John Harbaugh pointedly said last week that how the Ravens responded to their epic Week 2 collapse against Miami would “be the story.”

A week after the Ravens’ secondary was shredded for four fourth-quarter touchdowns in a shocking 42-38 loss to the Dolphins, the secondary responded with three game-changing plays, and Lamar Jackson dazzled en route to five touchdowns as the Ravens outlasted the New England Patriots, 37-26, in Foxborough, Mass.

It marked the first regular-season win for the Ravens at Gillette Stadium in seven tries.

Jackson threw four touchdown passes and then essentially sealed the win with a 9-yard touchdown run that capped a drive in which all his MVP talents were on display. He finished with 11 carries for 107 yards, extending his NFL record for 100-yard games by a quarterback to 12.

The defense looked far too susceptible for stretches, but in crunch time, Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters and Kyle Hamilton all created turnovers that slammed the door on any comeback ideas the Patriots (1-2) might have entertained.

The Ravens took the lead for good at 21-20 midway through the third quarter when Jackson threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to backup tight end Josh Oliver — the first score of Oliver’s career — and extended the lead to 28-20 when Devin Duvernay scored his fourth touchdown in three games this season.

Here are five quick impressions of the win, which improves the Ravens to 2-1 with a visit from the Buffalo Bills looming next Sunday:

1. The defense wasn’t airtight, but redemption will taste sweet.

Last week, the Ravens’ secondary gave up touchdown passes on four consecutive fourth-quarter drives in that meltdown against Miami. This week, the Ravens’ secondary created turnovers on three consecutive fourth-quarter drives, with their biggest defensive playmakers rising to the moment at the most crucial times.

Marlon Humphrey could only watch the Miami collapse from the bench, sidelined by a groin injury. But he returned to action in this game, and with the Patriots driving and the Ravens clinging to a 31-26 lead, Humphrey picked off an overthrown pass by Mac Jones in the end zone.

On the next drive, rookie first-round pick Kyle Hamilton chased down Patriots receiver Nelson Agholor after a catch, and Hamilton used every inch of his 6-foot-4 frame to punch the ball loose from Agholor, forcing a fumble recovered by Marcus Peters just before he slid out of bounds.

Peters then logged his first interception of the season and 32nd of his career — the most in the league since 2015 — when Jones airmailed a pass with the Patriots pressing on what proved to be their final offensive snap. Jones suffered a potential serious ankle injury on that play as well.

To be sure, this defense wasn’t perfect. The Patriots moved at will at times, with 447 yards of offense. They scored on three straight possessions, including a five-play, 43-yard drive in 30 seconds that led to a field goal and cut the Ravens’ lead to 14-13 at halftime.

But this Ravens’ secondary had been excoriated by fans and talk radio all week, with Hamilton, the first-round rookie, taking the brunt of the criticism since he was apparently caught out of position on a couple of the Dolphins’ big plays.

Hamilton vowed to learn from his mistakes, and teammates expressed confidence in him and their ability to rebound. Humphrey said Hamilton’s punch-out of Agholor “was huge. To me, that was the play that kind of won us the game.”

Humphrey said that “a lot of guys did things wrong” against Miami, “but we owned up to them. … We just knew that we just got to play better.”

In this game, they did that, in a big way, when it mattered most.

2. Lamar Jackson continues to be must-see TV, every week.

Opposing teams spend weeks trying to prepare for Lamar Jackson, but when he is playing at his best, he always seems to be one step ahead of whatever the defensive game plan is.

Jackson accounted for five touchdowns, throwing for four and running for another. He didn’t have the highlight-reel bombs like he had to Rashod Bateman in the first two games, but save one bad throw that was picked off, Jackson was efficient, in command, and had the read-option run game working well.

Jackson finished 18-for-29 for 218 yards through the air, and while the Patriots recorded four sacks, he frequently juked and dodged his way out of trouble and flustered a defensive front led by former Raven Matthew Judon.

Jackson threw a tight-window touchdown to Devin Duvernay and also hit Mark Andrews (8-89) with a pair of scores, including a 5-yard shovel pass on third-and-1 for the game’s first score. That made good on head coach John Harbaugh’s stated desire be more creative in short-yardage situations after the team faltered in such scenarios in the loss to Miami last week.

And as usual, Jackson flashed his singular, magical dual-threat talent. His 38-yard run set up the 4-yard touchdown pass to Duvernay, and Jackson’s 9-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter capped a seven-play, 73-yard drive that also included him keeping on a 20-yard gain.

On one particular play, Jackson buried the ball in the belly of Devin Duvernay on a jet sweep, only to pull the ball back and slash through a hole up the middle as the Patriots’ defense overpursued toward Duvernay.

When he’s going well, there is not another talent in the league quite like Jackson. Bill Belichick and the Patriots’ chalk talks and film sessions and scout-team simulations didn’t have a chance.

“He’s one of a kind,” Andrews said. “Like I said, he’s in an elite division. There’s no one who’s really able to do what he can do for a team.”

3. J.K. Dobbins’ return, Justice Hill’s emergence give the run game some hope.

The Ravens can’t always rely on 100-yard games from Lamar Jackson, but after just a couple of games this year, it became clear that they couldn’t rely on them from running backs Kenyan Drake or Mike Davis, either. The Ravens’ running backs totaled 28 yards on 14 carries in the loss to Miami, and other than Lamar Jackson, the run game had effectively ground to a halt.

After missing the first two games, J.K. Dobbins made his 2022 debut, and while his production was modest — seven carries for 23 yards — his return to the field is a big step in the right direction for the Ravens’ offense.

So, too, was the play of Justice Hill, who has largely been an offensive afterthought for most of his career; he has seen far more action on special teams. Like Dobbins and Gus Edwards, Hill missed the entire 2021 season with an injury, but head coach John Harbaugh said Hill’s “arrow is up” based on what he had seen early this season.

Hill ran three times for 16 yards against Miami, and then carried six times for 60 yards in this game, including a career-best 34-yard run that was aided by a road-grading block by fullback Patrick Ricard on his former teammate, Matthew Judon. Hill showed more burst on that run than the Ravens have gotten from either Drake or Davis, two veterans essentially serving as stopgaps with Dobbins and Edwards hurt.

“I thought Justice Hill really stepped up,” Harbaugh said. “Just start with that. He was kind of the bell cow today. He made some exceptional runs. He and I have been talking about that for a couple weeks, that he was going to break out and run like a star running back, and he did it.”

Dobbins acknowledged that “emotions were high” as he prepared for his first game in more than a year, and added that, “Now it’s time for me to try to do what I do.”

Edwards remains on the reserve/PUP list and is expected to miss several more games, but Dobbins and Hill — plus Jackson — have the Ravens’ run game trending in the right direction finally.

4. Ronnie Stanley needs to get back on the field.

Early in the game, left tackle Patrick Mekari went down with an ankle injury after landing on Justice Hill’s foot as he dropped back in pass protection. Mekari was making his second straight start at left tackle because Ja’Wuan James was hurt (Achilles), and James had been playing because Ronnie Stanley has been hurt.

With Mekari sidelined and Stanley still inactive — he was downgraded from doubtful to out for the second straight week — rookie Daniel Faalele was thrust into the lineup at left tackle. Faalele struggled early, understandable considering he has basically never played the position before. He was exclusively a right tackle at the University of Minnesota.

And while Faalele recovered well and had some help from tight ends who assisted on his side at times — “Shout out to Faalele, because he stepped up major,” Lamar Jackson said — it’s fair to wonder when the mood in the Ravens facility switches from caution to frustration regarding Stanley.

The former All-Pro remains sidelined with the ankle injury that has held him out of 29 of the past 30 games since he signed a five-year, $98 million extension in October 2020. After missing the final 10 games of the 2020 season, he played once last year before undergoing another operation to repair the injury, costing him the final 16 games last season.

He has been slowly ramping up on the practice field throughout the past month, and the Ravens seem intent on not having a repeat of last year, when Stanley came back for one game prematurely and was shut down again.

Asked earlier in the week about Stanley, head coach John Harbaugh suggested that Stanley’s recovery is up to Stanley.

“When he feels like he’s ready to go out there and be Ronnie Stanley at his best, then he’ll be out there,” Harbaugh said.

At this point, that shouldn’t be the barometer, especially if Mekari has to miss any time. (Harbaugh said Mekari is dealing with a sprain that “won’t be long term.”)

If Stanley can be an upgrade from a rookie fourth-round pick who has never played the position before, and is responsible for protecting the blind side of the franchise quarterback, then he needs to be out there.

5. The “24-hour rule” applies with Bills, Bengals on deck.

Players like to say there is a “24-hour rule” in the NFL — you get only 24 hours to enjoy a win or sulk over a loss, because the next challenge is approaching like the next wave at the beach.

That seems especially true for the Ravens, who have a daunting slate coming up in which they will host the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals in back-to-back weeks. The Bills will come to Baltimore smarting from a 21-19 loss to Miami, while the Bengals are eager to regroup from an 0-2 start and return to the top of the AFC North that, for now, is jointly led by the Ravens and Cleveland Browns.

If the Ravens can sweep the two games, they jump right to the head of the conversation about the AFC’s best teams. If they drop both games, this rebound win against the Patriots might lose some luster.

Throughout his tenure, John Harbaugh has generally had his team prepared for its biggest games, and the Ravens get both these games at home. Buffalo will come to M&T Bank Stadium facing a Ravens team feeling much better about itself than it did a week ago.

Echoing what he said Humphrey told him leaving the field in Foxborough, Harbaugh said, “We’re not there yet, but we’re on our way.”

Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox

Bo Smolka

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