Quick start, defensive stops are keys to win.
M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE, Sunday, November 3 – Not even 24 hours after setting their clocks back one hour, the Ravens wanted to set franchise history back to any one of two given points in time.
They could have chosen to go back to 2000 when the best single-season defense in league history helped deliver the team’s first championship. Or they could have chosen the Baltimore squad of 2012 with a recharged offense that brought the team its second Super Bowl title.
In a way, both teams of the past were on display this Sunday night–solid defense and explosive offense–as the Patriots withstood a second-quarter challenge before turning on the afterburners to run away from the Patriots, 37-20, before 71,157 fired-up-fans.
The Patriots, who were the AFC’s lone remaining unbeaten team going into the game, left Baltimore at 8-1. San Francisco is now the league’s only remaining unbeaten team, and those 49ers will visit Baltimore on December 1.
For its part, Baltimore hit the regular season’s halfway mark at 6-2–on pace for a 12-4 mark that would better last season’s mark and good enough to win an underperforming AFC North Division. The win also put the Ravens in line to host at least one playoff game, which, if it happens, would be just for the seventh time in the team’s 24-year history.
But for now, the Ravens’ goal is to sustain momentum in what has become a four-game winning streak. Next up is a road game against the winless Cincinnati Bengals (Sunday, November 10; 1 p.m.; WJZ-TV, WIYY-FM). That contest will be the first of two straight games against opponents coming off bye weeks. New England was the first.
On this Sunday, the pieces came together for the Ravens, including a mostly-healthy roster, a loud home crowd, and national-TV exposure. And it didn’t take long to see the effect. Baltimore scored the games first 17 points in what seemed like a blink of an eye.
That blitz came against a defense that had been allowing a mere 7.6 points per game. What’s more, the Ravens converted half of its third-down plays against a defense that had been losing those conversions only 15% of the time. Bottom line: a productive offense enabled the Ravens to hold the ball for just over 37 minutes, running the ball 41 times with 24 passes. By contrast, the Patriots, who played the game from behind, had a 48 pass/17 run ratio.
Furthermore, on defense, the Patriots didn’t play like the league-leader in takeaways, turnover ratio, forced fumbles, and interceptions. Yes, they got two Baltimore turnovers, but the Ravens matched that number, meaning that the Pats didn’t have the advantage on this night.
The tempo was set early when the Patriots jumped offsides on a field goal try. That mistake kept alive an 11-play drive, which ended with Lamar Jackson scooting around the left end for the opening TD from three yards out. Later in the opening quarter, Justin Tucker added a 39-yard field goal in a stanza that saw the Ravens outgain New England, 133-4, and have an 11-1 first down advantage.
The Ravens struck quickly at the start of the second period, too, getting a 53-yd run from Mark Ingram (115 yards total on the night) followed by a 12-yard Gus Edwards touchdown, to stretch the lead to 17-0.
That’s when New England settled down and clawed it’s way back. The Pats got a break when ex-Raven special teamer Justin Bethel fell on Cyrus Jones’ muffed punt. The Pats capitalized on that break when Mohamed Sanu scored on a four-yard TD catch to get the visitors on the board, 17-7.
Later in the quarter, linebacker Kyle Van Noy stripped Ingram of the ball, which former Raven DE Lawrence Guy recovered at the Baltimore 14. It looked like New England would cash-in with a touchdown, but the Ravens’ ‘D’ stiffened. Nick Folk, the Patriots’ third kicker of the year, booted a 22-yard field goal to cut the lead to seven.
The Patriots moved the ball again–this time all the way to the Baltimore 1–when the defense held again, forcing a 19-yard FG to cut the lead to 17-13 at the half.
Touchdown! (photo, AL.com)
But the second half was more like the first quarter. The Ravens regained momentum just like they did at Seattle before the bye week.
A post-catch fumble by the sure-handed Julian Edelman–his first fumble in three years–was scooped up by cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who took it 70 yards for a touchdown. It was his second straight game with a score.
The Patriots then tried to tire out the Ravens with a no-huddle, 11-play drive that ended with James White’s touchdown run. But that would be the Patriots’ final scoring play of the night.
The Ravens slowly drained the life out of the Patriots with a 14-play drive that ended as the fourth quarter began. TE Nick Boyle gathered his first career touchdown catch after going nearly 90 games without one. But then Tucker missed the conversion–only his second career miss.
It didn’t matter, though. Safety Earl Thomas stopped the next drive with an interception at the Ravens’ seven-yard line, and Jackson’s game-clinching touchdown was a beauty. The nifty runner waded through a goal-line thicket of humanity as right tackle Orlando Brown, Jr. pushed him in for the game’s final points.
Yes, on this night, it did seem as though the Ravens had turned back the clock. This time it may be foretelling a promising future.
