Ravens rebound with 31-17 win over Washington Football Team
The Baltimore Ravens got back on track and improved to 3-1 in Week Four after an embarrassing loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football in Week Three with a convincing 34-17 win over their interconference and interstate rivals, the Washington Football Team, in the Battle of the Beltway.
The all-time series between these two teams were tied at three apiece heading into this matchup but the Ravens were able to break the tie by receiving solid performances from all three phases and played complementary football to cruise to a two-possession victory.
Baltimore had several players churn out bounce-back games including reigning league MVP Lamar Jackson who had a career-worst performance as a passer against the Chiefs and responded with an impressive overall performance against Washington.
He went 14-of-21 for 197 yards, two touchdowns, and his first interception of the season on a play where his receiver didn’t turn his head around. There were a handful of plays that he left on the field in the passing game that came on some missed opportunities to connect with speedy wideout Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown deep down the field but it was still a solid passing outing.
Jackson also added another 53 yards on the ground, 50 of which came on a 50-yard touchdown run that was not only the longest of his career but the longest in the league by a quarterback since 2015 when Marcus Mariota recorded an 87-yarder.
Like Jackson, the team’s performance in this game wasn’t flawless and there is still room for improvement and better execution from start to finish but that didn’t stop them from making the momentum-swinging and game-winning plays when they presented themselves.
The Ravens scored the first points of the game two plays after recently extended First-Team All-Pro cornerback Marlon Humphrey forced his second fumble of the season and set the offense up deep in Washington territory. A 33-yard catch and run from Jackson to Brown set up a first and goal from the one-yard line where veteran running back Mark Ingram plowed his way into the end zone on the next play to put Baltimore up 7-0.
A missed 54-yard Dustin Hopkins field goal set the Ravens’ offense up nearly at midfield. After a pair of back to back runs by Ingram that picked up six yards, Jackson took it the distance on the aforementioned long touchdown run to go up 14-0.
Washington responded with a scoring drive of their own on the ensuing possession that covered 75 yards in 10 plays and cut the Ravens lead in half after rookie running back Antonio Gibson got into the end zone on a two-yard touchdown run up the middle.
Baltimore answered on the following possession and went up 21-7 after covering the same amount of distance in two fewer plays and was capped off by the first on tight end Mark Andrews two touchdown catches on the day and 25-yard reception that Jackson perfectly placed in the left front corner of the end zone.
The Ravens were on their way to taking that two-touchdown lead into halftime and possibly tacking on another score before Jackson was intercepted for the first time since Week 14 of last season.
On an out-breaking route where wide receiver Miles Boykin didn’t turn his head around fast enough to make the reception, Washington corner Kendall Fuller made a great play on the ball to haul in his first of two turnovers of the day. Hopkins drilled a 43-yarder three plays later to put his team within 11 points at the half.
Both teams possessed the ball twice in the third quarter and had a short drive that ended in a punt and a long drive that ate up more than six minutes off the game clock. The only difference between the two was the end results.
The Ravens opened up the second half by marching 75 yards in 10 plays and went up 28-10 after Jackson and Andrews linked up for the second time in the game. Whereas Washington took nearly eight minutes and 17 plays to cover 87 yards before turning the ball over on downs.
Baltimore took over deep in their territory but moved the ball 49 yards past midfield and salted over six minutes off the clock in the process before tacking on a 46-yard Justin Tucker field goal to go up 31-10.
Washington capitalized off a Robert Griffin III interception that Fuller hauled in along the left sideline for the second time by covering 42 plays in four plays and ended with a one-yard rushing touchdown by Dwayne Haskins on a quarterback sneak to score the last points of the game for what would be a 31-17 final box score.
Final stats:
Ravens-
Jackson’s 53 yards on the ground led the team, Brown led the team in catches and yards with four for 86, rookie inside linebacker Patrick Queen led the team with a career-high 12 total tackles including a nine solo, and outside linebacker Matt Judon led the team in sacks with his first two of the year.
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Haskins finished 32-of-45 for 314 passing with no interceptions but no touchdowns either, Gibson led the home team in rushing with 46 yards on 13 carries and added another 82 yards on four catches, wide receiver Terry McLaurin led the team in receptions and receiving yards with a game-high 118 yards on 10 catches, and inside linebacker Jon Bostic led the team with a game-high 14 total tackles. Washington’s lone sack came from defensive tackle Tim Settle.
