ExtremeRavens Posted 23 hours ago Posted 23 hours ago A win is a win. The Ravens earned their fifth straight in a slugfest, 23-10, over the Jets on Sunday. It pulled Baltimore into a first-place tie with the Steelers atop the AFC North and sets the stage for a compelling final stretch. Here are five things we learned: Ravens’ offense is getting worse before it gets better Compared with last year’s offense, with nearly identical personnel having produced historic success, this Ravens offense is wearing a fake mustache with a new hairdo and some funky, out-of-style clothes. They look nothing like they did in 2024. Besting the two-win Jets, a game they rarely seemed in full control of, provided a damning indictment of their flaws. Lamar Jackson didn’t flash any vintage elusiveness, which seems more and more likely to be a product of injury (hamstring, knee or ankle). The few times he did get out in space, Jackson never hit a second gear. This makes two straight games without a passing touchdown, something he hasn’t done in the same season since October 2019. “The pretty games will be there,” coach John Harbaugh assured. “They’ll be there for Lamar Jackson; you can bet on that. But I’m proud of the way he’s fighting to win football games.” Jackson refuted the injury hypothesis. His ankle was “pretty solid,” and as long as he’s out there, he said, “I should still be able to do what I do.” Still, Baltimore’s two touchdown drives required a helping hand. On third-and-15, Jackson floated a prayer to Mark Andrews, who was defended by a straitjacket. Defensive pass interference picked up 30 yards. Shortly after, cornerback Nate Wiggins forced the Jets into a fourth-down blunder. That gifted the Ravens the ball across midfield, too. They still needed a third-down DPI to keep the drive alive. And for the second time, Derrick Henry punched it in, which can be enough against the Jets but won’t keep pace with any team they might face in January. By halftime, New York, with one of the least efficient offenses in the NFL, had more points, more first downs, more third-down conversions, more rushing yards, more passing yards, more total yards, more total plays and were winning time of possession. Baltimore barely did enough in the second half to separate on the scoreboard. “I feel that we’re clicking enough to win,” wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins said, “and that’s all that matters, man.” Dre’Mont Jones was exactly what the Ravens needed Dre’Mont Jones had the kind of performance that gets you drug tested by the NFL: 1 1/2 disruptive sacks while showing off extra athleticism by swatting a pass at the line of scrimmage for good measure. “Like, it’s a coincidence?” Jones side-eyed with a grin. The urine test prolonged his wait to see family. Jones shrugged, “Guess it happens.” Jones felt like he was close in his first two games as Raven. Close to playing at the level he impressed with in Tennessee before the midseason trade. “Annoyed the [crap] out of me,” he said. This one, Sunday afternoon in his first home game at M&T Bank Stadium, justified a deadline deal some thought wouldn’t move the needle. The Ravens needed it to — they were in dire straits. Two pass rushers suffered season-ending injuries. Days after Odafe Oweh was traded to the West Coast, Tavius Robinson broke his foot. Neither Kyle Van Noy nor Travis Jones played like game wreckers through 10 weeks. Rookie Mike Green was still getting acclimated, too. When the Ravens traded for Jones earlier this month, he confidently vowed his new team would be getting “somebody who is physical as hell, who is going to attack every play.” Jones would “kill or be killed.” He’s done more of the latter since the trade deadline, clicking into place with a group that has turned a corner. On Sunday, in the final minute before halftime, Jones curled around a 330-pound first-round pick and snatched Jets quarterback Tyrod Taylor’s foot. One hand clutched his shoe and the other pawed at Taylor’s leg until officials ruled him down, pushing the Jets out of field goal range. The other was a half-sack split with Taven Bryan, halting another drive on third down in the fourth quarter. General manager Eric DeCosta fit into the deal that if Jones registered two sacks and the Ravens made the playoffs, the conditional fifth-round pick they sent to Tennessee would become a fourth-rounder. Jones checked the first box. He’ll be crucial in checking the second. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey said Jones has fit seamlessly into their defensive culture. Green gushed about his versatility to line up anywhere along the defensive front and still be a difference-maker. “Getting them on the ground late,” Harbaugh said, “that was huge.” As the locker room cleared out, Jones wanted to find his family. He bugged three people for help finding the exit. Jones is still getting acclimated. The self-proclaimed “pretty angry person” has had no issue adjusting on the front lines. Jordan Stout is making an All-Pro case Take a bow, Jordan Stout. In the fourth quarter, Baltimore’s punter deposited the ball at the 5-yard line at just the right angle that his 67-yard drive skipped out of bounds. Any chance at late-game heroics from the Jets would start pinned against the fringe of their own end zone. How’d it feel? Stout couldn’t really put words to it. The adrenaline blacked out his memory of the moment; he laughed, “I lost control of my body.” Stout flared his arms out wide like Leonardo DiCaprio in a scene from “The Wolf of Wall Street.” M&T Bank Stadium’s big screen gave Stout his moment to relish. Everyone loved it. Ravens punter Jordan Stout, right, celebrates with fullback Patrick Ricard after a punt. Stout hit four punts for an average of just over 61 yards per kick. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) Jones said he’d never seen a punter strike with such accuracy in a high-leverage moment like that. Harbaugh called the punt team difference-makers. As for Stout, “I think he’s kind of found himself,” Harbaugh said. “Sometimes you have to figure out, what type of a punter am I going to be? And I think he’s really punting to his strengths.” The fourth-quarter boot wasn’t even his best of the day. Before halftime, Stout launched the ball 74 yards. That set a new career long and tied the franchise record, held by his predecessor, Sam Koch. Koch has been a sounding board along Stout’s development into one of the league’s best during a career year, which became obvious in this win. But Stout knew most NFL watchers considered New York to own the league’s best special teams unit. “We knew that,” he said. “So we all were going out there trying to prove that it was us.” More specifically, in this one, it was Stout. It’s a rarity that punters hold court in the postgame locker room. In some cases, his voice might help explain why the kicker did well. Or his perspective can provide color about a teammate’s highlight. Punters are the one position in football whose job it is to give the other team the ball. In this ugly win over the lowly Jets, on a day when the offense wasn’t quite clicking, plenty of attention was left for the punter. Takeaways really are the secret sauce This is what they were saying all along, right? Win the turnover battle, and the math says you’re basically a shoe-in to win. Well, no matter how ugly, wonky, or confounding this winning streak has been, takeaways have made the difference. In every Ravens loss this season, they lost the turnover battle. And all but one win, last week versus Cleveland, they’ve forced more takeaways than they’ve coughed up. Sunday fed the sample size. Baltimore built a 10-point lead. New York responded with as efficient an offensive drive as we’d seen all day. Four plays went 74 yards. Breece Hall was responsible for 55 of them, knifing through the Ravens’ defense like tinfoil. He picked up another 10 yards, churning down to the 2-yard line, when Humphrey — who’s playing with a cast engulfing three fingers on his left hand — jolted the ball loose. Alohi Gilman pounced on it. Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey rips the ball away from Jets running back Breece Hall. Baltimore forced two second-half turnovers in the 13-point victory. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) “We were reeling a little bit; they had us on our heels,” Harbaugh said. “They were running the ball, they had made some plays, and we’d missed some tackles. And then he comes up — he comes up just huge. To me, that’s the lion spike right there.” The lion spike is a biblical reference to a football kill shot. Starting in December 2018, Harbaugh has, at times, awarded a physical spike to the player who makes such a defining play. The one, as he says, who metaphorically administers the knife into the lion’s mouth — or in this case, Jets’ exhaust — to decide a football game. Sunday, that was Humphrey. And then it was cornerback T.J. Tampa, his first career pick, with 13 seconds left. Both upheld Baltimore’s newfound takeaway streak. The Ravens forced two through five games, each in Week 2 versus Cleveland. They’ve forced 11 in six outings since. It has fueled another streak: six straight games holding opponents under 20 points. Defensive efforts have helped swing much of this winning streak, with the offense still finding its footing. Takeaways deserve a fair chunk of credit. From 1-5 to division leader Days after the Ravens lost a heartbreaker in Buffalo, Humphrey passed along a message from his former NFL running back father. Bobby Humphrey called his son, who reiterated the message to his teammates, “Don’t be surprised if y’all don’t lose another game.” The Ravens lost four of their next five. Rah-rah speeches and get-on-the-same-page meetings never translated to Sundays. It seemed Baltimore blew its championship window. Three months later, that championship window creaked back open. Bobby’s forecast for a winning streak came two months premature, but the Ravens are now on a five-game heater. They’re a game above .500 for the first time this season, having surged from last place in the AFC North to a tie with Pittsburgh for the division lead. How healthy the Ravens are will help decide how long that window stays open. Jackson hasn’t looked like himself but insists it’s not injury-related. All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton exited early with a shoulder injury that Harbaugh said is not serious. His availability is about as crucial to their plans as the starting quarterback’s. “The season is not over,” Harbaugh said. “We play the Steelers twice, and we play the Bengals twice in the next few weeks. So, that’s going to be it right there. And it’s starting Thursday night, we have no time, really, to rest. We’ve got to go to work on the Bengals, and we know what that’s like — how challenging that is — so we’ll be ready to go.” Now, is when the intrigue really begins. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn.x.com. Ravens outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy pressures Jets quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Baltimore held New York to one touchdown and fewer than 300 total yards. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) View the full article Quote
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