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Lamar Jackson's heroics put the Ravens over the Bengals, but the defense has to do its part

BALTIMORE — He led the Baltimore Ravens to touchdowns on four consecutive drives and scored the final touchdown to Rashod Bateman in the back of the end zone by holding his release in the air, a move that would have made Stephen Curry proud.

But for one of the few times Thursday night, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson felt powerless. As he waited for the official's review to determine whether Baltimore had gotten a fourth down stop or the Cincinnati Bengals would have another set of downs to try to tie up – or win – another thriller between the two teams. , Jackson threw his arm around the shoulder of general manager Eric DeCosta on the sideline.

Then they waited together for the news. It was determined that Bengals receiver Andrei Iosivas had picked up the first down, and the ordeal would continue for several more minutes.

Jackson finally got a chance to enjoy the cheers his second-half performance deserved when his counterpart, Joe Burrow, who was great all night, failed to connect on a two-point attempt with tight end Tanner Hudson 38 seconds left. After the Ravens recovered an onside kick, Jackson needed just a knee to secure a thrilling 35-34 victory at M&T Bank Stadium and send the announced 71,439 fans heading for the exit feeling good.

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During one point in the third quarter, the home crowd booed the Baltimore offense, which was struggling in a way it hadn't in weeks. At the end of the game, another heroic performance was celebrated by Jackson, who turned all of his team's problems on Thursday, including a poor start on offense, another poor defensive performance and a missed fourth-quarter extra point by Justin Tucker, into mere footnotes.

“I told my guys on the sideline, 'We have to score.' If they score, we have to score. “That’s the type of game it’s going to be,” Jackson said. “We saw that from the first moment, but I'm proud of my boys because we completed one of these challenging environmental games. We made it.”

The Ravens are now 7-3. Thursday's victory over the Bengals (4-6) not only secured a season win over their AFC North rivals and put Cincinnati in a precarious playoff position, it also guarantees that the Ravens have a chance to move into first place, when they next take the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers on November 17th.

But as the players exited the locker room on an unseasonably warm November evening in Baltimore, they seemed to understand that Thursday's recipe for victory is untenable if they want to pull off a Super Bowl victory. As brilliant as Jackson has been — and he's playing at a ridiculously high level with more than 275 passing yards in six straight games — he and the offense will need help.

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“Nobody was pointing fingers out there, but we have to get better,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “That’s just not the standard. That's what the defenders said in the locker room, that that wasn't the standard. We have to do much better. We also have to take the pressure off our offense.”

The defense doesn't have to dominate, but it does have to put up far more resistance than it did for much of Thursday night. Burrow threw for 428 yards and four touchdowns, and Ja'Marr Chase had 11 catches for 264 yards and three scores. The two looked like they were taking part in a seven-on-seven exercise. The Ravens, who didn't have to worry about Cincinnati's other top receiver, Tee Higgins, couldn't do anything about it.

As he rolled toward the end zone for his 70-yard score that tied the game with 5:37 left in the fourth quarter, Chase waited for a Ravens defender to even get in before crossing the plane his approach came. It was a fitting gesture considering Baltimore's defenders had failed to stay with him all night.

“It would be different if we were confused. It's simple: we just don't play the way we practice. “It’s too far into the season to keep going like this,” Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said. “We are like little brothers at the moment. (Jacksons) carries us, which is cool. But that's not it. I want to be able to finish the game on defense.”

The Ravens almost succeeded, stopping the Bengals on the go-ahead two-point attempt and escaping with Travis Jones hitting Burrow's helmet on the incompletion while Humphrey struggled with tight end Mike Gesicki. What preceded that, however, was Burrow using three Baltimore penalties to drive the Bengals 70 yards in under 80 seconds and hit Chase for a 5-yard score that set Cincinnati up for the go-ahead try.

And what preceded that were two one-play touchdown drives, as Burrow hit Chase for a 67-yard score early in the third quarter and for the 70-yard touchdown later in the fourth. In two games against the Ravens this year, Chase had 21 catches for 457 yards and five touchdowns.

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“It's getting harder and harder to enjoy these wins because of what we do in pass defense,” Humphrey said, referencing the team's 32nd ranking against the pass. “When I was a freshman, freshman year, sophomore year, I kind of looked up to the standard that was there. We really lost that standard in pass defense. I feel like this is falling on me. We will continue to pursue it. We’ll continue to work on it because I’m not really happy with what I built in secondary where it stayed.”

To Humphrey's credit, he made the play that pretty much every Raven said turned the game around. It was midway through the third quarter and the Ravens were down 21-7. The offense had just left the field to boos when the punt team continued running for the fifth time this season. Baltimore needed to change the dynamic. It was Humphrey who ripped the ball out of running back Chase Brown's hands. Roquan Smith found it.

Five plays and a miraculous 10-yard run by Jackson later, Derrick Henry was in the end zone and Cincinnati's lead was reduced to 21-14.

“That kind of woke us up,” Jackson said of the Humphrey strip. “I have the feeling that we slept the whole first half – even though we scored once. We were pretty flat the whole game.”

On the Ravens' next drive, Jackson hit Tylan Wallace for an 84-yard score, the rarely used receiver shook himself off a Cam Taylor-Britt tackle attempt and tiptoed down the sideline.

“I'm just grateful to be able to take advantage of the opportunities that come my way,” said Wallace, who had three catches for a team-high 115 yards. “Any time I come out and trust Lamar to throw me the ball, I just want to be able to trust him so I know I can make a play with it.”

Another defensive stop, this time on fourth down, set the stage for Jackson's 18-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Andrews, who improvised on the route and the quarterback hit it with aplomb. Jackson made the two-point conversion, making up for Tucker's missed extra point after the Wallace score. And just like that, the Ravens had scored 21 straight points in less than a quarter.

Jackson wasn't finished yet. After the 70-yard chase touchdown, which left several Ravens looking confused after leaving the field, Jackson led his team on an 11-play, 70-yard touchdown drive and threw a ball to Bateman for the to achieve score.

“We have guys everywhere who can play and we continue to show that,” Bateman said. “Obviously Tylan put in a big performance for us tonight and we're going to need that from everyone for the rest of the year. But it definitely felt good to see how everyone contributed.”

Jackson finished 25 of 33 for 290 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Jackson now has 24 touchdown passes this season, compared to two interceptions. He also ran the ball seven times for 33 yards.

The only thing Jackson didn't do was go onto the field and end the game himself. He needed help from the defense to do that – and that's getting more and more tricky for these Ravens. Jackson is having a career year, and it will be in jeopardy if the defense doesn't start doing its part.

The trade deadline is now over. DeCosta acquired veteran cornerback Tre'Davious White, but he's more of a depth option than the expected starter. No one is coming to save the Ravens defense. It has to figure it out on its own.

“I just don’t think we can go very far with a game like that,” Humphrey said.

(Photo: Terrance Williams / Associated Press)

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