The Ravens win for the first time in Seattle, up their record to 5-2 going into the bye week.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2019, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON: With unrestricted free agency, there have been countless instances of players who left their original teams and then have come back to face them again. When a player takes on his former organization–especially at his former home-field venue–it’s nowhere near as big a deal as it used to be.
But in the days leading up to Sunday’s clash between the Baltimore Ravens and Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field, the encounter between Ravens’ free safety Earl Thomas and the Seahawks got a lot of attention. The Seahawks had drafted Thomas out of the University of Texas in the first round (14th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft, and he became part of the franchise’s legendary and championship-winning “Legion Of Boom” secondary.
Thomas had a distinguished nine-year career in Seattle, flashing speed and ball-hawking instincts in the mold of Ravens’ Hall of Fame safety Ed Reed. Thomas’ 28 interceptions as a Seahawk ranked him second among active safeties.
Sunday, Thomas’ returned in triumph to the Emerald City as part of a 30-16 win that he and his Ravens’ teammates manufactured in front of Seattle’s noisy, sellout crowd of 69,012 fans.
Before the game, Thomas exchanged pleasantries with former teammates and assistant coaches, and, after the game, he exchanged jerseys with Wilson. But he didn’t interact with head coach Pete Carroll. After suffering a season-ending broken leg last season, Thomas gave Carroll the middle finger as he was being carted off the field at State Farm Stadium field in Glendale, Arizona.
But the only finger used on Sunday was raised in victory. Baltimore (5-2), now winners of three straight games, had already clinched its first October-winning record since the 2012 championship year–and only for the sixth time in team history.
The Ravens also wrapped up their first-ever undefeated October, having already won this month over Pittsburgh and Cincinnati with next week’s bye closing out the month.
And on Sunday in Seattle, the Ravens excelled in style. Using a combination of Lamar Jackson’s dual-threat talents, including 116 rushing yards (which put him over the century mark for a second straight week) and a defense that gave Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson his toughest day of the year, Baltimore got its first-ever win franchise win in Seattle. The Ravens had lost there in 2007 and 2011.
For the Ravens, it was also a day filled with missed opportunities, penalties, and miscues early on, including three dropped passes by normally sure-handed tight end Mark Andrew. After a missed field goal, the Ravens took their best field position of the day and drove for a go-ahead touchdown. The score came when Jackson scrambled in from eight yards on fourth-and-2.
The Ravens’ lead was just 20-13 at that point. But even when backed up at their own 5, Jackson scrambled for 30 yards to keep alive a nine-minute drive that ended in a late-third-quarter field goal and a 23-13 lead.
Then, a defense that harassed Wilson all day, provided to the dagger. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey picked up a DK Metcalf fumble and rumbled 18 yards for the Ravens’ second defensive score of the day. Wilson also threw his first interception of the year, making him the last NFL QB to throw a ball to the other team.
But there’s another reason why Wilson won’t soon forget this game. His 20-for-41, 241-yard performance netted him a 65.2 passer rating, which was the first time all season Wilson had been held under 100.
Wilson faced a revived Ravens pass rush (one sack and eight quarterback hits)–despite losing Pernell McPhee to an arm injury before halftime. And solid coverage by Humphrey, Brandon Carr, and Thomas kept Wilson from inflicting fatal damage. Thomas had five combined tackles and patrolled a back end that had allowed six plays of 40 or more yards this year, but gave up no such numbers this day. He was also seen yelling at the Seattle bench at least two times during the game.
The Ravens now head for their bye, understanding that a difficult road lies ahead. The schedule continues on Sunday, November 3, with a Sunday night prime-time game against the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots (8:20 p.m.; WBAL-TV, WIYY-FM).
On this Sunday–as there will be in two weeks–there are doubts about whether the Ravens can beat first-tier NFL teams. Baltimore’s earlier loss to Kansas City fits that script. But the other side of the story on Sunday was that Seattle had played only one plus-.500 team this year, losing to New Orleans at home.
But going into the game, the Ravens knew that Seattle had won an NFC-best 97 home games since CenturyLink opened in 2002. The home team couldn’t add to that record and, with the loss, dropped to 5-2 on the year, in a game that turned out to be quite a surprise.
One reason it turned heads was that Seattle was going for a sweep of the four AFC North Division teams–something that the Chicago Bears had pulled off two years ago. It looked as though they might get it when two Justin Tucker field goals were all the Ravens could muster from two early scoring chances. For the first time all year, the Ravens did not score a first-half offensive touchdown.
But early in the second quarter, the newly-acquired Peters read a sideline route perfectly and picked off Wilson’s pass, running all alone for the go-ahead touchdown that made the score 13-10. In doing so, Peters became the first NFL player in at least 69 years to intercept a pass for two different teams in consecutive weeks. He did the same for the Los Angeles Rams in his final game with that team. It was also Peters’ fifth run back for a score since he entered the league in 2015. It’s a league-high over that span.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl5n3NPB4U4
Seattle surprisingly didn’t run the ball much as the game wore on, and the Ravens were able to shake off early mistakes to get their own possession-game going. Baltimore’s seven-minute, fourth-quarter advantage canceled out the Seahawks’ ball-control advantage over the first two quarters.
So now the Ravens head into their bye week knowing that their 16-7 (.695) post-bye record features the fewest losses in NFL history and the league’s second-best win percentage (trailing only the 22-8 marks posted by two other clubs, namely, Philadelphia and Denver). Baltimore has won its last three straight, and four of its previous five, post-bye games.
Counter those stats with these words–New England Patriots. Yes, the undefeated Patriots are looming, and it remains to be seen if Thomas and his team will make an even stronger statement in two weeks than the one it made on Sunday in Seattle.
