EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Coming out of the bye week, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh this week stressed that his team was about to embark on a “four-game season,” and most notably, they were beginning a compressed schedule with three games in 11 days.
Fortunately for them, their first opponent in this stretch run was the reeling New York Giants, who were down to their backup-of-the-backup-of-the-backup at quarterback in the second half.
The Ravens had no such problems. Reigning MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson shredded the Giants’ defense, and the Ravens pulled away for a 35-14 win at MetLife Stadium on Dec. 15.
Jackson threw more touchdown passes than incompletions as he finished 21-for-25 for 290 yards and equaled his career high with five touchdowns. He was visibly frustrated after the team’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles going into the bye and played as if on a mission to put that game behind him.
The touchdown strikes included a record-setter for Mark Andrews, the first NFL score for rookie Devontez Walker and a pair of scoring grabs by Rashod Bateman along with a 27-yard score by Justice Hill after the Giants completely lost him in coverage.
The Giants started former third-stringer Tommy DeVito at quarterback with Drew Lock sidelined by heel and elbow injuries. Then DeVito left the game with a concussion, forcing the Giants to dive further into the depth chart and tap journeyman Tim Boyle to take over.
Ravens penalties proved to be the Giants’ best offensive weapon, though Boyle did throw a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to rookie Malik Nabers.
The Ravens (9-5) never trailed and took the lead for good when Jackson threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Andrews with 3:18 left in the first quarter. After a slow start this year, Andrews has scored at least once in seven of the Ravens’ past nine games.
The Ravens extended the lead to 14-0 when Jackson found Bateman all alone down the right sideline. Bateman juked a defender and let him fly past him, then waltzed into the end zone for a 49-yard touchdown.
The Giants cut the Ravens’ lead to 14-7 on a 2-yard run by Devin Singletary, capping an 80-yard scoring drive assisted greatly by Ravens penalties. In the final minute of the half, Jackson and Bateman connected again, this time on a 20-yard touchdown for a 21-7 Ravens lead.
That proved to be plenty against the Giants (2-12), who entered the game with an eight-game losing streak and averaging a league-worst 14.9 points per game.
Here are five quick observations of the win, which improves the Ravens to 14-3 coming off a bye under Harbaugh:
1. The Lamar Jackson-Mark Andrews connection is “historic.”
A month into the season, Mark Andrews was basically on a milk carton. In Weeks 3 and 4, he went without a catch in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. Fans questioned whether his 2023 ankle injury was a lingering factor and wondered about his long-term future with the team, but Harbaugh, Jackson and Andrews expressed no concern, with Andrews saying, “My time is coming.”
Indeed it has. Beginning with a 13-yard touchdown catch against Washington in Week 6, Andrews has looked like the All-Pro mismatch problem and Jackson security blanket that he has been since Jackson and Andrews arrived as rookies together in 2018.
Harbaugh called their connection “historic” after Andrews’ 13-yard touchdown against the Giants set the Ravens all-time record for touchdowns. That was the 48th of Andrews’ career, breaking the record previously held by Jamal Lewis.
Jackson in the past has likened their telepathic connection to “street ball,” with Andrews seeming to know exactly what to do whenever a play breaks down and Jackson needs to improvise.
Harbaugh said much the same, noting that some of those 48 scores, and many of Andrews’ 426 career catches, have been “not always in the playbook. They make the kind of adjustment that you make because you’ve been playing together for so long.”
After his record-setting score, Andrews immediately sought out Jackson, but he said it wasn’t related to the record.
“What I did think about was how incredible of a ball it was,” Andrews said. “Lamar kind of led me into that touchdown.”
Jackson and Andrews were all smiles as they jogged off the field together. It’s a duo that will go down as one of the best combinations in Ravens history.
2. Efficiency, purpose were the names of the game.
The Ravens got out of this game just about everything they could have asked for. They played with focus, they won convincingly, they stayed healthy and they were able to rest some of their starters in the final quarter. Any break helps in the midst of a span of three games in 11 days.
Leading into the game, the Ravens said all the right things about focus and avoiding a letdown against a thoroughly inferior team. Then they went out and backed it up on the field.
The Ravens’ players, Harbaugh said, “took the Giants seriously.”
It started with a hiccup for the Ravens when Jackson fumbled on the team’s second offensive snap — though they were already deep in Giants territory thanks to a 59-yard, tone-setting return of the opening kickoff by Hill.
But the Ravens held the Giants without a first down until late in the first quarter, and then stuffed DeVito on a fourth-and-one sneak that killed the Giants’ first legitimate drive.
By the time Jackson floated a 20-yard touchdown pass to Bateman late in the first half, the Ravens were in complete control. There was no second-half collapse, and by the fourth quarter, Jackson, Roquan Smith, Kyle Hamilton, Marlon Humphrey and several other starters were able to watch from the sideline.
It wasn’t dramatic, but then again, a dramatic game against this Giants team in tatters would have been disconcerting even in victory. This was a methodical, efficient beatdown, which is exactly what the Ravens needed with a vital three-game finishing stretch ahead.
3. Penalties remain an unacceptable problem.
The Ravens have vowed to clean up the penalties, but they came out of the bye with the same problem they had going into it. The yellow flags proved to be the most potent part of the Giants’ offense, especially on their first touchdown drive.
With the Ravens ahead, 14-0, in the second quarter, the Giants marched 80 yards in 13 plays, and more than half of those yards came courtesy of four Ravens penalties. Marlon Humphrey was whistled for defensive holding, Nnamdi Madubuike was called for roughing the passer, Brandon Stephens for pass interference and Odafe Oweh for illegal use of hands to the face. Two of the penalties came on third down.
Overall, the Giants finished with 236 yards of offense, and the Ravens had 112 yards in penalties. Not all the penalties were levied on the defense, but the majority of them were. Stephens was called for pass interference twice, and rookie cornerback Nate Wiggins was also flagged on an underthrown ball.
“[We] have to play the ball, and play the ball sooner,” Harbaugh said. “One time we were playing the ball, but there was a grab. They called it tight. … We have to adjust.”
The Ravens continue to be the league’s most penalized team. In a 35-14 rout against an inferior opponent, those penalties were annoying more than costly. In a tight, postseason contest, the Ravens can ill afford to give up an entire football field’s worth of yardage in penalties.
“Their drives were penalty inspired,” Harbaugh said. “If it wasn’t for the penalties, those drives wouldn’t have happened, so it’s obviously something that’s very important.”
4. Rashod Bateman’s first two-score game shows his potential.
Rashod Bateman at times has been quiet in this offense, with Derrick Henry leading the ground game and Andrews and Zay Flowers leading the way through the air. Yet Bateman against the Giants again showed that he brings a different dimension than either of those players.
Coming off an Eagles game that he didn’t finish because of a knee injury, Bateman had three catches for 80 yards against the Giants and the first two-touchdown game of his 48-game career.
On the first, Bateman got all alone deep down the right sideline, then used a screech-to-a-halt-move like the one Jackson basically patented in high school, letting defenders fly by him before he waltzed in to the end zone. On the second, Bateman dragged across the back of the end zone and hauled in a perfectly placed ball from Jackson.
Separation has not been a problem for Bateman; the past two years, he has consistently worked free, and it seems he has been limited only by whether Jackson sees him in his progressions, and whether he has trusted Bateman to make the grab.
This year, it appears both Jackson’s trust and Bateman’s confidence are up noticeably. Bateman has 654 yards receiving this season — more than his previous two years combined — and seven touchdowns after having four in his previous three seasons.
Jackson said Bateman’s first two-touchdown performance was “long overdue.”
“We call him ‘Batman’ for a reason,” Jackson said.
If the Ravens get into any high-powered playoff shootout, the Ravens might very well need that player.
5. The AFC North is at stake this weekend.
The Ravens play for the AFC North title when the Steelers come to M&T Bank Stadium this coming Saturday, Dec. 21. More accurately, they play to stay alive. The Ravens can’t win the division that day, but they can lose it; a win by Pittsburgh (10-4) will wrap up the division title, since the Steelers would own the tiebreaker based on a head-to-head series sweep.
The Steelers have won eight of the past nine in the series, including an 18-16 win at Acrisure Stadium last month. The Steelers are in the midst of a rugged three-game stretch that began with a 27-13 loss to Philadelphia. After facing the Ravens, the Steelers host the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day. A three-game skid is not out of the question, and that could leave the door open for the Ravens to rally and steal the division title.
That’s only possible if the Ravens win Saturday.
“We know what’s on the line,” linebacker Roquan Smith said, describing the Steelers game as a “check your manhood” battle.
“We know what’s on the line,” Smith added. “It’s the division title.”
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox