ExtremeRavens Posted 20 hours ago Posted 20 hours ago For at least a few more hours, the Ravens’ razor-thin playoff hopes remain alive. They beat the Packers, 41-24, in what coach John Harbaugh called a “heart-defining win;” one that may not matter by Sunday at dusk. Here are five things we learned from the game: Derrick Henry affirmed what we already knew: He should have gotten the ball. He knew it. They knew it. We all knew it. “Oh, I got it today,” Derrick Henry laughed behind a tired exhale. His workload has been a point of contention lately. Last week, with their season on the line and superstar quarterback sidelined by injury, the Ravens left their future Hall of Fame running back stashed in the holster. Henry, one of the NFL’s all-time closers, was on the sideline for the final eight offensive plays of Baltimore’s fourth-quarter collapse against the Patriots. A few weeks prior, in a Thanksgiving night loss, he logged just 10 carries. Both losses proved body blows to Baltimore’s playoff hopes and elicited a week’s worth of criticism wondering why. It might have come too late, but the Ravens finally learned their lesson. They gave him the ball. On Sunday night at historic Lambeau Field, Henry played with what looked more like bottled up frustration, unleashing his powers on a depleted Packers defense to the tune of — sit down for this — four touchdowns and 216 yards on 36 carries, all season highs. “It’s one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen,” Harbaugh said. Henry now holds the NFL record for most 200-yard performances (7). He leap-frogged Tony Dorsett for sole possession of 10th place on the NFL’s career rushing leaderboard. He moved to No. 4 all-time in rushing touchdowns. The list goes on. The Ravens force-fed Henry. With Lamar Jackson out (back), they needed to. He was a revelation. At halftime, Packers coach Matt LaFleur told Peacock sideline reporter Kathryn Tappen that the Ravens “big boyed us” and “that’s about as bad as we can play.” Henry was the catalyst in an older-brother-style tormenting. Watching this on repeat BALvsGB on @peacockAlso streaming on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/EWHLcfY0Xo — NFL (@NFL) December 28, 2025 Most importantly, he was the closer Baltimore needed. The fourth quarter was his most productive frame, turning nine carries into 70 yards and a touchdown. “I might be a little sore tomorrow, but I’m built for it,” Henry said. “This is what I train for.” Harbaugh admitted the Ravens were “intentional” about committing to the run. It was a “main deal” during the week’s preparation. Perhaps that’s because Green Bay ranked near the bottom of the league in rushing yards allowed the past month (so did New England). Or because of the blowback for not utilizing Henry last week. Either way, it prolonged Baltimore’s season – for now. Tyler Huntley was a more than serviceable understudy Jackson grabbed a foam cheese grater, a popular prop for teams who outduel the cheeseheads, and crowned backup quarterback Tyler Huntley. Tight end Isaiah Likely let Huntley savor the moment before he grabbed the grater and ordained Henry, who admirably shredded Green Bay’s defense. Henry gifted it back to Huntley, a show of recognition for the fill-in quarterback who kept the train on the tracks. Harbaugh graded the performance an A+++. “It couldn’t have been any better,” he said. “I just thought he had some clutch plays – the kind of plays that you have to make.” Baltimore’s game plan didn’t complicate the offense. Huntley wasn’t called on to take deep shots or pilot solo hero missions. The Ravens were playing a game with their season down to its final breath, absent their two-time Most Valuable Player at quarterback, who Harbaugh said is dealing with a “legitimate and very painful” back contusion, and they got more than they could have hoped for from Huntley. The 27-year-old career backup resuscitated hope by throwing for 107 yards, completing 16 of 20 passes. He was “stone cold,” tight end Mark Andrews said. Huntley efficiently used his arm and legs to keep the offense on schedule. Twice on crucial third-downs, he scrambled ahead of the sticks. One of which put the Ravens on the fringe of the red zone in the fourth quarter. Five plays later, he’d connect his best strike of the night: a 10-yard touchdown pass to Zay Flowers. Huntley noticed one-on-one man coverage pre-snap. “I knew once he ran that crisp route, I could just let it rip,” Huntley said. That was a defining fourth-quarter score, erecting a two-score lead by capitalizing on the kind of drive the Ravens have repeatedly failed to this season. Huntley’s other third-down conversion set the Ravens up with first down, 25 yards from the end zone, in the game’s waning minutes. Henry took care of the rest. Huntley wasn’t so sure when exactly he was told he’d be starting in place of the injured Jackson. But Huntley handled first-team reps all week and proved ready, like he did his last start in Week 8, to maintain the integrity of this Jenga tower offense. The Ravens didn’t punt until after halftime. They scored points on seven of eight drives, albeit against a troubled Packers defense, while chomping considerable bites of clock. And they didn’t turn the ball over once. “He was tremendous, holy smokes,” center Tyler Linderbuam said. “The way he came out today and the way he performed, he got us out of some really critical situations and made a lot of plays. That’s what you need. “When ‘L’ is down, we have to have someone step up and fill that role. ‘Snoop’ did a tremendous job tonight, and we have the most confidence in him.” This Ravens defense was believed to have turned a corner. They could never fully contain playoff teams in prime time. The Bills hung 41. The Lions bludgeoned their way to 38. The Bengals had few issues reaching 32. The Patriots muscled two fourth-quarter scoring drives to get to 28. And the Packers, piloted by a nifty backup quarterback, still burnt them in the passing game for 24. Harbaugh said after the fact that it was “shocking” to see how “discombobulated” the pass defense looked trying to slow down Malik Willis. “It was just crazy ‘how-did-this-happen’ kind of plays,” he said. Those aforementioned showings are a damning sample size of prime-time games. Baltimore’s only outlier was a Thursday night beatdown against the Dolphins in late October. It’s not just when stadium lights flick on. Entering Sunday, the Ravens ranked 31st in the NFL in defensive performances against playoff teams. Even against a playoff-bound Packers team without multiple offensive starters, including quarterback Jordan Love (concussion), the Ravens didn’t have many answers for Green Bay’s air raid. That was clear from the jump. Packers quarterback Malik Willis runs for a touchdown against the Ravens. Baltimore's defense struggled to slow down Green Bay's backup quarterback. (Morry Gash/AP) On the Packers’ first play from scrimmage, Willis dropped a perfect throw into Romeo Doubs’ mitts 40 yards upfield. The next snap not blown dead for a penalty saw Willis connect with a streaking Christian Watson for a no-doubt, 39-yard touchdown. The Ravens had just chewed eight minutes on a scoring drive. The Packers punched back in 70 seconds courtesy of Willis’ two longest passes of the year. Willis, who left early after aggravating a shoulder injury, went on to rush for two touchdowns. He picked on Ravens cornerbacks Nate Wiggins and Marlon Humphrey in particular. Willis completed six of seven throws of 20-plus air yards. He was a perfect two for two between 10 and 20 yards. “I have to give Malik Willis a lot of credit,” Harbaugh said. “We had him [under pressure] in the pocket numerous times, and he got out and made plays. That’s probably the biggest thing. All those things are things that they had to overcome, and I’m glad we did finally at the end.” The Ravens did clock two turnovers. Neither was particularly impressive. The first, a Mike Green fumble recovery, was aided by a mistimed snap that smacked off Willis’ facemask and fell to the grass. The other, a throw from practice squad quarterback Clayton Tune that skipped through Bo Melton’s hands and Humphrey picked it out of the air. “We were a little on our heels,” Harbaugh said. “I thought it was led by [Roquan Smith] and Kyle [Hamilton] and those guys; they did a good job of kind of taking a deep breath, took a breath, got it figured out and started playing a little better.” To beat the Steelers’ starters and — if they do sneak into the postseason — win a playoff game, they’ll need to truly turn that corner. Ravens tried something new in electing to receive Conventional wisdom has long suggested the team who wins the opening coin toss elect to defer. Best case scenario, that team can position itself to have the ball last before halftime and first after the break. Before Sunday, 10 of the Ravens’ opponents have scored points on their opening drive this season. Six of them started with the ball. The Ravens, who generally defer to the second half, won the coin toss and surprisingly decided to take the ball. “We don’t always do that,” Harbaugh said, after the fact. The Ravens have spent a large chunk of this season playing from behind. Be it early or late in games, the clock has rarely been their friend. Harbaugh said his decision to take the ball first was twofold: “It was to try to get the lead, and I thought we could do it, but also the wind, because that wind was howling in that one direction down there, so the bonus to that was we would have the wind in the fourth quarter at our back for Tyler Loop if we needed it.” Ravens coach John Harbaugh speaks to reporters after Saturday's 41-24 win over the Packers. Harbaugh and Baltimore elected to receive the opening kickoff, a piece of strategy that paid off in the 17-point win. (Matt Ludtke/AP) It was about 36 degrees at kickoff in Green Bay but felt below freezing. Harbaugh thought by leaning on their ground game, they could manufacture points early and play with a lead. Then later, if it came down to it, use the wind to their advantage. On Baltimore’s opening drive, the Ravens marched 80 yards on 13 plays. Henry was responsible for a bulk of that production. It took eight minutes and five seconds, their longest scoring drive of the season. But it worked, injecting early juice in a game they desperately needed it. By halftime, the Ravens were winning the time of possession battle by more than a quarter. Green Bay scored with about 90 seconds remaining before halftime. But the Ravens answered in quick succession, a seven-play touchdown drive that put them up two scores. Huntley called it a “key” momentum swing, knowing the Packers would get it back after the break. “We got the time of possession today that we hadn’t had in other games sometimes,” Harbaugh said, “so I am just really proud of that. I think that’s the difference.” Now, we wait The Steelers and Browns meet Sunday at 1 p.m. in Cleveland, Ohio. The Ravens’ season rides on a game they’ll be watching on TV. If the Browns win, Baltimore will have squeaked its way into a Week 18 clash of epic proportions. Expect that to be flexed into a prime-time slot with the AFC North title at stake. If the Steelers win, Week 18 will not matter; the Ravens’ season will be over, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2021. “I’m trying to make it out of here so I can call [Browns quarterback] Shedeur [Sanders] real quick,” Huntley joked, “make sure he can get it done.” Added Henry: “I’ll be watching and praying for sure.” And Harbaugh: “It’s out of our control, we understand that. But we did our part.” The Ravens put themselves in this situation. They’ll spend Sunday hoping the Browns can help dig them out. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn.x.com. View the full article Quote
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