Baltimore ties club record with 7th straight win.
Monday, November 25, 2019, Los Angeles: The Baltimore Ravens are treading in unfamiliar territory–hitting on all cylinders. A rebuilt defense is starting to look like the fearful purple units of years past, and the offense is balanced, diverse, and explosive. What’s more, the team is led by what would be the Ravens’ first-ever, season-long Most Valuable Player–multi-threat quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Monday night was another test for this team, and it took place in an unfamiliar and inhospitable place, the 96-year-old Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, against the defending NFC champion Rams on nationally televised Monday Night Football. With all those things stacked against it, Baltimore showed the nation just how good it is, blasting the Rams, 45-6.
It was the Rams’ worst-ever loss in their venerable home venue, and it was also an unfamiliar outcome for Sean McVay’s team. McVay’s Rams had won six of their last seven games against AFC teams. Facing Jackson and the Ravens’ multi-dimensional offense would be Los Angeles’ most significant challenge to date, and that’s what the game turned out to be–just more than anybody could have imagined.
Ever since LAR traded with Jacksonville before Week 7 to obtain shutdown corner Jalen Ramsey, Los Angeles had allowed a league-low 11 points per game. That outcome was not to be this Monday night. The Ravens scored TDs on six straight possessions, adding a field goal on the seventh–getting five touchdown passes from Jackson along the way.
The Ravens scored two touchdowns in each of the first two quarters, adding one in the third and one more in the fourth. Jackson, who was removed in the fourth quarter, passed for 169 yards on 15-for-20 completions and ran for 95 more with surgical performance.
Once again, the night belonged to Lamar. The elusive QB is the first player in Monday-night history to get that many scores in a Monday-night debut. In running for over 90 yards and passing for five scores in one game, Jackson became only the second player in NFL history (Cam Newton is the other) to accomplish that fete. And Jackson is the first quarterback to have 1500 rushing yards and 3000 passing yards over his first two seasons.
Jackson had plenty of offensive company on this night. Mark Ingram ran for 111 yards, a touchdown, and scored his third receiving TD of the year. Marquise Brown and Willie Snead caught two scores each, and the Ravens made the night even more miserable for the Rams by converting nine of 15 third-down plays.
Baltimore effectively attacked the edges while double-teaming stalwart defensive linemen Michael Brockers and Aaron Donald, as well as middle linebacker Cory Littleton. Amazingly, Donald was credited with just one tackle.
On the other side of the ball, Rams’ QB Jared Goff had a tough night against a physical Ravens secondary that plays plenty of man-to-man press coverage. Goff had completed a league-low 51 percent of his passes against such a scheme, the league’s lowest figure.
Running back Todd Gurley didn’t contribute much, either, held to just 22 yards on only six carries. And tight coverage in the secondary held leading receivers, Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, to just four catches each through the first three quarters.
While the Rams were having big problems offensively, the Ravens were taking care of the ball. Baltimore averted a turnover for the sixth time this season.
By halftime, the Ravens were out in front, 28-6, in a game that felt (in some ways) like a preseason contest. And with that performance, Baltimore has now won every game under John Harbaugh when it has led by ten or more points by halftime (N=35). This year, the Ravens have outscored opponents 70-16 in the first half over the last three games.
But while the Ravens were moving the ball up and down the field, the Rams’ problems continued in the second half. Held scoreless, cornerback (and former Rams starter) Marcus Peters and veteran Jimmy Smith each intercepted Goff. It was the eighth straight game that the Ravens have had a pickoff (league-high). The Ravens now have forced two turnovers in five consecutive games.
On the special teams front, punter Sam Koch never came on the field. That was the second time that’s happened in 2019.
With the win, the Ravens are now 9-2 for only the second time in team history, and for the first since the 2012 championship season. But there will be no rest for this team. Working on a short week, the Ravens will take on the NFC West-leading San Francisco 49ers–a team that dispatched the Packers last week–next Sunday in Baltimore.
It will be another big test for a team that has a knack of passing them with flying colors.
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UPDATED AFC PLAYOFF STANDINGS
Teams are listed by seed, team, overall record, division record, conference record, and their next three opponents. All games will be played Sunday afternoons unless otherwise noted.
DIVISION LEADERS
1. New England, 10-1, 4-0, 6-1; at Houston (Sun. night), Kansas City, at Cincinnati
2. Baltimore, 9-2, 3-1, 6-2; San Francisco, at Buffalo, New York Jets (Thur. night)
3. Houston, 7-4, 3-1; 6-2, New England (Sun. night), Denver, at Tennessee
4. Kansas City, 7-4, 3-0, 5-3; Oakland, at New England, Denver
WILD-CARD SPOTS
5. Buffalo, 8-3, 3-1, 6-2, at Dallas (Thanksgiving), Baltimore, at Pittsburgh
6. Pittsburgh, 6-5, 2-2, 5-3; Cleveland, at Arizona, Buffalo
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
7. Oakland, 6-5, 2-1, 4-3; at Kansas City, Tennessee, Jacksonville
8. Indianapolis, 6-5, 3-1, 5-5, Tennessee, at Tampa Bay, at New Orleans (Mon. night)
9. Tennessee, 6-5, 1-2, 4-4; at Indianapolis, at Oakland, Houston
ALSO ALIVE: Cleveland, Jacksonville, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Jets, Denver, Miami
ELIMINATED: Cincinnati
x – clinched playoff berth
y – clinched division title
z – clinched home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs
NOTE: In the Divisional (second) round, the top seed will play the lowest surviving seed from Wild Card Weekend, while the second seed will play the highest surviving seed from Wild Card Weekend.
