Lamar Jackson’s heroics lift the Ravens over the Bengals, but the defense needs to step up

On By Littum

BALTIMORE — He led the Baltimore Ravens to touchdowns on four consecutive drives, punctuating the last to Rashod Bateman in the back of the end zone by holding his release in the air, a move that would have made Stephen Curry proud.

Still, for one of the few times all Thursday night, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson felt powerless. So while he waited for the official’s review to determine whether Baltimore had gotten a fourth-down stop or whether the Cincinnati Bengals would have another set of downs to try to tie — or win — another thriller between the two teams, threw Jackson arm around the shoulder of general manager Eric DeCosta on the sideline.

They then waited for the news together. Bengals receiver Andrei Iosivas was ruled to have the first down, and the pain would continue for a few more minutes.

Jackson finally got a chance to enjoy a celebration his second-half performance deserved when his counterpart, Joe Burrow, who was terrific all night, failed to connect with tight end Tanner Hudson on a two-point conversion attempt with two point. 38 seconds left. After the Ravens recovered an onside kick, Jackson needed only one knee to put the pulsating 35-34 win at M&T Bank Stadium in the books and send an announced 71,439 fans to the exits feeling good about themselves.

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At one point in the third quarter, the home crowd booed Baltimore’s offense, which struggled in a way it hadn’t in weeks. By game’s end, it celebrated another heroic performance by Jackson, who made all of his team’s problems Thursday, including a poor start offensively, another porous defensive performance and a missed fourth-quarter extra point by Justin Tucker, mere footnotes.

“I told my guys on the sideline, ‘We’ve got to score. If they score, we’ve got to score. That’s the type of game it’s going to be,'” Jackson said. “We’ve seen it from the first snap, but I’m proud of my guys because we finished one of those tough types of environment plays. We came through.”

The Ravens are now 7-3. Thursday’s win over the Bengals (4-6) not only clinched a season sweep of their AFC North rivals and pushed Cincinnati into precarious playoff position, but it guarantees the Ravens will have a chance to move into first place when they next will take the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers on November 17th.

But as the players left the locker room into an unseasonably warm Baltimore November night, they seemed to understand that the recipe for Thursday’s victory is untenable if they are to make a Super Bowl. As brilliant as Jackson has been — and he’s playing at a ridiculously high level with 275-plus yards passing in six straight games — he and the offense will need help.

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“No one pointed fingers out there, but we’ve got to get better,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “It’s just not the standard. That’s what the defensive guys said in the locker room, it’s not the standard. We’ve got to be a lot better. We’ve got to take the pressure off our offense, too.”

The defense doesn’t need to dominate, but it needs to put up far more resistance than it did most of Thursday night. Burrow threw for 428 yards and four touchdowns, and Ja’Marr Chase had 11 catches for 264 yards and three scores. The two looked like they were participating in a seven-on-seven drill. The Ravens, who didn’t have to worry about Cincinnati’s other top receiver, Tee Higgins, could do nothing to stop them.

As he raced toward the end zone on his game-tying 70-yard score with 5:37 left in the fourth quarter, Chase waited before crossing the plane for a Ravens defender to even get near him. It was a fitting gesture since Baltimore’s defensive backs hadn’t been with him all night.

“It would be different if we were confused. It’s simple: We’re just not playing the way we practice. It’s too deep into the season to keep doing this,” Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said. “We’re just like the little brothers right now. (Jackson’s) carries us, which is cool. But it isn’t. I will be able to finish the game on defense.”

The Ravens almost did, stopping the Bengals on two-point attempts and getting away with Travis Jones’ hit to Burrows’ helmet on the incompletion and Humphrey getting physical with tight end Mike Gesicki. Still, what preceded that was Burrow, aided by three Baltimore penalties, driving the Bengals 70 yards in less than 80 seconds and hitting Chase for a 5-yard score that set Cincinnati up for a go-ahead try .

And what preceded that were two one-play touchdown drives as Burrow hit Chase for one 67 yard score early in the third quarter and the 70-yard touchdown later in the fourth. In two games against the Ravens this year, Chase has 21 catches for 457 yards and five touchdowns.

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“These wins are going to be harder to enjoy based on what we do in pass defense,” Humphrey said, alluding to the team’s 32nd ranking against the pass. “When I was a rookie, first-year guy, second-year guy, that’s how I looked up to the standard that was there. In the pass defense, we’ve really lost that standard. I feel like it’s falling on me. We keep chasing it. We’ll keep working on it because I’m not really happy with what I’ve built in the secondary where it’s gone.”

To Humphrey’s credit, he made a play that pretty much every Raven said turned the game around. It was midway through the third quarter and the Ravens trailed 21-7. The offense had just come off the field to boo when the punt team trotted on for its season-high fifth. Baltimore needed to change the momentum. It was Humphrey there ripped the ball out of running back Chase Brown’s hands. Roquan Smith recovered it.

Five plays and a miraculous Jackson 10-yard run later, Derrick Henry was in the end zone and Cincinnati’s lead was cut to 21-14.

“That kind of woke us up,” Jackson said of the Humphrey streak. “I feel like we slept the whole first half – even though we scored once. We were pretty much flat throughout the game.”

On the Ravens’ next drive, Jackson hit Tylan Wallace for one 84-yard scorethe seldom-used receiver shakes free of a Cam Taylor-Britt tackle attempt and tips down the sideline.

“I’m just thankful to take advantage of the opportunities I get,” said Wallace, who had three catches for a team-high 115 yards. “When I get out there and Lamar trusts me to throw the ball, I just want to be able to trust him to know that I can make a play with it.”

Another defensive stop, this one on fourth down, set the stage for Jackson’s 18-yard go-ahead touchdown pass to tight end Mark Andrews, who improvised the route and quarterback hit him in the crotch. Jackson ran in the two-point conversionwhich made up for Tucker missing the extra point after the Wallace score. And just like that, the Ravens had scored 21 straight points in less than a quarter.

Jackson wasn’t done. After the 70-yard Chase touchdown, which left several Ravens looking confused after they left the field, Jackson led his team on an 11-play, 70-yard touchdown drive, lobbing one to Bateman for the score.

“We have guys everywhere who can make plays and we continue to show that,” Bateman said. “Obviously, Tylan stepped up for us tonight, and we’re going to continue to need that for the rest of the year from everyone. But it was definitely good to see everyone contribute.”

Jackson finished 25-of-33 for 290 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Jackson now has 24 touchdown passes on the season compared to two interceptions. He also ran the ball seven times for 33 yards.

About the only thing Jackson didn’t do was go out on the field and close out the game himself. For that he needed the help of the defense – and it will be an increasingly lopsided position for these Ravens. Jackson is having a career year and that will be in jeopardy if the defense doesn’t start to step up.

The trade deadline has now come and gone. DeCosta acquired veteran cornerback Tre’Davious White, but he’s more of a depth option than a projected starter. No one arrives to save the Ravens’ defense. It will have to figure it out on its own.

“I just don’t think we play like this, we can go very far,” Humphrey said.

(Photo: Terrance Williams/Associated Press)