Punchless Lions get 'kicked in the teeth' in heavyweight matchup of division leaders
Justin RogersBaltimore — In a battle of division leaders, you could have reasonably expected a heavyweight slugfest. Instead, you got a Mike Tyson fight from the late 1980s.
The Baltimore Ravens delivered the equivalent of a violent, first-round knockout, jumping out to a 28-0 lead before the Lions even mustered their initial first down, cruising to a 38-6 win at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday.
From the jump, the Lions (5-2) had no answer for quarterback Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense. The home team needed just seven plays to drive 75 yards for a touchdown with the game's opening possession. Establishing a pair of themes that persisted throughout a dominant opening half, Jackson struck with both his feet and big throws downfield.
On the game's third snap, Jackson sat calmly in the pocket and dropped a long throw to rookie receiver Zay Flowers across the middle, between layers of Detroit's zone coverage. The shifty slot receiver more than doubled the damage after making the grab before he was brought down in the red zone after a 46-yard gain.
Jackson used his dual-threat ability to cap the scoring drive, keeping the ball after faking a handoff on a fourth-and-1 play, racing around the left edge of his line as multiple Lions defenders collapsed on the running back.
It wasn't quite as efficient on Baltimore's next possession, but the result was the same. Jackson again used his feet and his arm to take his offense down the field, converting an early third down with a 16-yard pass to receiver Rashod Bateman before scrambling to convert a second. Then, on third-and-3 in the red zone, the Lions collapsed the quarterback's pocket, but he calmly broke contain, rolled to his right, squared up and connected with receiver Nelson Agholor for a 12-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead, following the extra point.
As Detroit's offense continued to flounder, Baltimore's couldn't be slowed. Despite getting pinned at their own 8-yard line, they Ravens needed just eight plays to return to the end zone for a third straight possession. Jackson connected on throws of more than 20 yards to Odell Beckham Jr., Flowers and fullback Patrick Ricard before hitting tight end Mark Andrews on a 11-yard catch-and-run out of motion that extended the Ravens' early lead to 21.
That turned into a 28-point edge a little more than five minutes later when the Ravens (5-2) racked up 56 yards on three runs to open their next drive. That set up a 22-yard completion to Andrews down to the 2-yard line, and two plays later, running back Gus Edwards plowed across the goal line.
Detroit finally managed to pick up a first down midway through the second quarter, but faltered near midfield and turned it over on downs.
"We didn't do much to help ourselves out in those first few drives, couldn't really get a first down there," Lions quarterback Jared Goff said. "Yeah, it's hard. We were putting pressure on our defense. It was no fun. Hats off to them. They really got after us today and we've got to respond the right way."
The Ravens proved the only ones capable of stopping them in the first half was themselves, giving it back to the Lions on a botched handoff that was recovered by Aidan Hutchison. But after driving into field-goal range, Detroit was driven back by intentional grounding and holding penalties, allowing the Ravens to maintain their shutout going into the half.
Through two quarters, Jackson completed 17 of his 21 throws for 255 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 26 yards and a score as the Ravens outgained the Lions, 357-97. He was pulled late in the fourth quarter having thrown for 357 yards and three touchdowns with a just-shy-of-perfect 155.8 passer rating.
"They played well," Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "They kicked our (butts). It's a credit to them. Lamar beat us. He hammered us with his arm. He threw the ball extremely well and ran when he needed to, and we did not handle it well."
The Lions put together their best series coming out of the locker room, but again came away with zero points after Goff had three straight incompletions from the Baltimore 6-yard line, resulting in a second turnover on downs.
The Ravens, meanwhile, continued to pour it on with their opening possession of the second half as Edwards leaked out of the backfield uncovered on play-action and took a short throw from Jackson 80 yards down the right sideline. Two snaps later, Andrews got free on a post pattern for an 8-yard score, his second of the day.
"I don't want to throw anyone (under the bus) or point fingers, but I think it happened twice where you're in man-to-man coverage, and you have a guy, and it looks like he's running, then you try to go get him, and they give you a little pop pass," linebacker Alex Anzalone said about Edwards' 80-yard gain.
Detroit finally managed to get on the board early in the fourth quarter after rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs got around the left side of his formation for a 21-yard touchdown run, the first of the first-round draft pick's career.
"I think he was one of the guys that there was some real positive things in there," Campbell said. "I just thought he had pretty good vision, I thought he set some runs up really well. And there again, I felt, OK, he's a little better. I just feel like the more he plays, the better he's going to get. That's another step in the right direction."
A failed two-point conversion left the lopsided score 35-6 with 13:59 remaining.
An unsuccessful onside kick led to a final score for the Ravens, this time in the form of a 32-yard Justin Tucker field goal.
"We've been through a whole lot worse than this," Goff said. "This is a tough game. We got our butts kicked, but this group has had a lot of adversity and this is kind of our first taste of getting kicked in the teeth this year. We need to respond the right way and show up…make sure we're ready to go."
Even with the loss, the Lions remain in control of the NFC North division. They'll look to get back on track next Monday night against the Las Vegas Raiders before heading into the team's bye week.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
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