, when a rash of injuries and a COVID-19 outbreak sent the team spiraling.

The Rams knocked off the Ravens inside M&T Bank Stadium during that late-season stretch, scoring 13 of the game’s final 16 points in a 20-19 win. It wasn’t pretty, but it was good enough. Especially considering the travel involved.

Cross-country flights can be a burden for teams, messing with players’ sleep schedules and disrupting their circadian rhythm. Under coach Sean McVay, however, the Rams are 14-4 in games that have kicked off at 1 p.m. against teams based in the Eastern Time Zone.

This year, the Rams will fly to Baltimore on Saturday — some teams prefer to take cross-country flights two days before their game — and won’t leave until next week. While the Ravens enjoy their bye, the Rams will practice at Oriole Park at Camden Yards ahead of a trip to London in Week 7.