Ravens’ Zay Flowers runs for long gain after a catch against the Commanders in first quarter at M&T Bank Stadium. Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun/TNS
Lamar Jackson and Jayden Daniels embraced on the field at M&T Bank Stadium once, then again in the Sunday afternoon twilight. The message from the veteran to the rookie was simple and respectful: Keep it up. Later, Daniels sent his jersey over to the Ravens’ locker room, and Jackson did the same in return.
The Battle of the Beltway was a showdown between two of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks, but in the end Baltimore showed that its depth extends much further than its two-time league Most Valuable Player.
The Ravens scored on five straight possessions (including on drives of 93 and 94 yards), Jackson completed 20 of 26 passes for 323 yards and a touchdown with one interception and wide receiver Zay Flowers had a career-high 132 yards on nine catches to spark a 30-23 victory in front of 71,316.
On the ground, Baltimore (4-2) leaned on the long and strong legs of Derrick Henry once again as he racked up 132 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns. That helped the Ravens keep the ball for 36 of the game’s final 60 minutes and finish off Washington, which entered as the league’s top scoring offense. It also marked the six straight game that the Ravens tallied more than 150 rushing yards, an NFL record.
“I felt like everything was working,” Henry said. “It was like pick your poison.”
Six games into the season, the Ravens are perhaps starting to prove lethal — at least on offense. That was especially true against the Commanders’ man coverage, which Jackson exploited time and again.
“Who I’m going to throw it to, because I know whoever gets the ball on that play — somebody going [to] come back and be like, ‘I was open,’” he said. “It’s like, ‘bro [there’s] only one football.'”
Still, the Ravens managed to spread it around.
Six players had at least one catch, while Baltimore converted on 6 of 10 third downs, was 3-for-4 scoring inside the red zone and averaged 7.4 yards per play in rolling up 484 total yards.
“We just proved ourselves right,” Jackson said. “Instead of just talking about it, we was about it today, putting points on the board.”
And as good as Daniels has been through his rookie season, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner simply couldn’t keep up with Jackson or the Ravens’ offense.
“[Jackson’s] a great player, man,” Daniels said. “He’s a two-time MVP for a reason. He had a great game, but you know there’s no ‘you’ out there. You go out there, and obviously, you keep that in the back of your head like, ‘Man, we got to score, because they have a quarterback on the other side who can put up points too.’”
Early on, though, it looked as if the first meeting between the two intra-conference foes in four years and just the seventh overall might be a tussle.
On the Ravens’ fourth play of the game and two plays after Flowers went for 44 yards on a short pass, Jackson threw too far out in front of tight end Mark Andrews. The ball deflected off his fingertips and into the waiting arms of rookie cornerback Mike Sainristil, who returned the interception 38 yards to the Ravens’ 49.
Baltimore’s defense stiffened, though, and on third-and-7 from the Ravens’ 13, the coverage tightened and Travis Jones eventually burst in for a sack. Washington had to settle for a 42-yard field goal from Austin Seibert for the game’s first points.
The lead didn’t last.
After Justin Tucker tied the score with a 45-yard kick of his own, the Ravens’ offense found its rhythm.
Starting with the ball on his own 7, Jackson connected with Rashod Bateman on a comeback for 13 yards to convert a third-and-5. Then he found a wide-open Bateman in the middle of the Commanders’ zone for 22 yards, and Henry followed with a 16-yard run up the middle.
Flowers then hauled in a pass for 23 yards before Jackson ran around the right side for 14 yards to the Commanders’ 14.
Two plays later, Washington cornerback Benjamin St-Juste was flagged for pass interference when he grabbed Flowers as he came across the end zone, and that set up an easy 3-yard run by Henry, who waved to the crowd as he jogged around the right side to give the Ravens a 10-3 lead with 7:59 remaining in the half.
With the run, Henry became the first player since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2005 to score a rushing touchdown in each of his first six games of the season, and he was just getting started.
Washington (4-2) responded with Daniels connecting on 7 of 8 passes for 75 yards, including a perfect throw 7-yard throw in the back of the end zone to leaping wide receiver Terry McLaurin, who beat safety Marcus Williams before getting both feet down to tie the game at 10 with 4:21 remaining in the first half. But Washington’s defense, which lost top pass rusher Dorance Armstrong to a rib injury during the game, could do little to stop the humming Baltimore offense.
On the Ravens’ next possession, Jackson found a wide-open Andrews in the back of the end zone for the tight end’s first touchdown of the season to cap a 10-play, 78-yard drive that pushed Baltimore in front again. The catch also tied Andrews with fellow tight end Todd Heap for the franchise record for receiving touchdowns at 41.
“It felt great to get in the end zone,” Andrews said. “It usually doesn’t take me six games to get in there. Yes, that was a fun one. He threw a great ball.”
And even when Daniels (24-for-35, 269 yards, two touchdowns) and Washington tried to answer against what has been a leaky Ravens pass defense much of the season, Baltimore bent but didn’t break.
The NFL’s top team on third down, the Commanders were held to just 4 of 12, well below their mark of 51.67% coming into the game. Then with five seconds to go in the second quarter, Ravens offensive lineman Ben Cleveland got a piece of Seibert’s 52-yard field goal attempt.
The third quarter was more of the same for Baltimore’s offense.
After a 32-yard field goal by Tucker on the Ravens’ first possession of the second half, they were pinned at their own 6 following a Commanders punt. It didn’t matter.
Two straight runs by Henry got the Ravens out of trouble, followed by a play-action pass to Andrews across the field. Bateman drew a pass-interference penalty after being dragged down on third-and-5 from Baltimore’s 39 before Jackson hit a wide-open Andrews for 38 more yards. Two plays later, Henry plunged into the end zone again.
Daniels shot back with a 6-yard touchdown pass to McLaurin to complete a 12-play, 70-yard touchdown drive early in the fourth quarter, but there was no stopping Jackson, who drove Baltimore 57 yards in a clock-grinding 5:54 to set up the Ravens’ final points.
“I thought Lamar had a great game,” coach John Harbaugh said before being whisked away to check on his brother, Jim, who entered the medical tent before the Los Angeles Chargers’ game against the Denver Broncos because of an illness before returning to the sideline. “He was on point against man coverage.”
The only drive that didn’t result in points for the Ravens down the stretch was the final one of the game, when Henry took a familiar game-icing toss left and raced 27 yards to help run out the clock.
The victory is the fourth in a row for the Ravens, while the Commanders had their four-game winning streak end. It also improved Jackson’s career record against NFC opponents to 22-1.
“Ever since I’ve been with him, he’s always been in command of the offense,” left tackle Ronnie Stanley said. “We all look to him for direction and leadership. He’s given us that.”
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