Wild win in Cleveland renews exciting 2020 possibilities for Ravens

This just hasn’t been the Ravens’ year.

How often have you pondered, even accepted, that thought over these last six weeks?

The season-ending injury to Ronnie Stanley just days after the All-Pro left tackle was awarded a $98.75 million contract extension. The turnover-laden home loss to Pittsburgh despite the Ravens more than doubling the Steelers in total yardage that day.

An ugly defeat at New England with top blocking tight end Nick Boyle being lost for the year and the rain falling its hardest when the Baltimore offense took the field for the unsuccessful final drive.

The seemingly never-ending run of health concerns in the secondary as well as the multi-week injuries to top defensive linemen Calais Campbell and Brandon Williams.

The fourth-quarter collapse against Tennessee was painful enough, but that disappointment would soon be swallowed up by the biggest COVID-19 outbreak in major American professional sports, a real-life crisis going beyond anything happening on the football field. After three postponements and a six-day delay from their scheduled Thanksgiving meeting, the Ravens again lost to the Steelers with what amounted to a junior varsity roster, eliminating them from AFC North contention in the process.

A year that began with nothing but Super Bowl aspirations had all but crumbled with over 20 players on the reserve-COVID-19 list and the Ravens having lost four of five games since their bye week. Simply getting through the season felt like a more appropriate focus than any delusions of grandeur after reigning MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson — one of the many to test positive and miss time — and the Ravens hadn’t looked much like their 2019 selves all season.

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But the first glimmer of hope came in the respectable showing in that 19-14 loss at Pittsburgh. With many of their key players returning against Dallas the following week, the Ravens rushed for a season-high 294 yards as a rejuvenated Jackson had his first three-touchdown game since early October despite barely practicing. He was noticeably more upbeat during that 34-17 win and in the days to follow.

Still, none of that could have prepared anyone for what we witnessed in Cleveland on Monday night, the game of the year in the NFL. Baltimore had rushed for more than 200 yards to build a comfortable 34-20 lead late in the third quarter before Jackson went to the locker room with cramping and didn’t immediately return as Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield orchestrated a touchdown drive to shave the deficit to 34-28.

Not again, 2020. Not again.

With backup Trace McSorley in the game, the Ravens went three-and-out, thanks in large part to struggling wide receiver Marquise Brown dropping another pass on a critical third down. Cleveland responded with another touchdown to take a 35-34 lead as the Ravens defense had no answers throughout the fourth quarter.

There was still no Jackson as a crushing blow to their playoff hopes and plenty of scoreboard watching over the final three weeks began to feel inevitable. But a key third-down completion to Willie Snead moved the chains, left guard Bradley Bozeman recovered a J.K. Dobbins fumble, and the Ravens ran the ball well enough to set up a fourth-and-5 from the Cleveland 44 as McSorley went down with a left knee injury, seemingly the final blow for the Ravens.

With Snead taking a few practice snaps to prepare to play quarterback and Justin Tucker lobbying to try a go-ahead 62-yard field goal at the two-minute warning, Jackson reappeared in a scene that was part Willis Reed and part Stone Cold Steve Austin. Baltimore’s superhero didn’t leave his cape in the locker room either.

Despite having completed just six passes and slipping all over the field much of the night, Jackson calmly rolled to his right and slung a pass down the middle to an open Brown, who had dropped more passes than he’d caught in a forgettable night. It was a show of faith that frankly wasn’t warranted, especially with Dobbins open in the flat and Jackson also having the space to run for the first down himself.

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But the 44-yard touchdown pass illustrated the “it” factor that the special ones possess, even if Jackson’s brand looks different from those of Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, or Tom Brady. 

He showed it again after the Browns needed only four plays to score the game-tying touchdown against a punchless and tired Ravens defense, going 4-for-4 for 38 passing yards on the final drive before a spike to set up Tucker’s 55-yard field goal to win it. The first player from the sideline to reach Tucker after the winning boot was Jackson, pumping his fist and picking up the All-Pro kicker in a celebratory bear hug.

“That was a true movie, Hollywood script,” cornerback Marlon Humphrey said. “It seemed like earlier this week, I just had a feeling. Lamar has a unique way of being able to lead guys without having to say much. This week, he was a little more vocal, and I felt like he was going to bring his best game tonight.”

That best game included a season-high 124 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns as well as his 5-for-6 passing performance for 82 yards and touchdown over the final two minutes.

The 47-42 final was a classic we won’t soon forget as the victory renews possibilities for 2020 that had been all but extinguished in recent weeks. Much doubt persists about the consistency of the passing game as well as a defense that’s wilted since the bye week, the latter being the greater concern if the Ravens are to fully embrace being so run heavy again. John Harbaugh’s team is flawed — and far from the well-oiled machine we saw last year — but the same was true eight years ago when the Ravens lost three straight in December, dealt with an array of injuries, fired their offensive coordinator, and backed into the playoffs before everything fell into place and Joe Flacco played the best football of his career for four unforgettable weeks.

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There are no guarantees, of course. In 2013, the snow game with Minnesota and Tucker’s 61-yard field goal in Detroit – also on a Monday night — in consecutive December weeks ranked among the craziest wins in team history, but the Ravens then lost their final two games to miss the playoffs. Home games against Jacksonville and the New York Giants followed by a Week 17 trip to Cincinnati should produce the three wins required for a playoff berth next month, but another first-round exit would leave that same empty feeling.

If nothing else beyond its grand entertainment value, Monday felt like a graduation moment for Jackson in the way we remember last year’s win at Seattle. Remember it wasn’t until Flacco’s fifth season that the Ravens ultimately won the Super Bowl, but last-minute comeback wins in Pittsburgh the previous two years were the strongest signs yet that he could reach such heights. And he was never the league MVP or the greatest rushing quarterback in NFL history.

Jackson’s late-game magic against the Browns reinforced a hope for this year and beyond that had waned in the midst of a trying year for him and the passing game. If he can return cold from the locker room to throw a go-ahead touchdown on fourth down with under two minutes remaining and then lead a game-winning drive against a playoff-caliber team on the road, why exactly can’t he win a Super Bowl?

No, this hasn’t felt like the Ravens’ year for quite some time with so much going sideways on and off the field. They won’t be regarded as a Super Bowl favorite and have a long way to go before any serious talk about playing in Tampa in early February is warranted.

But Baltimore got the job done in one of the wildest games we’ve seen and under trying circumstances that have become all but the norm in 2020. Time will tell exactly what this ones means.

We all thought 2019 was the Ravens’ year until it wasn’t.

You often don’t believe it’s yours until it is.