Ravens rout Lions 38-6 behind Lamar Jackson's 4 TDs: Highlights and analysis

Publish date: 2024-06-25

The Ravens cruise past the Lions 38-6 in an interconference clash. The Athletic's experts and insiders break it all down.

Colton Pouncy, Jeff Zrebiec and The Athletic NFL Staff

October 22, 2023 at 11:19 PM EDT Ravens rout Lions 38-6 behind Lamar Jackson's 4 TDs: Highlights and analysis

Patrick Smith / Getty Images

Ravens’ statement win over Lions ‘creates a vision’ for what they can be

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh had lost count, so he figured he’d go right to the source.

“Mark Andrews, I don’t know how many touchdowns he had. A bunch,” Harbaugh said before turning to his tight end, who was seated against the wall, awaiting his turn with reporters.

When informed that Andrews had scored “just” twice, Harbaugh said, “Two? It seemed like more.”

For Harbaugh, it was easy to get lost in a sea of offensive highlights. His Ravens pummeled the Detroit Lions, 38-6, at M&T Bank Stadium in a game that felt even more lopsided and thorough than the score indicated. For the better part of three hours, the Ravens essentially did whatever they wanted against a team that came in tied for the best record in football and as one of the talks of the league.

How will Lions respond to surprise blowout loss vs. Ravens?

There are off days, there are bad days and then there’s whatever that was from the Detroit Lions.

“They kicked our ass,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said after his team’s 38-6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. “It’s a credit to them.”

A fairly accurate depiction of events from Campbell, but one that wasn’t expected coming into this contest. The Lions (5-2) were riding high off a four-game winning streak. They’d won all four by double digits, taking care of business. The Lions had a chance to get off to their best start since 1956 with a win Sunday. Take down the Ravens on the road and every sports talk show would have been calling Detroit a Super Bowl contender come Monday morning. It would’ve left little room on the bandwagon.

After this game, though, there might be more space.

Lions' Dan Campbell says KR Mohamed Ibrahim suffered hip injury, needs surgery

Lions coach Dan Campbell told reporters that kick returner Mohamed Ibrahim, who left the 38-6 loss to the Ravens on a cart with a hip injury suffered on his first NFL touch, is at a local hospital and will have surgery.

Ibrahim was signed this week after being waived with injury during training camp.

Seventh highest fantasy point total for Lamar Jackson

Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson is no stranger to high fantasy point totals, but today’s performance was one of his finest, as Jackson’s 33.88-point total was the seventh highest of his career.

Lions unable to finish drives

The Lions entered the day having scored touchdowns on 51.5 percent of drives that moved inside the opponent 40-yard line this season, the fourth-highest rate in the NFL.

Today? One touchdown in five such drives including two turnovers on downs and an interception.

A possible record Detroit doesn’t want to set

Detroit has had a number of terrible stretches in franchise history, but the Lions have never had at least one 29-plus point loss in four straight years. That could change if the 38-6 lead by the Ravens holds up, as it would give Detroit four straight seasons with a defeat by 29 or more points. The current streak is as follows:

2020: 47-7 loss vs. Tampa Bay

2021: 44-6 loss vs. Philadelphia

2022: 29-0 loss at New England

Jahmyr Gibbs finds the end zone for first career TD

First-round rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs scored his first career touchdown on a 21-yard run at 14:03 of the fourth quarter, helping the Lions at least prevent the shutout in Baltimore and pleasing some fantasy football enthusiasts. The two-point conversion failed, though, so Baltimore leads 35-6.

Ravens lead Lions 35-0 entering fourth quarter

The third quarter comes to a close with the Ravens leading the Lions 35-0.

It’s tied for Detroit’s largest deficit entering the fourth quarter since Week 8 of 2021 against the Eagles (38-0) and tied for its third-largest deficit entering the fourth quarter this century.

Jared Goff picked off in end zone

The Lions come up empty again on a drive into Ravens’ territory, this one ending on a Jared Goff interception on fourth-and-1.

Detroit is now a combined 4-for-15 on third and fourth down today (26.7 percent). The Lions entered the day 10th in the NFL in combined conversion percentage on third and fourth down (43.0 percent).

Another 20+ PPR fantasy point day for Ravens TE Mark Andrews

Baltimore TE Mark Andrews hasn’t lived up to his fantasy draft billing so far this year, but that isn’t the case today. Andrews has now posted 22.3 PPR points. It is his second 20+ PPR point game of the year and the 17th of Andrews’ career.

Ravens' rout of Lions continues

(Photo: Tommy Gilligan / USA Today)

Offensive coordinator Todd Monken was asked a lot this week about sitting on leads and not being aggressive in the second half. After another fourth-down stop by the defense, the Ravens just went 94 yards on just four plays to score another touchdown. The key play on the drive was a Lamar Jackson 80-yard hook-up with Gus Edwards. Jackson followed that up two plays later by hitting tight end Mark Andrews for an 8-yard touchdown.

It's now 35-0 midway through the third quarter in Baltimore.

The Lions have yet to stop Jackson and the Ravens offense beyond the one late second-quarter fumbled exchange between Jackson and running back Justice Hill. Jackson is now 19-of-23 for 343 yards passing and 3 TDs. He also has a rushing score.

Lamar Jackson and Ravens pouring it on

Lamar Jackson connects with Mark Andrews for their second touchdown of the day and the third touchdown pass for Jackson overall.

Jackson also has a rushing score, making this his first game with at least three touchdown passes AND a rushing touchdown since Week 3 of last season against the Patriots.

Ravens connect on longest pass of season

Following the Lions’ turnover on downs, Lamar Jackson hits running back Gus Edwards for an 80-yard catch-and-run on the Ravens’ second play of the half.

The 80-yard reception was the longest by any player this season.

Lions' promising drive to open half stalls in red zone

The Lions drove 69 yards in 11 plays on their opening drive of the half, but Jared Goff’s fourth-and-goal pass attempt to Josh Reynolds falls incomplete.

Detroit now has a pair of turnovers on downs today and seven this season, tied for third most in the NFL.

Terrible first half in fantasy points for the Lions

It has been an awful first half for the Lions, and fantasy managers with Detroit players in their lineups have felt the impact of that dismal performance.

Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown had a solid first half with 7.2 PPR, but everyone else did quite poorly, with tight end Sam LaPorta getting only 4.0 PPR points, running back Jahmyr Gibbs weighing in with 3.4 PPR points, quarterback Jared Goff generating just 3.96 points and RB Craig Reynolds posting only 0.4 PPR points.

Brutal first half for Lions

(Photo: Tommy Gilligan / USA Today)

Nothing going right for the Lions this afternoon. They've given up 355 yards and only recorded 97 themselves. Jared Goff ran for his life in the first half. The run game was abandoned early. The secondary was exploited. The pass rush couldn't get home. The Lions had just four first downs. They gave up 18 to the Ravens. Just a brutal, brutal half of football. Detroit trails 28-0.

Lamar Jackson has 3 TDs as Ravens blank Lions in first half

Lamar Jackson’s dominant performance has helped the Baltimore Ravens to a 28-0 halftime lead over the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Here’s what you need to know:

Jackson ran for a touchdown on Baltimore’s opening drive, then completed a 12-yard TD pass to Nelson Agholor on the team’s next possession to put the Ravens up 14-0 in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Jackson connected with tight end Mark Andrews on an 11-yard TD pass. Running back Gus Edwards added a TD run.
Jackson was 17-of-21 passing for 255 yards with the two touchdowns and a 149.0 passer rating. He added seven carries for 23 yards and the TD.
Meanwhile, Lions quarterback Jared Goff went 11-of-18 passing for 99 yards.

What a weekend for the Harbaugh brothers

It has been quite a weekend for the Harbaugh brothers against teams from the state of Michigan. Jim Harbaugh's University of Michigan squad beat Michigan State 49-0 on Saturday night. John Harbaugh's Ravens lead the Lions 28-0 at halftime.

That's a 77-0 advantage for the Harbaughs.

Aidan Hutchinson scoops up Ravens fumble

The Lions stop the bleeding with a takeaway in their own territory. This one a fumble recovery following a botched exchange between Lamar Jackson and running back Justice Hill at the Detroit 25-yard line.

The Lions had just one takeaway inside their own 30 in the first six games this season.

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