Baltimore gets 8th straight victory, tops 49ers, 20-17.
Sunday, December 1, 2019: M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE – Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said it best this week when he pointed out that no one will know which team is the NFL’s best until the first Sunday in February. But on the first day of December, many should have a pretty good idea about how to answer that vexing question.
The much-ballyhooed Super Bowl 47 rematch was billed by many as a Super Bowl 54 preview. But, instead, it turned out to look more like the thrilling Super Bowl 51 that New England won in overtime.
It was a compelling back-and-forth struggle that eventually went to the Ravens, 20-17. But the game wasn’t decided until Justin Tucker’s last-second 49-yard field goal–the 15th game-winner of his career. That kick overjoyed most of the 71+ thousand rain-soaked fans–fans who must have felt they had just sat through a monsoon.
But make no mistake about it: these 49ers (now 10-2) did an excellent job finding running lanes with their second-ranked rush offense. Ex-Raven reserve Raheem Mostert had the first 100-yard game of his career by rushing for 146 yards on 19 carries, including a 40-yard touchdown.
On the other side of the field, the Ravens did their part, too. Running their record to 10-2 with a club-record eighth straight win, Baltimore needed only 23 points against San Francisco to tie the franchise record for most points over a full season–the 409 they produced in 2014. This year’s crew didn’t quite reach that milestone, but Baltimore ran for 178 yards, four more than the visitors, against the league’s top-ranked overall defense and second-ranked unit against the run.
Baltimore’s previous win-streak record was the seven straight wins it reeled off to close the 2000 regular season, a campaign that saw the franchise win the first of its two Super Bowls. Already the first team to ever beat the previous season’s Super Bowl participants by 17 points or more, the Ravens had also become the first to win four straight games against teams with winning records by a total margin of 90 or more.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson danced through the raindrops, rushing for 101 yards and six first downs while throwing for 105–getting touchdowns via the air and ground.
Mekari entered the rotation at center in the first half of last week’s win at Los Angeles, and the coaching staff was so pleased with the results, there was no further need or discussion to move Bradley Bozeman from left guard to center and insert veteran James Hurst at his former left guard spot. The unit, which had started 11 games together before Skura’s injury, mostly held off the 49ers’ league-leading pass rush (44 sacks in 11 games), allowing Jackson to be taken down only once.
On the opponent’s sideline, San Francisco proved to be aggressive on fourth downs, getting a 33-yard touchdown pass from Jimmy Garoppolo to Deebo Samuel on fourth-and-2 for the game’s first points. It marked the first time the Ravens had trailed since the Seattle game before the bye.
But the Ravens responded quickly. Brandon Williams pounced on a Garoppolo fumble, and two plays later, Jackson found a leaping Mark Andrews for a game-tying 20-yard touchdown. It was the Ravens’ franchise-record 48th touchdown of the season.
The Ravens seemed to have established their ball-control rhythm on a 13-play, 86-yard drive that ended with Jackson’s run-pass option fake and short touchdown run to take a 14-7 lead. But the visitors answered with Mostert’s 40-yard score over right guard, and the game was tied once again.
Hayden Hurst caught a clutch fourth-down pass, and Tucker answered with a go-ahead field goal. The 49ers’ Robbie Gould, who was back after a quad injury had him out for three weeks, had a chance to answer just before halftime. But Marlon Humphrey blocked the 51-yard kick, and the Ravens held a 17-14 lead.
It had been an even game to that point with the 49ers having outgained the Ravens through two quarters, but the Ravens had more yards and possession time. The Niners would close that gap in the third quarter.
Part of that was due to Jackson’s first lost fumble of the year on the opening series of the half. Jackson had lost seven fumbles last season, but his ball control has markedly improved in 2019. A crucial pass-interference call on Humphrey on a fourth-down play didn’t help matters, and Gould’s 32-yard field goal tied the game again.
The teams traded fourth-down defensive stops as the fourth quarter wore on. The 49ers’ Fred Warner knocked away a pass for Andrews, and Chris Wormley tipped a Garoppolo pass at the line of scrimmage, setting the stage for the Ravens’ final drive and Tucker’s eventual game-winner
It was a game that proved worthy of all the hype. Tucker’s kick settled the question of which team was better on this day, but the game didn’t tell us which squad would be likely to win in early February. As Harbaugh said, we’ll have to wait and see. And after a game like this, fans on both sides have to love what they saw.
But before anybody in Charm City gets ahead of things, they need to realize that Baltimore’s unrelenting schedule continues next week.
Another challenge awaits when the Ravens travel to Buffalo to play the resurgent Bills at 1 p.m.
The Bills’ defense has been ranked in the top ten in many major categories for most of the season, and the team is coming off a mini-bye after a Thursday (Thanksgiving) road win over a loaded, but underachieving, Dallas team.
Baltimore has never won in Buffalo. So a win next week would be a first–and it would also keep fan hopes alive–that another meeting between the Ravens and 49ers might be in the cards.
