The Baltimore Ravens have yanked the “fun” from their locker room in a bid to halt a free fall that has them sitting at 1–5 heading into Week 8, while Derrick Henry expressed his frustrations in a sideline stumble.

Following a series of lopsided defeats and mounting injuries, the club removed a ping-pong table, video game consoles, a basketball hoop and cornhole boards — classic coach-to-culture reset moves that have dotted NFL locker rooms for years.

On the field, Baltimore’s tailspin has been stark. The Ravens opened with a 41–40 shootout loss in Buffalo, where Lamar Jackson shoved a fan, but rebounded to thump division rival Cleveland 41–17, then dropped four straight: 38–30 to Detroit, 37–20 at Kansas City, 44–10 to Houston and 17–3 to the Rams.

The cumulative picture is grim — 194 points allowed in six games (32.3 per game) and an offense that cratered once Jackson exited late against the Chiefs with a hamstring injury. He hasn’t played since.

Jackson’s status looms over everything. Before the injury, he led the NFL in touchdown passes and passer rating while the Ravens averaged 32.8 points.

In his absence, backup Cooper Rush has started the last two games, and Baltimore mustered just 13 points combined in losses to the Texans and Rams before the bye.

On Monday, Jackson remained out of practice, though John Harbaugh expressed optimism about a return soon. Chicago awaits on Sunday, with five AFC North games still on the schedule to salvage.

If the removal of leisure gear felt familiar, that’s because it is — a well-trodden NFL tactic during skid control. Mike Tomlin famously banned all games from the Steelers’ locker room amid an 0–4 start in 2013, a move couched as sharpening focus.

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Tom Coughlin’s culture resets in New York (2004) and Jacksonville (2017) also included ripping out ping-pong tables and rearranging spaces to break up cliques.

For Baltimore, the issues run deeper than a basketball hoop by the stalls. The Ravens have been thin at multiple defensive spots, gave up a 40-piece in Buffalo and 44 at home to C.J. Stroud’s Texans, and saw situational play swing against them in consecutive weeks.

Even with Derrick Henry flashing (122 rushing yards vs. the Rams), complementary football hasn’t materialized. The numbers show the slide: 1–5, last in the AFC North, and a negative point differential of 50 through six games.