The bullies from Philly came down to Baltimore and pushed the Ravens around in their house.
Yeah, that’s eight wins in a row for the Philadelphia Eagles and a barking late running game that’s still moving the chains. And the green defense ganged up on Lamar Jackson and shuttered Derrick Henry in swarms en route to a 24-19 win on a wintry December day that featured snow flurries and a flurry of Eagles defenders finishing plays.
Sure, Justin Tucker left seven points on the field Sunday afternoon that would’ve mattered but don’t let him be the sole villain on a day when the offense didn’t do enough to beat a real Super Bowl contender. This was certainly a season low for the Baltimore Ravens as even the gaudy “Lamar’s only lost once to an NFC team” story line wilted just like the defense against Saquon Barkley in the fourth quarter.
If the Eagles and Ravens somehow play in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, the fans will travel and gather and watch. And this chess match will have been a nice prelude to a money rematch. As matchmakers would say, “styles make fights” and this was a helluva fight.
I’d pay to watch it again just because the Eagles seemed worthy, formidable – not in over their heads the way Lamar and the Ravens seem to rock even the best NFC teams into submission with relentless waves of offense, scheme and ball movement.
But the men of Harbaugh now have five losses, the defense has been thoroughly exposed (even against the run), the kicker stinks and the beatings have added up to what will undoubtedly be some hard January travel anyway at this point. The Ravens have gone from “favorites” to suspects with every evaporating opportunity for a ‘W’ that becomes an ‘L.’
That’s a handful of them heading into this late bye and the upcoming madness of their Sunday-Saturday-Wednesday holiday schedule.
This thud against the Eagles was especially painful at home, with Jalen Hurts putting a hurting on the Ravens defense in the same way Lamar often wastes other team’s patience and endurance. And with Barkley racking up first downs and Hurts finding receivers in a secondary that has been leaky since the kickoff against Kansas City back in September, the Ravens played just well enough to be embarrassed in a collective defeat.
I hope Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had his words with John Harbaugh about their mouthy history and running up the score and about his team’s motor never stopping in Baltimore on Sunday. The Eagles defense never stopped coming after Lamar. His secondary covered. Fangio’s linebackers and safeties wrapped tackles and finished plays. And the scheme and pursuit of Lamar in lanes was as brilliant as the result.
Perhaps when Fangio said “bye” to Harbs on the way outta the Bank on Sunday, he wasn’t referring to the Ravens’ opponent next Sunday.
I’ll never acclimate to the welcoming of 20,000 Eagles fans in a downtown Baltimore stadium and the pro-Philly ooze of the sounds was weird while I watched on television. It looked like ponds of green all over the place and their team shined in the Ravens’ building, giving them reasons to rise and cheer whilst conquering.
And once again, Tony Romo was bad and Jim Nantz might actually be worse. But the open praise of the Eagles operation was deserved and well warranted given the result and the men of Nick Sirianni finishing off an AFC powerhouse on the road with an impressive win.
No one in the National Football Conference has been able to figure out Lamar Jackson. The Philadelphia Eagles did on Sunday.
And once Derrick Henry was neutralized, the next best plan was to get the ball to Mark Andrews. We’re not pining away for 2019 but if this is real revolutionary math and the Ravens have built every year on this offense, No. 89 was the original building block in why the offense initially worked, especially when Lamar got in trouble or was looking for a mismatch across the middle of the field. This offense needs more Mark Andrews and more creativity to get the ball into the hands of Zay Flowers and Derrick Henry in open space. And that can’t mean throwing the ball 36 times down the field trying to play catch up.
Sloppy special teams. More penalties. And an offense that ran out of gas in time for Justin Tucker to miss kicks.
The Ravens encountered the No. 1 defense in the NFL and lost the fight. The Eagles are a balanced football team. The Ravens run defense was gashed. And the greatest kicker in history of the sport has lost his mojo.
You will enjoy your bye week more than anyone at The Castle in Owings Mills.
The Baltimore Ravens have a lot to think about over the next two weeks.
