The Ravens (5-2) took to the M&T Bank Stadium field in their return to Baltimore after spending a month playing football on the road and all they did was trouncing the visiting Detroit Lions (5-2) to the tune of a 38-6 easy win.
There were a million positives and not even a single negative (the fumble, perhaps, but who cares!?), and this victory very well let everybody know that the Ravens are a bonafide Super Bowl contender this season.
However, if Baltimore wants to really make a deep postseason run, let alone with the championship in February, they should review what they did against Detroit in Week 7 and keep on doing it for the next few weeks until lifting the chip.
Here are a few things the Ravens did against the Lions on Sunday that the team must repeat if they want to win the Super Bowl.
1. Lamar Jackson playing like the 2023 MVP
Is there anything left to say after watching Lamar straight dominate Detroit on Sunday?
Lamar Jackson hit the field running (pun intended) and put together a masterpiece of a performance, guiding the Baltimore Ravens to a resounding 38–6 victory that could have easily been a 70-0 one. Seriously.
Jackson demonstrated his versatility, completing 21-of-27 passes for 357 yards and throwing three touchdowns. His passing was smoothly complemented by 36 rushing yards and an additional score on the ground.
Lamar strategically connected with as many as nine different targets, including Odell Beckham Jr., Zay Flowers, and tight end Mark Andrews, the most prominent on the day.
Jackson led touchdown drives on each of the first four possessions. of the Ravens, and by the time the game entered the fourth and final quarter Baltimore was boasting a ridiculous 35-0 lead.
The accuracy. The decision-making. The passing. The rushing... Don't look now, but if Lamar Jackson keeps playing to this MVP-caliber level then the Ravens will have to celebrate both that trophy and winning the Super Bowl next February.
2. Todd Monken calling plays and looking like the best Offensive Coordinator in NFL history
Todd Monken is the offensive coordinator for the Ravens. You knew that already. What we didn't know (to Week 7 extent, at least) is that he is in his absolute bag after spending just a few weeks in Baltimore.
Known for his innovative and spread approach to the offense, Monken played a pivotal role in shaping the team's game plan against the Lions and he was nearly perfect throughout the whole game.
Monken's offensive scheme showcased a departure from the team's past run-heavy strategy, opting for a more pass-oriented approach in which Jackson did absolute wonders manhandling the defense of the Lions.
Baltimore was so ruthless and unstoppable that the squad went on to score touchdowns on each of their first four possessions and entered the final quarter leading 35-0 against the supposed great defense (and offense) of Detroit.
Under Monken's guidance, quarterback Lamar Jackson had a standout performance, completing 21-of-27 passes for 357 yards and tossing three touchdowns while running for a fourth one.
The passing attack, characterized by deep throws (nice sight!) and well-executed plays, allowed the Ravens to amass over 500 yards and score five total touchdowns in the game.
This can be considered the final breakout game under Monken's direction and if the Ravens and their new OC can put on this type of show, nobody is stopping them for the remainder of the season.
3. Mike Macdonald inventing defensive looks nobody came up with before
This might end up being a bittersweet development, but the truth is that Mike Macdonald has been so magnificent for the Ravens that it is not crazy to think he will receive some offers to take over the head coach position elsewhere next season.
Good for Baltimore, however, he's under contract for the full 2023 campaign and that means that he will win the Super Bowl with the rest of the Flock. Hurray!
Mad Mike presented himself and the Ravens defense as the second-best in sacks (24) going against the Lions, who had only allowed 10 sacks in the first six games of the season. Well, the Ravens sacked QB Jared Goff five times on Sunday alone.
Not only did they do that, but Baltimore racked up pressures, tackles, and even a strip-sack by the returning Odafe Oweh at some point. Simply put, and as ridiculous as it sounds considering the context of what happened in Week 7, you can make an argument about the defense being the best unit on the field on Sunday.
"Mike reiterated all the time throughout the week that if you startle Goff early, he starts to get panicky,” Ravens DE Justin Madubuike said after the game. “That’s exactly what happened.”
You bet.
4. Veteran Ravens playing excellent football for the remainder of the season
Don't get me wrong, the more players perform to the peak of their talents, the better. That means that in a dream scenario both the aging veterans and the younger lads are doing what they must.
That being said, what about the likes of Jadeveon Clowney, Nelson Agholor, and Kyle Van Noy just to name a few? Sweet baby Jesus!
Lamar Jackson found Agholor on the second touchdown of the day hitting the veteran wideout after he got open in the end zone and hauled in a 12-yard pass to put the Ravens up 14-0. He didn't catch any other ball and didn't get any more targets, but that's all you can ask the vet for and we're pleased with it!
Van Noy, who was signed just a few weeks ago and with the season already started, put on a fantastic outing against the Lions. He racked up two sacks and led the Ravens' defense on that front while completing five tackles and two for a loss.
"Honestly–I'm not trying to be disrespectful–that's a [butt]-whooping. I say that in the nicest way possible," Van Noy said after the game. The vibes!
Clowney also got one tackle, as did Rock Ya-Sin and Ronald Darby. Odell Beckham, another of the team's veterans, finished the day with five grabs for 49 yards including a 20-yarder.
And now the Ravens might be on the verge of adding more veterans via either trade or free agency. Can't wait to know the names if they also hit this level of play!
5. Mark Andrews looking like the best tight end in the NFL (sorry Taylor Swift)
Mark Andrews had a notable performance on "National Tight End Day," as was his wont. See, we all know that Andrews is proven and tested and that every time he's out there he usually delivers the goodies. But listen, Sunday's outing was sublime.
Lamar targeted Andrews six times and found him in four of those passes, and two of them ended in touchdowns. The perfection goes in pairs, one would say.
Andrews finished Sunday with 63 receiving yards on those four grabs for an average of 15.8 per reception, and he led the team in scores with his couple of touchdowns. He was undeniable against the Lions and no other tight end should be considered on par with this man.
Yes, naysayers and Taylor Swift will always keep bringing Travis Kelce into the conversation and labeling the Chiefs tight end as the no. 1 player at the position. Don't fall for that, it's a trap!
Andrews has 28 receptions for 357 yards compared to Kelce's 48 for 525 but the Raven has done that in two-thirds as many targets (40 to 59) and is averaging a much-better 12.8 yards per reception than Kelce's 10.9 figure. Not only that, but Andrews has five touchdowns to Kelce's four this season. Who's better, fellas?
Additionally, Andrews has had nine games with two or more touchdown receptions including Sunday's, tying him with Ravens legend Todd Heap for the most by any player in franchise history. One more of those, and Andrews will etch his name in the golden books of Baltimore's sports lore. Let's go!
6. Patrick Queen and Roquan Smith (among others) eating offenses alive
The Lions arrived in Baltimore oozing confidence. That happens when you have the best offensive line in the NFL, or so the numbers said. The game played on Sunday, however, told an entirely different story.
Smith and Queen might have not contributed a single QB sack in Week 7 but the Ravens dropped Jared Goff five times after the Lions had surrendered only 10 sacks in the six games before. Talk about a no. 1 offensive line...
"We just played our style of football," Queen said. "Obviously, there was a lot of talk that they were the best team in the NFL. The whole time, we were just like, ‘Let’s focus on us. Let’s do our thing.' We knew what they were going to do, so just go out there and play our style of football."
Smith completed eight tackles and broke a pass in the end zone that was this close to ending in an interception had it not been for the sidelines being so wrongly placed.
Queen got himself five tackles, all of them by himself alone. He probably also delighted himself in watching Smith getting penalized for a roughing-the-passer action on Jared Goff.
These two had another impressive performance and along with fellow linebackers Odafe Oweh and Kyle Van Noy they did everything they could to kill the chances of Detroit snatching a victory from Baltimore.
7. Geno Stone keeps intercepting passes on a weekly basis
You would have never named Stone as the leader of the Baltimore Ravens secondary just four weeks ago, would you? Well, after Sunday's 38-6 win over the Lions you will need to call him that and also the leader of the NFL in the interceptions department. For real.
Stone picked Jared Goff on Sunday for the fourth interception of his 2023 campaign. Stone, also, was not even remotely close to being the no.1 safety in the Ravens depth chart released by the end of August, let alone at the start of training camp when all Ravens were healthy and ready to go.
This man is a miracle and a walking wonder. Of course, the interception came in a play in which Goff and wide receiver Jameson Williams couldn't quite align their plans, but that doesn't take anything from Geno's monster efforts through the first seven games of the season, including Sunday.
"The game turned into a passing game, and I liked that because the rush was getting there, and it flustered [Goff]," Stone said after the game. "In a situation like that, for me, I like that because he was overthrowing the ball and that is an opportunity for takeaways."
Stone now leads the league with four interceptions in seven games. All by himself. Nobody else has more than three. No, no other player in the NFL has picked off opposing quarterbacks as many times as the Ravens' backup safety has. There's that.
8. New playmakers emerging in all positions no matter the opposition
What about veteran slot corner and former Steelers defender Arthur Maulet? Perhaps you knew this man for that more than for anything he's done while clad in Baltimore threads. Well, it's time to update your database.
Maulet completed eight tackles, the most in the Ravens defense on Sunday. He sacked Goff once. He logged a quarterback hit. He had a tackle for a loss. He was good in man and zone coverage. He did freaking everything. Can you ask this man, who is another backup most weeks, for more? Don't think so!
And what about Justin Madubuike? Yes, it's now been a few games for him playing to unreasonably good levels, but he did it once more in Week 7 putting on a show against the Lions at The Bank.
The rusher did it from inside the line getting to Goff and sacking him once while disrupting offensive plays on a snap-by-snap basis. Fellow big boy Michael Pierce stopped a couple of runs timely, veterans and youngsters stepping up to the plate did everything in the linebacker line, and the defense overall was hella menacing.
In a few words and numbers: the Ravens held the Lions to six points (one rushing touchdown) and to 337 yards and limited Detroit to a putrid 97 first-half yards from scrimmage. Three first drives, three three-and-out sequences. Talk about a defense!
9. Justin Tucker goating the game to unkown ends
This is just a bit of a disrespectful point but I couldn't leave Tucker off the conversation.
After hitting a career-high six field goals a week ago in London and after his record-breaking field-goal conversion in 2021 to beat this very same Lions organization, the Ravens (surprisingly) found themselves in a position where kicking an FG was better than risking the biscuit (...) so hey, why not give Tucker his moment of glory?
And of course, the GOAT K delivered and scored the lone field goal of the day by both teams. Some things are unavoidable and JT is simply one of them. Let that marinate.