Lamar Jackson Dazzles in Stunning Monday Night Overtime Win Over Indianapolis

The Baltimore Ravens on the back of quarterback Lamar Jackson pulled off a miraculous comeback on Monday night beating Indianapolis by a final score of 31-25.

While the Ravens came out of Monday night with the win. It was a rough start to the game for Ravens, after receiving the opening kickoff, the Ravens offense quickly went three and out. Indianapolis on the other hand wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. On Indianapolis’ opening drive quarterback Carson Wentz found running back Jonathan Taylor on third and long. The second year running back received the ball out of the backfield turning up field, going untouched 76-yards for the touchdown.

Less then three minutes into the game it quickly became apparent that the Ravens would be in for fight. Following the Ravens second three and out on their next possession, Indianapolis seemed poised to score again. On the arm of Carson Wentz, Indianapolis drove to the Baltimore 14 yard line. On second down, rookie Odafe Oweh rushed of the edge knocking the ball loose from Wentz. The Ravens recovered on their own 19 yard line, looking to shift momentum back in their favor.

The Ravens however would fail to do much of anything after the turnover, gaining only 26 yards on five plays leading to another Ravens punt, their third of the first quarter. For the third straight week the Ravens were held scoreless in the first quarter, going three and out on the teams first two offensive possessions. The slow start would be the story of the first half for the Ravens.

With a little over four minutes to go in the half the Ravens who’s offense had failed to sustain any lengthy drives up to the point got some momentum going into the half. Lamar Jackson found receiver Sammy Watkins for 28-yards to begin the drive, and found the veteran receiver again three plays later for 7-yards down to the Indianapolis 39 yard line. After the two minute warning, Lamar Jackson found tight end Mark Andrews on two straight plays one good for 28-yards down to the Indianapolis 11 yard line. Jackson found Andrews on the next play over the middle this time for 2-yards to the Indianapolis 9 yard line. After an incomplete pass to Marquise Brown on third down. Ravens kicker Justin Tucker connected on a 23-yard field goal with less than two minutes to go. The Ravens first points of the game.

Indianapolis would take a 10-3 lead into the half after answering with their own 37-yard field goal by Rodrigo Blankenship as time expired to end the first half.

The Ravens played one of their worst halves of football all year, but going into the half they were still in the game. Hope inside M&T Bank stadium was still there, but Indianapolis came out of halftime looking to finish the game and send the Ravens to 3-2.

Just one minute into the third quarter, Carson Wentz found receiver Michael Pittman for a spectacular catch over Ravens cornerback Anthony Averett for a 42-yard touchdown. Blankenship would miss the extra point to make it 16-3 in favor of Indianapolis.

Lamar Jackson wasn’t going to let a poor first half stop the Ravens offense in the second half. Jackson used his arm and his legs to drive the Ravens down to the Indianapolis one yard line. In position to score to cut the lead to six, Jackson kept the ball off the right side. Indianapolis safety Julian Blackmon wrapped Jackson up by the legs. The ball slipped out of Jackson’s hands scooped up by Indianapolis linebacker Darius Leonard. Leonard ran down the sideline stumbling before lateraling the ball to Indianapolis cornerback Isaiah Rodgers, who returned the it the rest of the for what appeared to be a 75-yard Indianapolis touchdown off a Lamar Jackson fumble at the one.

After a review to see if Jackson was down before fumbling was upheld the Indianapolis touchdown was not. It was determined the linebacker Darius Leonard’s lateral was in fact a forward pass nullifying the Indianapolis defensive score, a small break for the Ravens.

The Indianapolis offense took over now on their own 19 yard line, Wentz found Pittman again on the first play of the drive for 21-yards. After two rushes by running back Jonathan Taylor of 19 and 13-yards. Indianapolis was now into Ravens territory. Wentz would find tight end Mo Alie-Cox two plays later for 24 yards, with the drive being capped off by a Jonathan Taylor 4-yard touchdown run on the next play. After a failed two-point conversion Indianapolis was in control late in the third quarter 22-3.

Down by 19 many Ravens fans began to head for the exits as the defense had been unable to stop Indianapolis’ offense, and the Ravens offense had only been able to muster three points up until this point.

Lamar Jackson came out for the Ravens final drive of the third quarter determined to get the Ravens offense going, and that he did. Jackson found Marquise Brown streaking down the sideline on the fifth play of the drive for a 43-yard touchdown. The Ravens went for two, Jackson rushed to the left but failed to reach the goal line. The Ravens scored quick the lead for Indianapolis now down to 13.

The Ravens defense however would struggle again to stop the Indianapolis offense. Indianapolis worked their way down to the Baltimore 25 yard line in just seven plays. After and incomplete pass by Wentz on third down. Blankenship nailed a 43-yard field goal to take a 25-9 lead with 12 minutes remaining in the fourth.

While Lamar Jackson was putting the team on his back in an attempt to will the Ravens back. Tight end Mark Andrews was a dominate force in the fourth quarter, once again showing how reliable of a target he is. The Ravens began their next drive down 16. Jackson found Andrews for 27-yards on first down followed by an 18-yard reception by Andrews on the next play down to the Indianapolis 33 yard line. Just four plays later Jackson would find Andrews again, this time for a five yard score, Andrews first touchdown of the season. Jackson connected with Andrews for the two-point conversion, Indianapolis now leading 25-17.

The Ravens defense needed to come up with one stop, something they hadn’t done for much of the night. Indianapolis however was trying to put the game away. After a Jonathan Taylor 29-yard catch and run to the Baltimore 42 yard line. Ravens linebacker Justin Houston got his hands on Carson Wentz for the first time of the night. However, Houston was called for a horse collar tackle on the play, instead of a Ravens sack it would now be a 15 yard penalty. Indianapolis was now on the Baltimore 27 yard line. After five straight Jonathan Taylor runs, as Indianapolis looked to run the clock down. Indianapolis faced a forth down and looked to add three points to all but put the game out of reach with just over four minutes remaining in the game. Indianapolis sent out kicker Rodrigo Blankenship for a 32-yard field goal. The ball was snapped and up the middle came 6’8” defensive end Calais Campbell. Campbell stretched up blocking Blankenship’s kick with ease.

After a huge block Lamar Jackson needed one more stellar drive to tie the game. The Ravens put the ball in Jackson’s hands as he passed and ran his way all the way down to the Indianapolis one yard line. With 46 seconds remaining down by eight, Jackson had a chance to make up for his fumble from this exact spot just one quarter prior. This time instead of running, Jackson found his tight end Andrews from four yards out for his second touchdown. The Ravens still needed two points and for the second straight two-point conversion Jackson found his most reliable target Mark Andrews for the successful try.

Even after a historic comeback by the Ravens to tie the game, Indianapolis still had a chance to end the game in regulation and get out of Baltimore with a huge win. Indianapolis began their drive with 39 seconds to go. After an incomplete pass on 2 and long, the hopes of an Indianapolis game winning drive appeared slim. That was until an unnecessary roughness by Tavon Young after the play. The 15 yard penalty moved the ball to the Baltimore 45 and gave Indianapolis a fresh set of down. Wentz would find Zach Pascal for 15-yards down to the Baltimore 30 yard line. After a one yard run by Wentz, Indianapolis kicker Rodrigo Blankenship had a chance from 47-yards out. Blankenship who missed an extra point earlier in the night and on the previous possession had his kick blocked, this time would be wide left.

60-minutes would not be enough as the Ravens and Indianapolis would go to overtime tied at 25.

After a heroic comeback by the Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson, they would get their opportunity to reset and pull out a victory that earlier seemed all but impossible.

The Ravens would win the toss in overtime, and the momentum that was for so long on the side of Indianapolis was now on the Ravens sideline. On the final drive of the night Jackson used all his tools to get the Ravens in position for the game winning score. From the Indianapolis five yard line Jackson found Marquise Brown at the goal line for his second score of the game, but this time sealing a Ravens come from behind win. Jackson found five different receivers on the 10 play 68-yard game winning drive.

Lamar Jackson put the league on notice last night that he can beat you with his arm not just his legs. Jackson finished completing 37 passes on 43 attempts, throwing for 442 yards four touchdowns, by far Jackson’s best game as a pro.

The Ravens welcome Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers to M&T Banks stadium next Sunday at 1 P.M. The Ravens have a lot of work to do especially on the defensive side of the ball, as they gave up 513 total yards, 390 of which came through the air. The Chargers have one of the top offenses in the NFL averaging 411 yards a game. Another slow start by the Ravens offense this week could cause for a long day as all signs point to this matchup being very high scoring, the Chargers are averaging 28.4 points a game.

Game Notes:

According to ESPN Win Probability, with 10:50 remaining in the fourth quarter Indianapolis had a 98.4% chance of winning.

Prior to Monday night, Indianapolis was 120-0 when leading by 16 or more points in the fourth quarter.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson became the first player in NFL history to throw for over 400 yards, with a completion percentage of 85%.

Both tight end Mark Andrews and receiver Marquise Brown eclipsed 100 yards receiving.

The Ravens failed to rush for over 100 yards for the first time in 43 games, leaving them tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for consecutive 100 yard rushing games.

Ravens running backs only accounted for 24 yards on 11 carries, with Latavious Murray leading the running backs with six carries for 17 yards.

In his second straight start replacing an injured DeShon Elliot, rookie Brandon Stephens lead all Ravens with 11 tackles.