BALTIMORE — Christmas came about eight hours early for the Ravens.
A few minutes after the Ravens had slogged through a 17-9 win against the Atlanta Falcons at frigid M&T Bank Stadium on Christmas Eve afternoon, the New England Patriots lost, 22-18, to the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Ravens’ win coupled with the Patriots’ loss clinched a postseason berth for Baltimore.
“That’s what we play the game for, to be one of those teams that make it to the playoffs,” a smiling Roquan Smith said. “That’s where the chase to the Super Bowl starts … getting to the playoffs.”
It marks the team’s 10th postseason appearance in John Harbaugh’s 15 seasons as head coach, and the fourth time in five years since Lamar Jackson was inserted as the team’s starting quarterback in 2018.
Lamar Jackson missed his third straight game with a knee injury, leaving Tyler Huntley in charge of the offense for his third straight start. Huntley was uneven in raw conditions; the gametime temperature of 17 marked the lowest for a home game in franchise history, with a kickoff wind chill of 2 degrees.
But Huntley managed to do something the Ravens hadn’t done since Week 3 — throw a touchdown pass to a wide receiver.
Huntley’s 6-yard touchdown strike to Demarcus Robinson late in the first half, coupled with a pair of field goals by Justin Tucker, gave the Ravens (10-5) a 14-0 lead, and that proved enough against the Falcons and rookie quarterback Desmond Ridder, who was making his second career start.
For the second time in the past four games, the Ravens’ defense did not allow a touchdown.
“Our defense played phenomenal,” Harbaugh said. “The run game was great.”
Robinson’s touchdown catch came at the end of a 13-play scoring drive that began after cornerback Marlon Humphrey punched the ball out of the hands of Falcons wide receiver Drake London. Patrick Queen recovered at the Ravens’ 30-yard line.
The Falcons (5-10) reached the Ravens’ 1-yard line on two separate possessions but netted just three points on those drives. Late in the first half, Ridder’s pass from the Ravens’ 1-yard line was ruled intentional grounding after safety Marcus Williams hit the arm of a scrambling Ridder just as he tried to throw. That led to a 32-yard field goal by kicker Younghoe Koo that clanked off the upright and through.
But the grounding call infuriated Falcons head coach Arthur Smith, who gave officials an earful as he left the field at the end of the half.
Then in the fourth quarter, the Falcons drove to the Ravens’ 1-yard line but were stuffed for a 1-yard loss on fourth down.
Here are five quick impressions of the win:
1. The run defense was strong, especially when it mattered most.
The Ravens had to play this game without starting defensive end Calais Campbell, out with a knee injury, and that figured to be problematic against a Falcons team that boasted the league’s No. 3-ranked rushing attack.
But the Ravens made them work for every yard, especially early and especially in short-yardage situations. The Falcons were held to 115 yards — 49 below their average — and 3.5 yards a carry. The Falcons’ first four first-down runs in this game went for 3 yards or fewer, putting them in longer down-and-distance situations, exactly where the Ravens wanted a rookie quarterback.
In the fourth quarter, the Falcons did put together a couple of sustained drives on the ground — something Ravens fans were clamoring for offensive coordinator Greg Roman to do in Cleveland last week — but when the Ravens needed a huge stop, they got it.
The Falcons had second-and-goal from the Ravens’ 2-yard line, and Tyler Allgeier was stuffed for no gain by Roquan Smith. On third down, Ridder kept and was stopped at the 1. The Falcons went for it on fourth down, and defensive lineman Isaiah Mack, promoted from the practice squad a day earlier, denied Allgeier again, dropping him for a 1-yard loss.
On the Falcons’ next possession later in the fourth quarter, they had third-and-1 from the Ravens’ 15-yard line. Cordarelle Patterson tried to run left, but Smith and Chuck Clark blew up the play, dropping Patterson for a loss of 3. Patterson came into the game averaging 5.1 yards a carry but was held to 17 yards on 8 carries.
Younghue Koo came on to kick a 37-yard field goal, cutting the Ravens lead to 17-9 with 2:03 left, but the Falcons never got the ball back.
Smith, named to the Pro Bowl for the first time earlier this week, was sensational again and finished with 15 tackles, but he was quick to credit the group up front led by Justin Madubuike, who totaled 7 tackles, including one when he dropped Patterson from behind for a loss of 1.
Smith said the defensive front, including Madubuike, Travis Jones, Broderick Washington and Brent Urban, won the battle up front and left Smith free to attack.
“I think all those guys … were getting some knockback and keeping me clean so I could just flow over the top,” Smith said. “I like me versus anybody if I’m free and flowing over the top.”
2. 25-yard field goals will take this team only so far.
Justin Tucker’s leg is getting a workout these days, but not in the way the Ravens had hoped. Tucker kicked three more short field goals in this game, hitting from 21, 27 and 21 yards, which is another way of saying the Ravens are getting close to the end zone without getting in. (Tucker also had a kick blocked for the second straight week.)
The Ravens had first-and-goal from the 10 in the first quarter, but the drive stalled after a pass to tight end Mark Andrews lost 3 yards. Huntley tried to scramble for the end zone on third down but came up 3 yards short.
In the second quarter, the Ravens had first-and-10 from the Falcons’ 15, but they netted just 6 yards on three plays and brought Tucker on again.
Leading 14-6 late in the third quarter, the Ravens had first-and-goal at the Falcons’ 9. Gus Edwards powered to the 4 on first down, and Huntley kept and got to the 3. On third down, Huntley rolled out and threw the ball away, bringing Tucker on for another 21-yard field goal.
After that third-down play, Andrews, who had popped open early, looked especially frustrated and gave Huntley an earful. Andrews led the Ravens with three catches for 45 yards, but he has not caught a touchdown in eight games, the longest such drought of his career.
In six games since the bye week, the Ravens’ 20 trips to the red zone have produced six touchdowns. They have largely gotten away with that because their defense has been playing superbly, but the Ravens have not been facing the kind of offensive firepower that they can expect come playoff time.
If they don’t figure this red-zone problem out, it figures to be another short postseason. Short field goals won’t beat elite offenses.
3. Tyler Huntley was good enough, and that’s all the Ravens needed.
Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley finished with nine completions in 17 attempts for 115 yards and one touchdown, and he ran 11 times for 26 yards. Those numbers won’t wow anyone, but the bottom line is the Ravens improved to 2-1 in games Huntley started this year, and any NFL team will take that from the backup quarterback.
Huntley’s biggest play came in the first quarter, when he avoided pressure and found Sammy Watkins downfield for a 40-yard catch-and-run completion. It proved to be the only catch for Watkins, claimed off waivers by the team earlier this week, and it set up the first of Justin Tucker’s three field goals.
Huntley didn’t turn the ball over, though he can thank guard Ben Powers for that; Huntley lost the ball on a run late in the third quarter, but Powers fell on the ball at the Ravens’ 40-yard line to avert disaster.
It hasn’t been pretty for Huntley, though unlike last week at Cleveland, he did make a more concerted effort to air the ball out downfield, missing on deep shots to tight end Josh Oliver (twice) and DeSean Jackson. But the Ravens’ lack of a downfield passing game is as much on the receiver corps — Rashod Bateman and Devin Duvernay are both on injured reserve — as it is the quarterback.
The Ravens might get Lamar Jackson back next week against Pittsburgh, though head coach John Harbaugh was noncommittal about that.
“Players play when they’re healthy and ready to go,” Harbaugh said. “That’s really all we do. When the player and the docs come back and say, ‘Hey, it’s time, then [as] coaches, we build him into the game plan. … To think about it beyond that is just kind of a waste of energy and time.”
For now, though, Huntley has delivered wins down the stretch and the Ravens have reached the postseason, two thigs that didn’t happen last year.
4. Greg Roman wisely leaned on the ground game.
After being pilloried for abandoning the run last week, Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman got reacquainted with his running backs — except for one puzzling sequence — and they delivered. Gus Edwards finished with 11 carries for 99 yards, including a 37-yarder that led to the Ravens’ third field goal early in the fourth quarter.
J.K. Dobbins finished with 12 carries for 59 yards, and quarterback Tyler Huntley ran 11 for 26, meaning the Ravens ran the ball on 34 of 51 offensive snaps. They averaged 5.4 yards a carry.
Edwards came within a yard of his first 100-yard game since 2020, and he said afterward that he is almost back to full form from the knee injury that cost him the entire 2021 season and the first six games this year.
After the Ravens made a huge fourth-and-goal stop at the 1, Edwards powered 14 yards up to the 16-yard line to get the Ravens’ offense out of the shadow of the goal post with just under six minutes to play. But then after a first-down run by Edwards that netted 1 yard, Roman called back-to-back passes that fell incomplete, stopping the clock and essentially handing the Falcons an extra minute of playing time late in the fourth quarter.
The Falcons managed to get a field goal with 2:03 remaining to get within one score again, but after opting to kick deep, Edwards gained 11 yards on two runs to earn another first down and essentially put the game away.
Edwards, Dobbins, Dobbins, Edwards. This is the formula for the Ravens right now, with this offense, with this quarterback and with these wide receivers.
“I’ve got my running mate with me, J.K.,” Edwards said, “and we’re just pushing each other out there and building off each other.”
Whenever Jackson returns, maybe it changes, but probably not appreciably. The Ravens will go as far as this takes them.
5. The Ravens are in the playoffs. The season’s first goal is achieved.
When the Ravens convene in July, the first goal always is make the postseason. Get in, and then try to survive and advance. That first step is already achieved.
“Congratulations to our guys,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “To clinch the playoffs with two games left is pretty remarkable. It’s not done too often, and it’s something to be really proud of. I’m really happy with that. It will probably sink in tonight later.”
The Ravens now can enjoy an oh-so-brief holiday on Christmas, but then the focus quickly turns to a huge AFC North showdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers at M&T Bank Stadium on New Year’s Day. The Ravens beat the Steelers, 16-14, in Pittsburgh three weeks ago.
With another win against Pittsburgh, the Ravens would have four AFC North wins, which would give them that divisional-record tiebreaker over the Cincinnati Bengals (11-4), who can finish no better than 3-3 in AFC North play.
Then the Ravens finish the regular season at Cincinnati in a game that, just as people expected when the schedule was released in April, figures to decide the AFC North title. (If the Bengals win against Buffalo next week and the Ravens lose to Pittsburgh, however, then the Bengals clinch the AFC North.)
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