Lamar Jackson leads MVP candidates and 4 other things we learned from Ravens’ win vs. Broncos

Some questions were answered while others came into focus on Sunday.

One week after suffering one of the most stunning upset losses of the season to a one-win divisional opponent, the Baltimore Ravens returned home and responded with their most complete game of the season in a resounding 41-10 win over the Denver Broncos. Offensively, they tied their season-high in points scored. Defensively, they played complementary football, tying for their fewest points allowed in a game this season.

The win not only marks their sixth in their last seven games since starting the season 0-2, but it pulls them within a half-game of first place in the AFC North with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are on bye this week.

There were several encouraging performances by players and units on both sides of the ball that were vital in securing this victory to improve the Ravens’ overall record to 6-3.

Here are five of the main things that can be learned from Sunday’s overwhelming victory at M&T Bank Stadium.

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Lamar Jackson was “Lamarvelous” once again

On a day when he was outrushed by the opposing quarterback, the reigning league MVP showed why he is the rightful frontrunner to receive the prestigious honors for the third time in his career with a sensational passing performance. Jackson had as many touchdown passes as incompletions as he finished the game 16-of-19 for 280 passing yards and three touchdowns, earning his fourth perfect passer rating of 158.3 — tying him with Ben Roethlisberger for the most in a career in NFL history.

Jackson was not only deadly accurate throughout this game but he was aggressive as well, averaging 14.7 yards per attempt and 17.5 yards per completion. He led seven straight scoring drives over a vaunted defense that came into this game ranked third in the NFL, giving up just 4.4 yards per play—fewest in the league.

“He’s dangerous with his arm, and I think he showed that today,” four-time Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry said. “If you want to take away him running the ball, [he’ll] go over your head and throw it. If he has to run it, he’ll do that as well. Hats off to him. He’s an engine that makes this thing go – ‘MV3.’”

Todd Monken: In. His. Bag.

While Jackson and Henry were the unquestioned stars of the show on offense, the second-year play-caller had an excellent game from a play-calling and sequencing standpoint. Monken put together another masterclass with how he dialed up deep shots, perfectly-timed screens to wide receivers and running backs, and quick answers to blitzes and pressure packages of one the league best and stingiest defenses.

Monken also used motion to the Ravens’ advantage and exploited mismatches in coverage whether it was getting a linebacker on a Justice Hill on a wheel route out of the backfield or getting some of his top pass catchers matched up against defensive backs not named Patrick Surtain II. His unit likely would’ve topped 400 total yards for the seventh time this season had the starters played the entire game. They still finished just shy of the mark with 396 including 127 on the ground, marking its ninth straight game of 100-plus rushing yards to open the season and 42nd straight since Week 2 of the 2022 regular season.

Defense stiffened up, clamped down when it mattered most

After spending a week as one of the most maligned units in the league, the Ravens defense responded with one of its best performances of the season. Even though they gave up big plays through the air and over 100 yards on the ground for the second time in their last three games, they still gave up their fourth-fewest total yards of the season with 319 and their fewest points since Week 4 when they held the Buffalo Bills.

Defensive coordinator Zach Orr’s unit wasted no time making up for some of the mistakes that doomed them last week by recording an interception on the second play of the game. Even when the Broncos were able to move the ball, they tightened up in the red zone and on fourth down, only giving up one touchdown on a trick play while forcing a short field goal attempt and four turnovers on downs including a goal-line stand with several starters out in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to preserve a second-half shutout.

“I thought the red zone defense was amazing,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “I thought they did a great job in coverage. I thought our coverage did a great job the whole game. [Bo Nix is] a really dangerous quarterback, as you all saw. He’s really hard to get down in the pocket. He was running around doing some things, and I thought our pass rush did a really nice job, especially in the red zone, of not letting them run out of there and score [on their] scrambling. Kudos to the defense. Kudos to [defensive coordinator] Zach [Orr]. Kudos to all the coaches and the players.”

Pass rush remains inconsistent but showed some promise

While the Ravens’ defense was able to hold Denver’s offense out of the end zone after halftime when the game was out of hand, when it was much closer in the first half, they struggled mightily to get consistent pressure on rookie quarterback Bo Nix and keep him in the pocket. However, once the Broncos were forced to essentially abandon the run as a result of the game script, the Ravens pass rush began to heat up and they recorded three of their four sacks in the second half.

Leading the charge was a pair of second-year players who had highly disruptive games in outside linebacker Tavius Robinson and inside linebacker Trenton Simpson as both players had their best outings of the season. Robinson continued his under-the-radar breakout season with the first multi-sack game of his career with his second coming on a third down and forcing a punt on the Broncos’ first drive of the second half. Simpson picked the perfect time to record his first full sack of the season as it came on a third and goal play from the Ravens’ one-yard line and resulted in a turnover on downs on the next play.

“[Tavius Robinson and Trenton Simpson are] a big part of us,” Harbaugh said. “Those two guys are huge. Trenton had some really good coverage plays and of course the run defense. Tavius had two sacks – two big sacks. The big one in the second half was massive.”

Zay Flowers breakout campaign continues to catch fire

Simpson and Robinson weren’t the only second-year pros who made big plays in this game as the 2023 first-rounder continued to stake his claim as one of the best young wide receivers in the game with his fourth 100-plus receiving yard game in the last five weeks. Flower’s caught five of his six targets for 127 yards—just five shy of his season and career-high single-game high—and a pair of touchdowns. His first score came in a third-and-goal extended play where he uncovered late in the back of the end zone and the second was an incredible display of elusiveness and run-after-catch ability as he made a defender miss near the 30-yard line and sprinted the next 20-plus yards to put the Ravens up by two touchdowns heading into halftime.

“That’s just him,” Jackson said. “God blessed him with the ability to make guys miss. It’s always been him. Going back to Broward County – back in youth football – he’s always been that player. Him catching a post pattern, making guys miss, and getting extra yards for a touchdown, that’s just him playing ball.”

The crazy part of Flowers’ impressive breakout season is that the vast majority of his production has come early in the first half of games where he has been instrumental in helping the Ravens offense jump out to big leads so that the run game can take over in the second half. He is dangerous and proficient in running routes at every level of the field and can create separation against any type of coverage.

“You’ve got to trust the process, and you’ve got to take advantage of everything that’s coming your way; that’s how I think about it,” Flowers said. “We’ve got so many players that can make plays on our team that, when it’s your turn, you’ve got to take advantage of that.”

With this latest prolific performance, Flowers now has 46 catches for 654 and three touchdowns in nine games—all of which lead the team. He is on pace to finish the season with around 86 catches over 1,230 yards and just five touchdowns for the second year in a row which would be the best season by a Ravens wide receiver since franchise legend Torrey Smith recorded 65 catches for 1,128 and four touchdowns in 2013.