Baltimore vs. New England

Lamar Jackson, Ravens Earn Statement Win by Knocking Off Unbeaten Patriots, 37-20

The pieces were in play for the Baltimore Ravens to deliver a statement to NFL teams and fans across the country that they will be a team to be reckoned with as the undefeated New England Patriots were coming into M&T Bank Stadium for a prime-time Sunday night matchup. It would be Lamar Jackson's first chance to show the masses what he could do against an elite team on a national stage.

Jackson and all of the other members of the Ravens team delivered, opening up a 17-0 lead and not relinquishing it and cementing themselves as a top-tier team this season in a 37-20 win over the Patriots in a game that they controlled for nearly the entire 60 minutes.

It was the fourth-straight win for Baltimore (6-2) after going 2-2 in their first four games, and it gives New England (8-1) their first loss since a loss at Pittsburgh in Week 15 of last season—a span of 13 games when including the postseason.

 "It's just a really good accomplishment to beat a team of that caliber," head coach John Harbaugh said after the game. "We're proud to do it. …I thought our players went out there and did what they had to do to win the game against a very, very good opponent."

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Jackson was efficient in the passing game, going 17-23 for 163 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. He also ran 16 times for 61 yards and two touchdowns. Mark Ingram II rushed for 115 yards, as Baltimore put up 210 rushing yards on the Pats. Nick Boyle caught a touchdown pass for the Ravens, and Marquise Brown led the team with 48 receiving yards.

"I feel like our team already knew what we were capable of. We just had to show it, and we did that tonight," Jackson told reporters after the game. "We just have to build off that. We just can't get on our high horse and feel like we just won the Super Bowl because we didn't. That's just one regular season game. We have to continue to build."

"[Jackson] did a great job tonight," Harbaugh added, "and the whole world saw it."

Defensively, the key play of the game was a 70-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Marlon Humphrey (off a Patrick Onwuasor strip of Julian Edelman) that shifted the momentum back into Baltimore's favor early in the third quarter. Earl Thomas III also had an interception of Tom Brady, who was 30-46 for 285 yards, a TD, and an INT. 

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was blunt—as is the norm—in his assessment after the game.

"We didn't do anything well enough to deserve to win," Belichick said in his post-game comments. "We've all just got to do a better job." 

A sold-out crowd of 71,157 packed the stadium and contributed to the atmosphere that fueled the Ravens to build that early lead in their first primetime game of the season. 

"It's just an awesome, awesome place to watch a game, especially at night," Harbaugh remarked. "It's loud, the corners, all the stuff, all the electronics—it was pretty incredible out there. It really helped us; our crowd was great."

Ravens greats were also in attendance to help add to the big-game atmosphere, as Ed Reed received his Hall of Fame ring at halftime, which is a moment that wasn't lost on Thomas.

"Coming down the tunnel, you saw Ed Reed. They honored [him] tonight. You saw Ray Lewis out there in his gold jacket. You saw Ozzie Newsome out there in his gold jacket. The atmosphere tonight was great," Thomas said. 

The Ravens are also becoming adept at finishing off games. For the second-straight home game, Jackson helped engineer a scoring drive that went over nine minutes in the fourth quarter. Baltimore also improved to 10-2 following a bye week under Harbaugh and are also now 21-4 under the current head coach at home in the month of November. 

GAME RECAP

The Ravens set the tone in the opening drive, taking 6:43 of the first quarter to go 75 yards in 11 plays, the last of which was a three-yard rush by Jackson for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. New England went three-and-out on three incomplete passes from Brady, and Baltimore extended the lead to 10-0 on a Justin Tucker 39-yard field goal. 

Following another unsuccessful Patriots stint with the ball, Ingram took the first play of the second quarter for 53 yards, setting the ball up at the Patriots 12-yard line with Gus Edwards putting it in on the very next play for a 17-0 Ravens lead. 

The Pats got their act together on the next drive, cutting the lead to 17-7 on a Brady touchdown pass to Mohamed Sanu from four yards out. New England got the ball inside the Ravens 5-yard line two more times before halftime but had to settle for short field goals by Nick Folk to send the game to halftime at 17-13. 

New England appeared to have all the momentum when they took the first drive of the third quarter downfield, but the strip of Edelman led to Humphrey's touchdown to put the Ravens back up double digits at 24-13. James White responded with a one-yard rushing score to make it 24-20, but then the fourth quarter belonged to Baltimore.

It started with Jackson's five-yard touchdown pass to Boyle to increase the lead to 30-20 after Tucker missed the extra-point attempt. The Patriots then drove to midfield, but Thomas intercepted Brady, and the 9 ½ minute drive began. Sixteen plays later, it ended with a Jackson touchdown run up the middle from a yard out to get to the eventual final score of 37-20. 

UP NEXT

After defeating contenders Seattle and New England in their last two games, Baltimore will have to avoid a letdown in their next contest, which is next Sunday afternoon at winless Cincinnati. The Bengals, who only lost by six to Baltimore here last month, also have an extra week to prepare, as they had their bye week in Week 9. They fell 24-10 to the Los Angeles Rams last week to drop to 0-8. 

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