Baltimore holds AFC North lead as intradivision play begins.
Sunday, October 17, 2021, M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE – Sunday’s date marked the 17th anniversary of the Baltimore Ravens’ organization’s move to its palatial, spacious new Owings Mills practice facility, the Disneyesque Magic Kingdom of sorts.
Coming as it did on a Sunday in 2004 during the team’s bye week, it helped mark a radical change in how such buildings and their usage were viewed around the league. And it also did one other thing: it helped change the nationwide perception of how serious the franchise was, and is, about winning. The Super Bowl 35 title the team had won four years earlier was barely noted in a national landscape that seemed more focused on how Cleveland had been wronged when the franchise moved.
However, within the Ravens’ walls – and throughout Baltimore, for that matter – their commitment to winning had never been questioned. And in nearly 25 ½ seasons, the team has had more playoff seasons (13) than non-playoff campaigns (12), six division titles, and two Super Bowls, not to mention fostering enough off-the-field goodwill to last far into the future. On the field, winning has been at the core of everything, and that core has been strengthened further this year by a series of heart-stopping finishes.
On this Sunday, the Ravens went back into their history, playing the kind of football that didn’t stop hearts. It stopped opponents dead in their tracks.
Baltimore routed the visiting Los Angeles Chargers, 34-6, in front of 70,704 fans in a game that saw the team follow its 2000 template with strong defense, a relentless running game, and superior special-teams play. It was the most significant margin of victory in the franchise’s history against a team sporting a .800 or better win percentage at kickoff.
The win marked the Ravens’ fifth consecutive victory – the team won five straight to close the 2020 regular season – and a 19th win in their last 23 home games. They raised their AFC North Division-leading record to 5-1 while the Chargers (4-2) re-entered the loss column with their first defeat since a Week Two home loss to Dallas.
As seems to be the case these days, each Ravens’ win brings with it a requisite number of milestones., and this one was no exception. Baltimore registered its 230th regular-season win Sunday and its 80th at home under head coach John Harbaugh. It was also the team’s 100th victory over an American Football Conference opponent under the 14-year coach, and the 70th on grass, to boot (against 41 losses).
It was also the Ravens’ ninth straight October win, coming in a month that has traditionally been the team’s worst. It is likely a root cause for the team having had to fight and scratch down the stretch more often than not to grab one of the last wild-card playoff seeds.
It is the only principal regular-season month where Baltimore has a losing record, but its recent October success has raised its lifetime mark in the month to 45-52. The Ravens have not lost an October game since 2018 when it fell on the road at Carolina. But over and above all of that, what is truly remarkable about this year’s Ravens squad is that it has extended a little-noticed streak of Sunday victories after Monday-night games to five straight wins, running its lifetime record in that category to 16-11.
Taking all short-week games into account (including the brutal Sunday-to-Thursday turnaround), quarterback Lamar Jackson has now won nine straight in those situations; ironically, the first of those came in a December, 2018 Saturday-night road game against the Chargers.
But since Harbaugh is the kind of coach who stays laser-focused on the moments he and his team currently face, as well those they have right in front of them, it is the 5-1 start that is of paramount importance to them. Not even the lopsided margin had Harbaugh harboring any delusions of grandeur. “It says we had a really good day today,” he said. “It doesn’t say anything long-term, (but) we like raising eyebrows in a good way.”
Currently playing their 26th season, the Ravens have gotten off to a 5-1 start for a second consecutive year, but for only the fourth time in team history. Baltimore had previously turned the trick in 2000, 2012 and 2020, making the playoffs in all three of those years and winning the franchise’s two Super Bowl titles. But in order to launch a playoff run and win a championship, AFC North Division supremacy has to come first. That’s why the challenges for this team simply refuse to abate, as the Ravens now move on to the next phase of their long home odyssey.
The four AFC North teams have played just one game between them so far, as the league continues to attempt to maximize late-season playoff-spot drama by stacking most division games towards the season’s back end. Cincinnati defeated the Steelers in Pittsburgh during Week Three, 24-10.m And next Sunday, those much-improved Bengals come to town for the Ravens’ first intradivisional game of the season.
Baltimore will have its bye week after the Cincinnati game before wrapping up this extended home stretch against the Minnesota Vikings on November 7. Following that, the real meat of the schedule kicks in, including the team’s five remaining division games.
That’s in the future. Today–despite having an injured-reserve list that grew to 17 this week, past games where sloppy tackling, letting opposing backs get free in the passing game, and inconsistent offensive-line play were nowhere to be seen. And it happened on a day when Lamar Jackson has a sub-par performance (two interceptions and a 68 passer rating). But that didn’t stop him from getting his 35th career win before his 25th birthday, a faster pace than Dan Marino, who held the record in that category.
Jackson, who came into the game fifth in the league in passing yards and eighth in rushing, gained 51 on eight carries Sunday. But on the ground, he got considerable help from the Ravens’ jerry-rigged running back corps of Latavius Murray (44 yards, nine carries, touchdown), Devonta Freeman (53 yards, nine carries, touchdown), and Le’Veon Bell (18 yards, eight carries, touchdown).
Murray seemed to incur an ankle injury in the second half, and stalwart center Bradley Bozeman wrenched his back in the late going as well. There was no detailed status update on either after the game, but Harbaugh did indicate that he did not believe either ailment was serious.
The Ravens’ rush total had gone down for three straight games to the point where its league-record-tying string of 43 straight 100-yard games was snapped last week. But they rebounded to gain 187 on the ground this time, going six-for-11 on third-down plays and possessing the ball for 38 minutes in the process.
Through the air, Jackson’s third-quarter, nine-yard touchdown pass to Mark Andrews (68 yards, five catches) also gave the quarterback a 42nd straight game with either a running or passing score, the league’s longest active streak and the fifth-longest in league history. The recently-retired Drew Brees holds the record at 54 straight games.
Another pass-game highlight was the 2021 debut of first-round pick Rashod Bateman, who caught four balls for 21 yards. Each of his catches resulted in a first down. “For his first NFL game, (Bateman) was making tough catches,” Jackson said.
The Ravens further helped their cause by getting off to a fast start, something that had been lacking in 2021. In their first three drives over the season’s opening five games, the Ravens had accumulated ten punts and three turnovers against only two touchdowns. Things were markedly different this time around.
The Ravens’ opening drive lasted 12 plays and 90 yards, culminating with Murray’s 14-yard jaunt into the east (tunnel) end zone off great blocks from Patrick Ricard and pulling left tackle Alejandro Villanueva. The Ravens rushed for 62 of those yards, tied for the most on the ground under Jackson’s leadership.
Injured safety DeShon Elliott’s sack, part of a big day for him that included three tackles and an interception, helped key the first of the Chargers’ two straight punts to open the game. And after the Ravens got the ball back, Andrews hauled in two first-down catches and Jackson ran for 22 yards on a first-and-20 play. As the first quarter turned into the second, Bell punched it in from two yards out for a 14-0 lead.
Cornerback Marlon Humphrey was picked on by Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert more than by any other quarterback this year, but he made two straight plays to foil a Los Angeles possession in its own territory.
It was a respite from foibles past for the Ravens’ pass defense that has been burned to the tune of a 100.8 passer rating and five touchdowns this year. But Humphrey and Anthony Averett had strong games against taller Charger receivers such as Cook, Jared Allen, and Mike Williams. “Our defense played lights-out today, in every way,” Harbaugh said.
After Humphrey’s first big breakup, the Ravens, at that point, had scored touchdowns on six straight drives, but could only manage a Justin Tucker 39-yard field goal and a 17-0 bulge.
The first of Kyzir White’s two interceptions set up Herbert’s short scoring pass to tight end Jared Cook. But the Chargers lacked in all areas of their game, and they missed the extra point and trailed by 17-6 at the half.
In Week One at Las Vegas, the Ravens lost a game in which they held a 14-point lead for the first time since Cincinnati’s big rally in Baltimore in 2004. That was not about to happen again, as Los Angeles gained just nine yards in the third quarter and never seriously threatened.
Devin Duvernay’s 47-yard kick return set up a seven-minute drive that culminated with Jackson’s touchdown to Andrews, the league-high 25th he has thrown to tight ends since the start of the 2019 season. Tucker added a 39-yard field goal and Freeman topped everything off with a nine-yard touchdown run to account for the game’s final points as the Ravens simply moved through the Charger defense like a hot knife through butter.
The add-on scores were part of many moves that won this pivotal game for the Ravens, a result that continues to move them up the league hierarchy. But in truth, part of the groundwork for the team’s recent success was laid by the Ravens’ other move. Exactly seventeen years ago, it was the move that enabled them to occupy a magic kingdom and reinforce the magic place they hold in the hearts of their fans.
