QB Jackson Leads Ravens to Victory Over Buccaneers – He showed up and he showed out. Two-time MVP Lamar Jackson continued his dominance on “Monday Night Football” and may have put himself in pole position for MVP consideration after throwing five touchdowns in a blowout victory by the Baltimore Ravens over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Jackson had a performance for the ages, completing 17 of 22 passes for 281 yards and five touchdowns. He finished with an extraordinary 158.1 passer rating.
Jackson, who has compiled three games with a perfect passer rating of 158.3, was just 0.2 off from making history and setting the NFL record.
“Trying to win. That’s all that’s on my mind,” Jackson said after the AFC North co-leaders, alongside the Pittsburgh Steelers at 5-2 after seven weeks, scored on seven of nine possessions before removing him from the game in garbage time with just under two minutes left.
“I’m proud of him. I’m happy for him. He’s a great leader, a great player.” coach John Harbaugh added. “He’s the ultimate competitor on a level with the greatest competitors I’ve ever seen.”
The Ravens got anything they wanted on the offensive side of the ball with little to no resistance from the Buccaneers, accumulating more than 500 yards of total offense and scored 34 straight points after getting off to a slow start, trailing 10-0 to begin the game. Jackson did most of the damage by averaging 12.8 yards per attempt, however, he was not a one man show. Running back Derrick Henry also made sure the Buccaneers never got back in the game. Henry had an explosive 81-yard run in the second half and finished with 15 carries for 169 yards (11.3 yards per carry), along with one reception for 13 yards and a receiving touchdown.
Baltimore scored on six straight drives and seven of eight possessions after trailing by double digits in the first quarter. Mike Evans caught his 100th career touchdown pass in the first quarter to give the Bucs the early lead. Evans is just the 11th player to have 100 touchdown catches in a career and the fifth with one team. He left with a hamstring injury in the second quarter, and was ruled out of the game. Chris Godwin was then taken off on a cart in the final minute.
“Early indication is that it’s dislocated. Doesn’t look good,” said Bucs coach Todd Bowles, who stood by the decision to still have Godwin on the field in the closing minutes when the Ravens had the game in hand.
“He’s a player. We’re trying to win the ballgame. We were still down 10, we’re trying to get extra points and kick another onside kick. It just happened,” Bowles added.
“With Mike (Evans) going down, we didn’t have that many receivers left as it was, so we play what we got.”
Rashod Bateman caught a 59-yard bomb in the second quarter and a 49-yard touchdown as part of the Ravens’ chunk plays in the game. The Ravens averaged an unbelievable 10.0 yards per play in the victory.
Baltimore retakes first place in the AFC North over Pittsburgh while Tampa Bay gives up first place in the NFC South to the Atlanta Falcons.
It seemed like the Ravens offensive unit was on the field by themselves, torching the Buccaneers pass defense from the second quarter on, as Tampa Bay surrendered 486 yards and more than 10 yards per play. The Bucs had no answer or adjustments for the deep ball to Bateman, who had a 59-yard catch that set up a touchdown and a 49-yard score of his own.
Tampa Bay gave up an unacceptable 244 yards on the ground, 230 of which came after the first quarter. Henry, who is a man amongst boys, wore down a defense that gave up points on six straight possessions and did nothing to stop Jackson and his quick passes. The Ravens only had the ball for 24:55, but it did not matter. The Buccaneers could not keep up in the track meet.
The Ravens (5-2) continue their road trip to face their division rival the Cleveland Browns in Week 8 while the Buccaneers (4-3) host Kirk Cousins and the Falcons on Sunday.
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QB Murray Leads Cardinals to Win Over Chargers – The underdog Arizona Cardinals kicked a pressure-packed game-winning field goal as time expired to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers, and a debatable unnecessary roughness penalty helped them to the 17-15 victory.
Chargers’ kicker Cameron Dicker buried his fifth field goal of the evening on the road in a hostile environment in Glendale, Arizona to put his team up by one, 15-14, with less than two minutes remaining on the clock. But it was more than enough time for Kyler Murray and the Cardinals’ offense to march down the field and attempt a field goal of their own to move to 3-4 on the season.
That is exactly what happened, as place kicker Chad Ryland split the uprights with his 32-yard attempt, as the Chargers fall to 3-3 on the year following their bye week.
“I thought we did a lot of good things, but we’ve got to score points in the red zone,” Justin Herbert said. “That’s the biggest takeaway from tonight’s game. We’ve got an amazing kicker, but we’ve got to do a better job for our defense and special teams. We’ve got to score points.”
However, a game-changing call was made by officials on second-and-10 from the Arizona 30-yard line, as a pass from Murray to rookie first-rounder Marvin Harrison Jr. went incomplete with two Chargers defenders making contact with him just as he dropped it.
A yellow flag was seen on the field after the play, and Cam Hart was called for unnecessary roughness after what officials believed was a hit to the head on a defenseless receiver in Harrison. It is something the league has been monitoring and cracking down on, and the call was made by the letter of the law.
It created a huge momentum shift, as the Cardinals, instead of facing third-and-10 in their own territory, were now close to the 50-yard line with a new set of downs.
Upon video replay, Hart’s helmet appeared to make contact with Harrison’s, though it was not a clear helmet-to-helmet collusion in real time. Hart also seems to be turning his shoulder, as he knows that hits leading with the crown of the helmet are not allowed in the league.
NFL fans on social media, though, were hot about the call.
Either way, the Cardinals utilized their new field position to their advantage, as running back James Conner caught a pass from Murray and took it 33 yards to the Los Angeles 22-yard line on the ensuing play, setting his team up perfectly for the field goal.
“That’s just the way the season’s been going,” Conner said. “As a captain on this team, that’s the job description. Just tried to rally the troops.”
The Cardinals milked the clock until it was time for Ryland to do his magic and seal the victory.
While this call will be talked about on Tuesday morning, the Chargers made other mistakes in this game, including right out the gate after an interception was stripped by Conner on the first drive and, ultimately, Arizona escaped by just punting the ball away.
Then, on the Chargers’ first offensive drive of the game, Herbert connected with Jalen Raegor down the left sideline for a 41-yard strike that appeared to be destined for a touchdown, but he fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by the Cardinals in the end zone, resulting in a touchback.
Despite Herbert having a fantastic statistical game, throwing for 349 yards, a season-high for him, the Chargers just could not get into the end zone as Dicker was needed more times than head coach Jim Harbaugh would have liked.
“It was a game of a lot of near misses and close calls,” Harbaugh said. “Both teams played well. Came down to a lot of details, not just one play.”
Meanwhile, Murray found Greg Dortch for the first touchdown of this game in the second quarter to put the Cardinals up 7-6 by halftime. Then, in the fourth quarter, Murray used his wheels for a 44-yard rushing score that made it a 14-9 game.
Murray finished with 64 yards on the ground and 145 through the air, while Conner provided a huge boost with 101 rushing yards and 51 receiving yards on just two receptions for Arizona. Tight end Trey McBride also had 51 yard receiving on five catches.
The Chargers host the shorthanded New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
The Cardinals at Miami to face the Dolphins on Sunday.
