Baltimore, now 12-3, can clinch AFC North next week.
Monday, December 25, 2023, Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, CA: Sports cliches like the age-old “Super Bowl preview” bromide can sometimes be tiresome. With the parity in the NFL these days, plenty of games each year can be seen as possible preludes to February’s championship clash at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium. Monday night’s game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara was undoubtedly no different.
But amidst all the hype and fanfare, Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson laid down a personal marker, and the team made an emphatic statement. He directed an offense that scored on seven straight possessions for the first time in four years, winning the de facto Most Valuable Player derby. Teamed with an opportunistic defense that forced four interceptions, it all led to the Ravens’ eye-opening 33-19 before 71,812 stunned fans. It was the highest-ever attendance figure ever to see any Ravens-49ers game, including Super Bowl 47 in New Orleans in February 2013.
San Francisco (11-4), whose six-game win streak was snapped, had been the choice of most national observers to win this big-ticket showdown on the strength of its league-best point differential, its 13 wins in its last 14 home games, its league-best yards-after-catch average and many other statistical factors. But Jackson, while running his record against NFC teams to 20-1 – falling only to the New York Giants last year – clearly outplayed 49er MVP candidates Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey by completing 23 of 35 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns. Despite getting sacked twice, Jackson was not intercepted, rushed for 45 yards, and played to a 105.9 rating.
Defensively, the Ravens did allow 429 yards but got four sacks – two by reserve Brent Urban – against two different quarterbacks, holding them to a collective 26-for-46 performance for 336 yards, one touchdown, and five interceptions, a team record, with two hauled in by safety Kyle Hamilton, who incurred a late knee injury.
This year’s Ravens are now 12-3 with two regular-season games remaining (both at home) in their bid to get the AFC’s top playoff seed for only the second time in the team’s 28-season history. Wins in each of their last two games would bring the Ravens to 14 wins, tying the club record set in their other top-seed year of 2019, when the schedule was 16 games long instead of the current 17.
Baltimore has now won five straight games and nine of its last ten since a 3-2 start, boasting winning streaks of four and five games in the process. The Ravens have clinched their 15th lifetime playoff berth and fifth in the last six years; they have had 13 non-playoff seasons.
In Monday night’s game, the league’s two best scoring defenses went toe-to-toe, with both teams averaging roughly 16 points per game allowed all season. The Ravens and ‘Niners were a combined 10-1 against teams entering games with winning records, and it marked only the second time two teams tied for the league’s best record were meeting in Week 16 or later (Dallas-New York Giants, 1993).
But one thing the Ravens have done better in recent years is playing on the road. Going into Monday, their 6-1 record, 14-point allowed average, and 270-yard allowed average led the league in all away-game categories. And another Raven trademark is playing well as an underdog. Baltimore is the eighth straight team with such a status to win a Monday-night game, the longest streak in the history of the prime-time showcase that began in 1970.
But on this day, the underdogs were left grasping at air right off the bat when a third-and-7 pass to tight end George Kittle gained 58 yards into the Ravens’ territory. Another pass to Kittle gained 13 more to the Ravens’ 15.
But when Purdy tried to go to wideout Deebo Samuel down the right seam, do-everything safety Hamilton read the play perfectly and picked off the pass, stopping a San Francisco streak of ten straight red-zone trips ending in touchdowns. Conversely, the Ravens’ defense came into this game, allowing touchdowns on just 11 percent of opponents’ drives, the best in the league. It was also Purdy’s first career interception on a game-opening drive.
Momentum quickly swung back to the home team; the 49ers dialed up a blitz with Nick Bosa and Chase Young that chased Jackson into the end zone. Jackson tripped over umpire Alex Moore while getting rid of the ball, but the intentional grounding call resulted in a safety and a 2-0 San Francisco lead with four and a half minutes elapsed in the game. It was the second safety allowed by the Ravens this year; a blocked punt in Pittsburgh in Week Five sailed back through the end zone.
After the free kick, dominant ‘Niners back McCaffrey – the league leader in both rushing and scrimmage yards – reeled off a 14-yard run before Brandon Aiyuk hauled in an 18-yard pass. On third down, Marlon Humphrey sacked Purdy for a 13-yard loss, but Ronald Darby was called for defensive holding on ex-Ravens wideout Willie Snead. Rookie kicker Jake Moody salvaged the drive with a 45-yard field goal that stretched the lead to five points.
The Ravens were losing the field-position battle, but their defense bailed them out and prevented the hosts from getting a big working margin. But it had to be up to Jackson to counter this baseball-type score. On an improvised third-down throw, Jackson got the break he needed. He drew a pass-interference call on ex-Cleveland safety Tashaun Gipson, who hit tight end Isaiah Likely early at the San Francisco 34. Gipson was then called for a face-mask penalty, allowing the Ravens into the ‘Niners’ red zone. Justin Tucker had to be called upon when the Ravens managed little else; his 28-yard field goal in the first quarter’s final minute shaved the deficit to 5-3.
The first quarter was relatively even statistically, but three passes to Kittle had gained 91 yards, reducing the Ravens to bend-but-don’t-break status. That prompted the Ravens to turn up the heat on Purdy, and on the second play of the second quarter, corner Brandon Stephens batted a pass into the hands of teammate Marlon Humphrey for the Ravens’ second takeaway near midfield.
The Ravens then decided to counter San Francisco’s pass-first strategy; Jackson found Bateman to get into ‘Niners’ territory, then found Flowers twice to get to the 21-yard line. Odell Beckham, Jr. picked up a first-and-goal at the 9, then Likely fell to the 1 to set up fourth down. From there, the Ravens got their 24th rushing touchdown of the year and first lead of the night behind Gus Edwards’ middle rush to make it 10-5. The Ravens have the league’s top rushing offense, but it wasn’t leaning on it much against San Francisco’s third-ranked run defense.
The Ravens’ defense continued to work its magic when a scrambling Purdy saw his throw again knocked airborne by Humphrey and picked again by Hamilton, the league’s only player going into this game with at least ten tackles for losses and ten passes defended. Suddenly, Purdy – who came into this game with a league-high 29 touchdown passes and 119 passer rating, along with the second-most passing yards and second-highest completion percentage – had a three-interception half staring at him from the stat sheet. The Ravens again had the ball in enemy territory.
Purdy had never thrown that many pickoffs in a game at the NFL level, and his errors were costing the home team precious points, as Tucker was called upon again for a 41-yard field goal and an eight-point Baltimore lead midway through the second quarter. And, at least for the moment, the ‘Niners’ couldn’t rely on the suddenly beleaguered Purdy, and McCaffrey finally broke free for a 39-yard run to set up first and goal. He punctuated that with a subsequent nine-yard touchdown to quickly put San Francisco back in the game, drawing within one point of the Ravens at 13-12 with just over three minutes before halftime.
It was quite a feat for the ‘Niners to score that way; the Ravens hadn’t allowed a rushing touchdown in four games and 13 quarters. They had been tied with Atlanta for the fewest red-zone touchdowns allowed with 15.
Thanks to a Ronnie Stanley face-mask penalty, it didn’t appear the Ravens would get any points before halftime, but Jackson’s 31-yard scramble – a season-long run for him – on third-and-16 got the ball to the San Francisco 10. Tucker converted another 28-yard chance, and the Ravens held a 16-12 halftime lead that would soon explode into a much larger margin thanks to an electrifying early-third quarter sequence. Tylan Wallace, the Ravens’ savior in the overtime home win over the Los Angeles Rams, broke off a 25-yard punt return, but 15 more yards were added when punter Mitch Wishnowsky was flagged for a late tackle. The ball was put at the 49ers’ 44-yard line, and the Ravens were in business again.
Wishnowsky had been boasting a 43-yard net average this year, but that 19-yard effort, following the penalty, set up Jackson’s scrambling pass to Edwards, who ran it 41 yards to the 3. Two plays later, Nelson Agholor got open for a six-yard touchdown catch (his fourth of the year) to give the visitors some breathing room and an 11-point lead again.
The Ravens then turned up the heat on Purdy further as Travis Jones hit Purdy’s arm, and Patrick Queen got his first pickoff of the year, the fourth on Purdy’s log. The last 49er quarterback to have a four-INT game was Colin Kaepernick in 2015. Flowers got open in the middle of the end zone for a nine-yard score on the very next play; it was the Ravens’ second score in 18 seconds, fittingly stretching the lead to 18 points, the ‘Niners’ largest deficit of the year.
Thanks to Jackson, the Ravens kept piling on: Likely turned a catch-and-run into 34 yards, followed by Hill for 23 more, and Flowers got inside the ten-yard line. With the ball at the 1, the Ravens capped a six-minute, 94-yard drive with another Tucker field goal and a three-touchdown lead, 33-12, as the third quarter ended.
Worn down by the Ravens and their own attrition, Purdy and stellar left tackle Trent Williams had to leave the game in the fourth quarter. Former first-round pick Sam Darnold filled in at quarterback and hit rookie wideout Ronnie Bell with six minutes left to draw San Francisco closer. But by then, this game with the Armageddon-style buildup, this showdown, this Super Bowl preview, had been long decided.
While Monday night’s game was fodder for those hoping for a Super Bowl rematch between the Ravens and 49ers, Baltimore’s next game with the Miami Dolphins–will go a long way toward determining the AFC’s top playoff seed (Sunday, December 31, 1 p.m.) Baltimore was denied the division title in Week 16 when the Cleveland Browns, with ex-Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco at the helm, beat the visiting Texans 36-22. A win over Miami in Week 17 would give the Ravens their seventh AFC North Division title since the division was formed after the 2002 realignment.
So, the Ravens, having vanquished the 49ers on the West Coast, travel back home to play another titan, the Miami Dolphins. It doesn’t get any better than this until February 11, 2024
