ExtremeRavens Posted yesterday at 10:30 AM Posted yesterday at 10:30 AM Four passing touchdowns and three forced turnovers is a darn good recipe for winning a road game on a short week. The Ravens beat the Dolphins, 28-6, on Thursday night to improve to 3-5. Here are five things we learned: The energy is shifting A week ago, the Ravens were 1-5. Uncertainty clouded the health of their quarterback. Players were tense in their proclamations that the locker room’s confidence had not budged. That’s because their play hadn’t yet shown it. The team hired a motivational speaker, willing to try anything to move the needle with a fresh voice. Some pundits wrote the Ravens off. Others, at the very least, remained skeptical. But football “is a crazy game. It’s a crazy business to be a part of,” safety Alohi Gilman said. Things can turn quickly. The Ravens are now 3-5, a game out of first place in the AFC North. They’ve allowed one touchdown in two wins. Baltimore is as healthy as it has been all year. Even if the Bears aren’t among the NFL’s elite and the Dolphins are likely firing their head coach any minute, the Ravens are playing a more characteristic brand of football than the one that dug them into this hole. “Vibes are high with the team,” running back Derrick Henry said inside the visiting locker room at Hard Rock Stadium. “In all three phases, guys just focused and locked in. I think it showed today in another win for us.” Lamar Jackson put it bluntly, “it’s do or die.” For these Ravens, who have proven all they need to in the regular season and are solely judged on postseason results, that’s not messaging they’re used to. “We never behind,” Jackson said. “But right now, we’re behind, and we all have to step up.” “All” is the operative word. Baltimore’s win Thursday night got all three tight ends involved, which opened up the run game. Two rookies and the new guy had hands on forcing turnovers. The offense managed to score in the red zone, a point of contention this season, and the defense walled up where it mattered most. They even converted on a pair of tush pushes. Take the two-win opponent with a grain of salt. But the energy is shifting. The Ravens entered the season on their high horse about two years of AFC North titles and almost-big-wins in the playoffs. Five losses humbled them. While far from perfect, they seem better equipped to climb the mountain. Baltimore knows where it stands. “It just means we’re two games under .500. That’s all it means,” coach John Harbaugh said. “But we’re two games under .500. We were four games under .500, so that’s where we’re at.” Lamar Jackson hadn’t played in a month and it showed … at least to start Jackson may have fibbed. Asked whether he may require a few plays to find a rhythm in his first game back after four weeks on the shelf, the two-time Most Valuable Player was quick to say no, “That’s what practice is for.” Two walk-through practices and one normal day of reps on a short week didn’t seem to do the trick. Jackson’s “we’ll just fly” prediction didn’t manifest until after halftime. Then they strapped into a fighter jet and hit 600 knots. Jackson threw for over 200 yards with four touchdowns and a 143.2 passer rating without a turnover. Versus Miami’s blitz, he completed 9 of 11 for 90 yards with three touchdowns. That’s vintage Jackson. The Ravens had only three first downs in the first quarter. None in the second. Before the break, they went three-and-out on four of six drives. Jackson ran the ball once and went nowhere. They needed all four tries at the goal line to punch in a touchdown. Former Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said on the Amazon Prime broadcast’s halftime show he thought Jackson looked uncomfortable, as if he was testing out the newly healthy hamstring. He came back in the postgame show to call him “dominant.” Jackson admitted to feeling some rust in the early going. A low throw incomplete to Rashod Bateman on third down had him ticked off the rest of the night. But he settled in on Mischief Night, at one point completing nine consecutive passes, looking less like Jack Skellington in the pocket and more like Freddy Krueger. There was a third-down scramble to start the second half, the “key play of the whole game,” as Harbaugh said, where the superstar quarterback found his groove. His teammates certainly noticed. “We’re definitely a better team when he is out there,” wide receiver Rashod Bateman said. “So it’s good to have him in the back out there.” Added Gilman: “Obviously, he has talent on the field, but the mentality, the confidence he brings around and he elevates everybody.” And tight end Charlie Kolar: “I think God messed up and put too much goodness in one person.” Ravens don’t need to be perfect to get through this modest midseason schedule Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel’s face flushed bright red. Smoke came fuming from his ears. Any lip readers on hand? Surely a few expletives were involved after such a sloppy sequence. Tahj Washington had his first career catch ripped from his grasp by Gilman. Gilman jumped on the loose ball and the Ravens scored four plays later. The Dolphins got the ball back, took 10 plays to get within 12 yards of the end zone, then, on fourth-and-short, Larry Borom’s false start pushed them out of go-for-it territory. And Riley Patterson pushed the 35-yard field goal attempt. McDaniel was rightfully furious. Sloppy football will do that (home fans booing is never a good sign). Expect more of that mediocrity on Baltimore’s schedule, which from this week through January is the sixth easiest in the NFL. The Ravens weren't perfect in their 28-6 win over the Dolphins, but they were more than good enough to beat a struggling opponent. Thursday's level of play should suffice over the next three games, too. (Lynne Sladky/AP) They can afford to play imperfect football in the short term, with shoddy offensive and defensive line play. They don’t need to be one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL, as they were in 2024. And they don’t need to be among the toughest defenses, which they were in the final third of last season. Baltimore just needs to be good enough against overmatched teams, like the Vikings (3-4), Browns (2-6) and Jets (1-7), in order to get above .500. That’s three games versus divisional bottom feeders. There’s enough runway to clean up the little stuff to be playing their best football in January, which could put this season back on schedule. “This is just two [straight wins],” linebacker Roquan Smith said, “and we’re on our way to many more.” Thursday night’s win might not have been so comfortable if not for plays like this: Miami had a fourth-and-2 from inside the red zone. De’Von Achane was matched up one-on-one with Kyle Hamilton, who has a seven-inch height advantage. Achane tried a fade route to the right corner. Tagovailoa sailed the pass. Right on cue, McDaniel’s head slumped. Not all coaches are so emotive but Baltimore’s crawl back to relevance seems it could be aided by teams selling off their roster, out of playoff contention. Defense is capable of doing the thing they spent all summer preaching During training camp, defensive coordinator Zach Orr delivered a daily sermon about takeaways. His players were disciples, preaching the gospel of interceptions and forced fumbles. One player called it “the theme” of this season – which is laughable in retrospect. Another said if they didn’t force a turnover in practice, “it wasn’t a good practice.” That’s all nice and good when it’s preseason fodder. Less so when their takeaway total ranked near the bottom of the NFL. It took eight games in nine weeks to finally put their money where their mouth is. Baltimore forced a trio of takeaways Thursday night. “That was really big,” Harbaugh said. Gilman wrestled a ball loose that set up a touchdown. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey shut down a long drive inside the 15-yard line by recovering a fumble forced by rookie linebacker Teddye Buchanan. And rookie safety Malaki Starks hammered the final nail on a fourth-quarter interception that sent Dolphins fans toward the exits. Ravens safety Malaki Starks hauls in an interception. Starks and his teammates forced three turnovers in a 28-6 win over the Dolphins. (Lynne Sladky/AP) Harbaugh said they call them “ball assaults.” They’ve been trying, just haven’t finished the job. Sometimes Humphrey looks like he’s throwing haymakers at the football. As a group, those are finally starting to show, now with four forced fumbles on the year. “I know how the defense has been talking about takeaways and all that, so it was good to see them,” wide receiver Rashod Bateman said. “Pregame, they came in and said that they want to have a lot of takeaways, and I definitely think they made that happen tonight.” Baltimore’s defense doesn’t deserve rose petals thrown at their feet for this performance. Tagovailoa averages more than one interception per game. He was bound to have a misfire. Smith almost made him pay for a second. The Ravens were sharp at times, particularly in the red zone. They were bailed out at others. If anything, those “ball assaults” are the note to write home about. Those are the kind of plays that they spent all season promising they’d make. Buchanan, who had a hand in the first forced fumble and caused the second, called them “contagious.” Now three games in a row with a takeaway, perhaps this is a corner finally turned. A win saved the Ravens from selling at the trade deadline First of all, the notion of Baltimore selling off chunks of its roster at the Nov. 4 trade deadline always sounded a little far-fetched. Then again, so did a 1-5 start. But back-to-back wins after the bye week and as healthy a roster as they’ve had all season, including the star quarterback, should give general manager Eric DeCosta more confidence financially investing in a potential playoff push. The Ravens made one deal already in addressing an injury-riddled secondary. DeCosta sent Odafe Oweh to the opposite coast in exchange for Gilman, a deal that wound up leaving Baltimore’s pass rush low on warm bodies up front but that bandaged the defense’s second and third levels. Through five games, opponents averaged 35.4 points. Since adding Gilman and getting closer to full health, opposing teams have combined for 39 points over their past three games. DeCosta also added defensive end Carl Lawson, who figures to help up front, in free agency. Lawson joined the team days before Baltimore beat Chicago. He wasn’t activated on a short week before going to Miami. Lawson likely makes his Ravens debut next weekend in Minnesota. The trade deadline is four days away. Baltimore still has holes to plug up. Watching from the visiting sideline at Hard Rock Stadium, DeCosta may have noticed Miami linebacker Jaelan Phillips sack Jackson and pancake Pat Ricard and think maybe he’d look good in purple. Or defensive end Bradley Chubb, who also put Ricard on his butt Thursday night. Losses to Chicago and Miami would have raised serious questions about where on this roster DeCosta should unload to start thinking about 2026. Having beat both kept their season from completely crumbling before the halfway mark. How much faith does he have that this is real? We’ll know more by 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn. With consecutive wins and Lamar Jackson healthy after missing three games, the Ravens could be buyers at the NFL's trade deadline. (Rebecca Blackwell/AP) View the full article Quote
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