Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense left no doubt in Monday’s 41-31 win over Tampa Bay.
Fully acknowledging the Kansas City-sized January asterisk that’ll persist until it doesn’t anymore, 2024’s best quarterback and offense reside in Baltimore through the first seven weeks of the regular season. We’re still five weeks away from Thanksgiving and 2 1/2 months from the start of the playoffs, of course, but Jackson and this offense just put on the kind of clinic on the national stage that undoubtedly left upcoming opponents wondering how in the world you stop them.
And that was even with a first quarter that produced 22 total yards and ended with a 10-0 deficit.
No problem.
Facing a zone-heavy Buccaneers defense that blitzed on a whopping 61.5% of his dropbacks, Jackson threw five touchdowns— one fewer than Patrick Mahomes has thrown all season — while passing for 281 yards and running for 52. The two-time league MVP now ranks fifth in the NFL in total passing yards despite a career-low 15 pass attempts in Dallas in Week 3 and just 18 against Buffalo the following week, which reiterates how explosive and efficient this air attack has been. Jackson is averaging a career-best 9.1 yards per pass attempt and is on pace for his first 4,000-yard passing season while remaining on track to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards for the third time in his career.
Amazingly, that’s all come with star running back Derrick Henry leading the league in rushing by more than 200 yards over second-place Jordan Mason of San Francisco. After having only 34 rushing yards through the first 40 minutes of Monday’s game, the 30-year-old ripped off an 81-yard run with just under five minutes to play in the third quarter and finished with 169 rushing yards to continue his monster start to his first season in Baltimore.
Becoming the franchise’s all-time leader in touchdown catches on Monday, tight end Mark Andrews has put his unusually quiet September behind him with three touchdown catches and 162 receiving yards over the last three games. And with No. 1 wide receiver Zay Flowers — who’s on pace for a 1,000-yard season — battling through an ankle injury that limited him to one catch against the Buccaneers, Rashod Bateman had a career night with a 49-yard touchdown reception and a 59-yard catch, the longest pass play of the season for the Ravens.
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The offensive line that was Baltimore’s biggest concern throughout the offseason and in the midst of that 0-2 start has played well enough to fade into the background, which is exactly what you want up front. Center Tyler Linderbaum is again playing at a Pro Bowl level while left tackle Ronnie Stanley continues to enjoy a renaissance few were expecting after years of injuries.
After becoming the first team in NFL history to average more than 200 yards passing and 200 yards rushing during Jackson’s 2019 MVP season, the Ravens are on pace to do it again five years later while leading the league in scoring. In other words, Todd Monken’s offensive attack is doing whatever the heck it wants right now.
How do you stop them?
That’s a good thing with Baltimore’s defense remaining a maddening operation as the league’s top-ranked run-stopping unit and worst pass defense in yards per game, which adds up to the 26th-ranked scoring defense through Week 7. After giving up 10 points on Tampa Bay’s first two drives, the Ravens appeared to find their defensive footing when Marlon Humphrey intercepted Baker Mayfield passes on back-to-back drives, which flipped the momentum and led to Baltimore blanking the Buccaneers in the second and third quarters as the offense scored 34 unanswered points. But the defense restored those previous frustration levels by giving up three fourth-quarter touchdowns to stifle the progress.
Joining ESPN’s ManningCast in the fourth quarter, Ravens legend Ed Reed said, “They don’t understand the other side of finishing and being a championship team right now.” Earlier in the evening, six-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick repeated his sentiment that the Ravens’ biggest opponent is themselves.
Such words might sound overly harsh coming from anyone else speaking on a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated, but you better pay attention when they’re uttered by Hall of Famers, especially as more and more focus shifts to January in the coming weeks.
As incredible as this offense was, it was still guilty of some untimely penalties and second-half sloppiness with the football, factors that doomed this team against the Chiefs last January. The Ravens certainly can’t take anything for granted, including good health as they saw Tampa Bay lose its two star receivers on Monday night.
8That said, there are no bonus points for being a finished product in October, November, or December. Even with an electrifying offensive performance on Monday night, head coach John Harbaugh should find more than enough to keep his team’s attention and to prevent complacency from setting in after a five-game winning streak.
Playing the best all-around football of his career, Jackson’s lack of postgame satisfaction this season has been striking as the 27-year-old knows a Super Bowl championship — not another regular-season MVP award — is all that’s missing from what’s already been a sensational career. Baltimore certainly hopes both will be in the cards in the months to come.
The Ravens can’t fast-forward to January, but they can still get better, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
That’s a scary thought with Jackson and this offense looking increasingly unstoppable by the week.
