The Broncos came into M&T Bank Stadium with one of the NFL’s best defenses and riding high with wins in five of their past six games. They also hadn’t seen an offense as potent as the Ravens’.
Lamar Jackson torched Denver’s secondary, completing 16 of 19 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Ravens to a 41-10 blowout victory in front of 71,051 fans Sunday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium. Jackson, the early favorite to win a second straight and third overall NFL Most Valuable Player Award, recorded the fourth perfect passer rating of his career to tie former Pittsburgh Steelers star Ben Roethlisberger for the most such games in league history.
The victory improves the Ravens to 6-3 and importantly keeps them within a half-game of first place in the AFC North behind the Steelers, who are on a bye and will host Baltimore later this month.
It also made a statement: The Ravens proved once again they have the best offense in the NFL.
Baltimore scored on four of its first five possessions, including going 70 yards in just two plays with 58 seconds left in the second quarter as wide receiver Zay Flowers found a wide-open patch of grass in the middle of the field, caught Jackson’s perfectly thrown pass, cut back and raced 53 yards for a touchdown that put the Ravens up 24-10 at the half.
Then the Ravens leaned on their NFL-best rushing attack and continued to pour it on.
Baltimore drove 70 yards in 10 plays on the opening series of the third quarter, with Derrick Henry (23 carries, 106 yards, 2 TDs) chewing up 42 of them on the ground, including a 6-yard scoring run. It was the 21st time that Henry had 100 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns in a game, tying him for third-most in NFL history, according to ESPN stats and information. The only running backs with more are Jim Brown (25) and LaDainian Tomlinson (25).
After Denver went three-and-out on its next possession, the Ravens marched 79 more yards in 10 plays, beginning with a screen pass to Henry that went for 27 yards and ending with an easy 3-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to fullback Pat Ricard, who hauled in his first catch of the season for the score to extend the lead to 38-10.
Then Justin Tucker, who had knocked in a 33-yard field goal in the second quarter, tacked on one from 37 yards early in the fourth.
But for as good as the Ravens’ offense was, their troubled defense had its share of struggles, especially early.
Rookie quarterback Bo Nix, facing little in the way of pressure, completed 7 of 9 passes for 86 yards in the opening quarter as Broncos receivers were routinely open, and he even caught a touchdown pass from receiver Courtland Sutton on a fake reverse on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line to cut the deficit to 10-7 midway through the second quarter.
The play had a completion probability of just 21.9%, according to Next Gen Stats, and was the most improbable reception by a quarterback since 2018.
But Denver’s defense couldn’t contain Jackson and his playmakers, and its offense couldn’t keep pace.
On the Ravens’ next possession, Jackson rove them 63 yards in seven plays, hitting Flowers (5 catches, 127 yards, 2 TDs) for 23 yards and Justice Hill on a wheel route that went for 24 more. His first incompletion didn’t come until the 3:59 mark of the second quarter, but he quickly got back on track. Jackson hit Flowers on the next play in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown and a 17-7 lead.
Denver had come into the game having given up the third-fewest points per game (15), fourth-fewest passing yards (176.3) and fewest yards per pass (5.9). But it took all of two quarters for Baltimore to race by most of those numbers.
And this time, the Ravens’ defense didn’t allow the Broncos to climb back in it.
Nix finished 19 of 33 for 223 yards and was sacked four times while running back Javonte Williams was held to 42 rushing yards on 12 carries. Baltimore also improved to 25-3 at home against rookie quarterbacks, the best mark of any team since 1950.
This article will be updated. Have a news tip? Contact sports editor Tim Schwartz at timschwartz@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/timschwartz13.
Week 10
Bengals at Ravens
Thursday, 8:15 p.m.
Stream: Prime Video
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
