What We Saw – Week 3: Lions @ Ravens

Two teams with high expectations and Super Bowl aspirations met on Monday Night Football, as Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens hosted Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions. The Ravens hadn't allowed an opponent a 95-yard touchdown drive in Baltimore since the 2001 season. On Monday night, the Lions did it twice.

Brett Ford
What We Saw 4 Hours Ago

Lions @ Ravens

Final Score: Lion 38, Ravens 30

Writer: Brett Ford (@FadeThatMan)

 

Two teams with high expectations and Super Bowl aspirations met on Monday Night Football, as Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens hosted Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions. The Ravens hadn’t allowed an opponent a 95-yard touchdown drive in Baltimore since the 2001 season. On Monday night, the Lions did it twice.

The Lions struck first, scoring a touchdown on the opening drive with aggressive throws against the Ravens’ sagging zone. The Ravens marched back down the field to tie the game, 7-7, on a long run by Derrick Henry. Detroit posted an impressive 18-play, 98-yard touchdown drive to take a 14-7 lead, but Jackson and the Ravens responded before halftime with a touchdown drive in the two-minute drill, making it 14-14 at the break. The two teams traded touchdowns out of the halftime break, with the Ravens scoring on their initial drive of the second half and the Lions responding with a pair of touchdowns to take a 28-21 lead in the fourth quarter. The Lions took over from that point on, extending their lead to 38-24 in the final minutes before a garbage time touchdown cut it down to a one-possession game.

Detroit dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball, controlling the run game and effectively neutralizing the Baltimore offense with a forceful, disciplined pass rush that contained Jackson in the pocket. The Lions outplayed and outcoached the Ravens in nearly every facet of the game.

Let’s dig in.

 

Three Up

  • David Montgomery – Two touchdowns and a career-high in rushing yards – in this economy?
  • Jahmyr Gibbs – Two more touchdowns and the Lions offense is just fine without Ben Johnson, I think.
  • Mark Andrews- Finally involved in the gameplan after two dud weeks, he found the end zone twice.

Three Down

  • Derrick Henry – Scored a touchdown, so not really a down day for fantasy – but he lost ANOTHER fourth-quarter fumble.
  • Baltimore offensive line – Allowed the Lions to sack Lamar Jackson seven times – tying the most sacks Jackson has taken in a game in his career – and saw Derrick Henry get stuffed from the one-yard line three-straight plays.
  • Jameson Williams – He looked great on the opening drive of the game, pulling in a pair of long gains… and he was never heard from again.

 

 

Detroit Lions

 

Quarterback

 

Jared Goff: 20/28, 202 yards, TD | 4 carries, 6 yards

Jared Goff was excellent – patient, accurate, and composed against what has been an imposing defensive front. Whatever narratives surround him – bad against pressure, bad outside, bad in general – can basically be dispelled after this performance. He was outstanding. He was able to read the Ravens’ defense like a book on nearly every play, delivering the ball where it needed to be consistently.

 

Running Back

 

David Montgomery: 12 carries, 151 yards, 2 TD | 1 target, 1 catch, 13 yards

Jahmyr Gibbs: 22 carries, 67 yards, 2 TD | 6 targets, 5 catches, 32 yards

Gibbs got every snap on the opening drive and was mostly stuffed throughout. However on the goal line, the Lions ran no-huddle to keep the Ravens’ big bodies off the field and prevent subs, allowing Gibbs to rush the ball up the middle for a short touchdown to open the scoring. The Lions’ second scoring drive of the game was the most impressive, as Detroit went 98 yards on 18 plays, draining 10:56 off the clock and finishing it off with a touchdown. Montgomery was the centerpiece of that drive, with seven rushes for 31 yards and the one-yard touchdown rush all on that drive alone. From that point on, the Lions were pretty dominant on the ground – especially Montgomery who totaled a career-high 151 rushing yards and two scores.

Gibbs’ 22 carries was eye-opening – even with Montgomery having the hot hand for most of the game, the Lions leaned on ‘Sonic’ to keep the offense moving. Though obviously ‘Knuckles’ had the more successful night.

Montgomery may have swung a fantasy matchup or two with his fourth-quarter jaunt, finding the end zone for a second time in the final minutes to seal the victory for Detroit.

 

Wide Receiver/Tight End

 

Amon-Ra St. Brown: 8 targets, 7 receptions, 77 yards, TD

Amon-Ra St. Brown was the Lions’ target leader with eight. A route technician, he burned Ravens all-pro cornerback Marlon Humphrey multiple times to help his team seal the win. His touchdown came on a simple stutter step that froze Humphrey in man coverage and created enough separation for Goff to find him in the end zone easily.

 

 

Jameson Williams: 3 targets, 2 catches, 43 yards

The Ravens applied pressure to Goff and stayed in zone behind it in the early going, and Williams took advantage with a pair of long catches on the opening drive of the night. And then… he disappeared, not to be heard from again all evening.

 

Sam LaPorta: 4 targets, 4 catches, 33 yards

LaPorta was rock solid as a safety valve for Goff, with three of his four receptions coming as third down conversions for first downs. He’s mostly limited to short and intermediate routes, and with the Lions’ plethora of weapons, he doesn’t stand out as a scoring threat. However, his consistency and the potency of the offense make him a must-start every week.

 

Isaac TeSlaa: 2 targets

TeSlaa was targeted just twice, and it didn’t come until the fourth quarter. He was on the field less than Kalif Raymond and was an overall non-factor. Fantasy managers will have to remain patient with the rookie.

 

Kalif Raymond: 2 targets, 1 catch, 4 yards

 

Baltimore Ravens

 

Quarterback

 

Lamar Jackson: 21/25, 290 Yards, 5 TDs | 6 Rushes, 65 Yards, Fumble (LOST)

Jackson never looked comfortable in this game, scrambling and trying to avoid oncoming Lions on nearly every dropback. Lamar should have been picked on the opening drive in the second half, trying to squeeze the ball into a tiny window on the seam and underthrew it right to a defender, who – luckily for Jackson – dropped a sure pick. He threw a perfect ball to Mark Andrews for his second passing touchdown of the game, hitting the tight end on a corner route off a play action fake. He found Andrews again in garbage time, but overall, he looked lost. Jackson – who we’ve seen so accustomed to scrambling out of pockets, extending and making plays – seemed indecisive and unable to escape the pocket on multiple plays that resulted in sacks. It was an ugly game for Lamar, even if the stat sheet was stuffed.

 

Running Back

 

Derrick Henry:12 carries, 50 yards, TD | 1 target, 1 catch, 7 yards

Derrick Henry started the game with an awesome 28-yard touchdown run but ended the game with his third fumble in as many games. Henry is the only running back in the NFL to have a fumble in every game so far this season.

 

Justice Hill: 4 targets, 3 catches, 45 yards

 

 

Wide Receiver/Tight End

 

Zay Flowers: 3 targets, 2 catches, 13 yards

Flowers wasn’t targeted until the second half, where he caught his first pass for a six-yard first down conversion. He was targeted just two more times after that and was a complete non-factor in the game.

 

Rashod Bateman:7 targets, 5 catches, 63 yards, TD

After two weeks of being a fantasy-irrelevant rotational wide receiver, Bateman stepped up with a big game as the Ravens attacked their matchups against Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold. Arnold matched up with the Ravens’ WR2 on several plays; Bateman and Walker rotated in that spot and got the best of Arnold multiple times. Bateman created great separation on several catches and caught his touchdown on a play action pivot route to the flat that turned into an easy score. Despite the uptick in usage, Bateman was actually on the field less than 50% of the Ravens’ two-receiver formation snaps on Monday night.

 

Mark Andrews: 6 targets, 6 catches, 91 yards, 2 TD

Well, it’s about time. Andrews was targeted twice on the opening drive, pulling in both catches for important gains as the Ravens marched down the field, matching his season total of receptions entering the game in just one drive. It set the tone for the night as Andrews was heavily involved in the offensive scheme as the Ravens attacked the Lions’ man-to-man heavy secondary. Slow your roll, Andrews truthers. Likely is coming back soon, and the floor isn’t getting any higher (although this performance certainly reached the ceiling) for Andrews this season.

 

Devontez Walker: 1 target, 1 catch, 34 yards

A walking big play machine – Walker caught another long pass, though this time not in the end zone.

 

DeAndre Hopkins: 2 targets, 1 catch, 13 yards

Hopkins was targeted on an end zone fade in the final minute of the first half, but drew a pass interference call instead as the defensive back bear-hugged him to prevent the score. He caught his only other target of the day for a 13-yard gain on the sideline.

 

Charlie Kolar: 3 targets, 2 catches, 22 yards

 

 

Photo by Charles Brock/Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter/X; @justinparadis.bsky.social on BlueSky)