The Baltimore Ravens: From Boos to Dominance
Two weeks ago, the Baltimore Ravens walked off their home field 0-2 while boos rained down. Super Bowl contenders? They’d just squandered a 10-point fourth-quarter lead to the Las Vegas Raiders. Penalties were killing them. The defense wasn’t right. Even Justin Tucker was missing kicks. One of the league’s most consistent winners had suddenly dropped three in a row dating to last year’s AFC Championship Game. What was wrong? And how long was it going to take to fix it?
Fast-forward to late Sunday night, the Ravens walked off the same field 2-2, having overpowered a pair of playoff teams from last season in consecutive weeks. Baltimore’s 35-10 dismantling of the previously unbeaten Buffalo Bills served as a reminder: this team’s not going anywhere.
GO DEEPER
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Two weeks ago in New Orleans feels like a long time, too: in mid-September, the Saints were the talk of the league. After Sunday’s 26-24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans is back at .500 and no longer in first place in the division.
That spot belongs to the 3-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who raced to a 24-0 lead over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday before winning 33-16. Even with the addition of Saquon Barkley, who’s been terrific with five touchdowns already, Philly’s offense doesn’t look right. Maybe A.J. Brown’s return — whenever it comes — helps, but a month in the Eagles are playing like a very mediocre team.
Here’s what we learned in Week 4 of the NFL season:
Ravens get their mojo back
This wasn’t just the Ravens reminding the AFC — and the rest of the league — how scary they look when everything’s clicking. This was Lamar Jackson, twice an MVP already, tempering the Josh Allen MVP hype that’s picked up considerable steam in the early part of the season.
The Ravens and Bills remain the top threats to unseat Kansas City in the AFC. And on Sunday night at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, the Ravens flexed their muscle, putting to rest any early-season concerns that they’d taken a step back after last year’s disappointing showing in the conference championship game.
This was Baltimore at its best, bruising on defense and punishing with the football. It started with Derrick Henry’s 87-yard touchdown burst on the first play from scrimmage, the longest by any team to open a game in 11 years. And from there it was a beatdown, methodical and convincing, one of the more impressive showings by any team nearly a quarter of the way into the season.
Jackson threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. In his sixth full year as a starter, he’s now 17-5 in primetime games, the second-best record of any quarterback all-time behind only Hall of Famer Steve Young.
The Bills’ loss leaves just three unbeatens left in the league, with Seattle putting its 3-0 record on the line Monday night against Detroit. Minnesota and Kansas City are both 4-0.
For the second straight season, the No. 2 pick is taking the league by storm.
And, same as C.J. Stroud did a year ago in Houston, Jayden Daniels has the Commanders believing the playoffs are possible. A month in it’s Washington — and not Dallas or Philadelphia — sitting atop the NFC East.
The rookie quarterback out of LSU is the biggest reason why. In two games across six days, Daniels has accounted for nearly as many touchdowns (five) as he’s thrown incompletions (six). Daniels is a staggering 47 of 53 in consecutive wins over the Bengals and Cardinals, and on Sunday in Arizona, he piled up 280 all-purpose yards and completed passes to nine receivers in a dominant 42-14 win. That’s three straight wins for the Commanders, who won four games all of last season.
