The Baltimore Ravens wanted to make a statement they are the best team in the AFC. Baltimore certainly lived up to that billing with a 23-7 dismantling of the Jacksonville Jaguars on "Sunday Night Football," keeping possession of the No. 1 seed in the AFC with the victory. The Ravens also clinched a playoff berth with the win.
Baltimore rushed for 251 yards in the victory, while the defense held Jacksonville to just one touchdown and forced two Trevor Lawrence fumbles in the win. Lamar Jackson finished 14 of 24 for 171 yards with a touchdown while leading the Ravens with 97 rushing yards. Jackson led three Ravens scoring drives in the fourth quarter and Baltimore outscored the Jaguars 13-0 in the final frame.
Baltimore got a short touchdown run from Gus Edwards to take a 17-7 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter. Edwards finished with 58 yards rushing, becoming the top running back after Keaton Mitchell left the game with a knee injury. Mitchell finished the night with 73 yards and averaged 8.1 yards per carry. Justin Tucker hit field goals of 26 and 34 yards to extend the Ravens' lead to 23-7 as they outgained the Jaguars 111 to 57 in the final quarter. Baltimore had over 200 rushing yards in the second half.
The Jaguars fall to 8-6 and are tied with the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans for first in the AFC South with the loss. Jacksonville has lost three consecutive games.
Baltimore imposed its will on the ground against Jacksonville on the ground in the second half, rushing for 204 yards and averaging 6.8 yards per carry. Lamar Jackson had seven carries for 67 yards in the second half while Keaton Mitchell had seven carries for 70 yards before going down with a serious knee injury. The Ravens dominated the second half because of all the yards gained on the ground (they only completed three passes). The Ravens finished with 251 rushing yards on the night.
Miscues across the board significantly cost Jacksonville. Two Trevor Lawrence fumbles were not good for a Jaguars team that struggled to score points. Lawrence had his first fumble at the Ravens' 23-yard line when trying to exchange hands with the football in the first half, costing points in a 3-0 game. The second fumble came deep in his own territory on a Justin Madubuike sack when the game was still 20-7, essentially sealing the Ravens' win. Add two Brandon McManus field goal misses (in less than ideal weather) and the Jaguars found ways to stay off the scoreboard.
We'll get to Lawrence's major blunder shortly. The final score should have been closer.
Trevor Lawrence not spiking the ball with 11 seconds left in the first half after Zay Jones' catch and deciding to throw a pass with no timeouts left was a crushing blow. Jones made an amazing grab to get the Jaguars to the Ravens' 5-yard line with 18 seconds left. Lawrence went into shotgun and didn't spike the ball, throwing the pass to Parker Washington -- who caught the pass and was tackled inbounds.
The clock run out and the half ended as a shower of boos rained on the Jaguars. This was a major miscue by Lawrence that cost the Jaguars three points in a 10-0 game.
Lamar Jackson somehow avoided Dawuane Smoot twice on a second-and-6 play in the final minute of the third quarter that led to an incredible completion to Isaiah Likely. Smoot had Jackson easily in the backfield before the Ravens quarterback escaped and rolled to his right.
Smoot hit Jackson as he threw across his body into double coverage and Likely came up with the 26-yard completion that took Baltimore to the Jacksonville 4-yard line. Smoot asked Jackson how he did that immediately after the play, as the Ravens scored on a Gus Edwards touchdown two plays later.
This was one of the finest plays of Jackson's career. He has a knack for making them in prime time.
"Do I look calm?! I'm not trying to make a mistake. I'm trying to get positive yards and keep things moving. That's what we had to do tonight." -- Lamar Jackson on eluding rushers throughout a game, which he ended up with 97 yards rushing and eluded Smoot twice to make the throw of the night.
The Ravens will head to San Francisco to face the 49ers on Christmas night in a matchup between the AFC and NFC top seeds and a potential Super Bowl preview. The Jaguars travel to Tampa Bay to face the Buccaneers on Christmas Eve.
The Ravens will improve to 11-3. They are the No. 1 seed. They play a massive game against the 49ers next week, then face the Dolphins and Steelers.
The Jaguars drop to 8-6 and will now battle it out with the Texans and Colts for the AFC South title. They play the Bucs next week and then finish the season with the Panthers and Titans.
Lamar is just unbelievable, folks. Truly special player.
Big stop for Baltimore and now the Ravens will look to run some clock and officially clinch their playoff berth. If they hang onto this lead, they will remain the No. 1 seed in the AFC as well.
NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay disagrees with the decision to have the call on the field stand.
This... might be a touchdown. Would be an absolutely incredible catch.
Another fantastic play by Hamilton. Barely got a finger tip on the ball. Let's see if they overturn this call and say Ridley had control before going out of bounds.
Lawrence almost snuck that ball in there for Ridley on the post route. Kyle Hamilton breaks it up to keep it a two-score game. Great play as Lawrence looked him off to the left and tried to throw it behind his ear.
Justin Madubuike has 11 straight games with at least a 0.5 sack -- tying Chris Jones (2018) and Trey Hendrickson (2021) for the most in NFL history.
Lawrence was trying as best as he could to make something out of nothing on that play, but it ended in disaster. This isn't a blown opportunity like the earlier ones for the Jaguars, but it's now their second turnover of the night, and they also missed two field goals and mismanaged the clock at the end of the first half.
As i say that. I don't think it's going to happen tonight. Every team that's led with 2 minutes to go in each of the first 14 games reached the Super Bowl that year.
And now Zay Jones pulls up lame, grabbing the opposite knee from the one he injured earlier in the season.
The Ravens are known for 4th quarter collapses too. They led at the 2 minute warning in every game this year. Somehow are 10-3.
Ronnie Stanley is headed to the locker room for the Ravens now as well. If the Jags are going to make a comeback, this is their opportunity.
Unsurprisingly, Mitchell is officially OUT for the night. Brutal.
Perfectly-executed zone read from Lamar right there. Travon Walker bit down hard on the fake to Gus Edwards, so Lamar pulled it and zoomed around the corner for a chunk gain.
Mitchell was at 9 carries for 73 yards. He was averaging over 8 yards per attempt on the season coming into the game. Now he is being carted off.
Mitchell apparently cannot put any weight on the leg as he heads to the medical tent. Remember, the Ravens already lost JK Dobbins to a torn Achilles back in Week 1.
Mitchell was on his way to breaking another big run that he bounced to the outside, but his feet got tangled as he tried to break through a tackle at the first-down line and he immediately went to the ground grabbing his knee. Ugh.
Ohhhhh no.
When you watched the third-down play live it looked like Lawrence just flat-out missed Engram. But as the replay showed, that's Engram's fault for bringing his route back to the inside. Bad mistake.
Two plays later, Gus Edwards is in the end zone and the Ravens have their two-score lead back.
And what a throw. What a play.
WHAT A CATCH BY LIKELY!!!!
And that, right there, is why Baltimore needs to make a concerted effort to get Mitchell more touches.
Wow. Incredible special-teams play from the punter and gunner right there. Ravens still have good field position but it's wild that they aren't already in Jacksonville territory given the situation.
That should be intentional grounding on Lawrence at around the 1-yard line. Similar to the play where Lamar got called for grounding earlier.
