BALTIMORE − If Monday night’s Week 3 capstone in Charm City was a Super Bowl 60 preview – then, yes, please.
The Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions put on a dramatic, high-tempo show that concluded with a 38-30 victory by the Lions that was more tightly contested than the final score even indicates. The triumph helps re-certify Detroit and its new-look coaching staff as championship contenders. Meanwhile, the uber-talented Ravens will have to overcome a 1-2 start for the second consecutive season – though they, like the Lions, wound up with a division crown in 2024.
Who else won and lost beyond the scoreboard's result? Read on ...
Whether it was ball control (generally Detroit) or quick strikes (generally Baltimore), neither club had much trouble moving the ball. The Lions retained possession for nearly 20 minutes in the first half, their two TD drives before intermission eating up more than 16 minutes – which also had the keepaway effect of keeping QB Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense sidelined. Baltimore, meanwhile, enjoyed a 28-yard run by Derrick Henry for its first touchdown, while another drive took all of four plays and 32 seconds before Jackson found Rashod Bateman on a 3-yard pass into the end zone. That's not to say the Lions didn’t have explosive sequences (RB David Montgomery’s 72-yard run, the longest in the league this season, in the third quarter) or that the Ravens couldn’t grind, their first possession after halftime spanning 11 plays, 73 yards and more than six minutes before they hit pay dirt. All told, 68 combined points and 744 aggregate yards speak to the track meet this often seemed to be.
