Baltimore, MD—The projection coming out of college was that Lamar Jackson would be converted into a running back. Since 2018 his draft year, he has been proving all the pundits wrong.
Jackson went 37 of 43 without an pick. He also ran for 62 yards. He accounted for 499 of the Ravens’ 523 net yards on a night.
“It’s one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen,” coach John Harbaugh said. “It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t like we came out, just up and down the field. We had to overcome and fight through some things.”
Jackson threw a nice 5-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Brown on the first possession of overtime to give Baltimore a 31-25 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night. The athletic quarterback threw for a career-high 442 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair of TD passes to Mark Andrews in the fourth quarter as the Ravens came back from a 25-9 deficit.
Andrews also caught the two 2-point conversions during that furious comeback.
“I was just locked in,” Jackson said. “I was just calm. Everything was just moving slow.”
Colts place-kicker Rodrigo Blankenship missed a field goal on the final play of regulation sending the game to overtime.
Baltimore had their record-tying streak of 43 straight 100-yard rushing games snapped, and after Jackson fumbled near the goal line in the third quarter, the Ravens looked despondent. But after that turnover, Baltimore regrouped and scored a touchdown on each of its final four possessions.
The Colts kicking game was a big reason why they lost the contest. Blankenship, who injured his hip in warmups missed an extra point in the third quarter. With Indy up 25-17, he had a 37-yard kick blocked by Calais Campbell with 4:29 remaining in the game, giving Baltimore an opportunity to tie the game.
Jackson orchestrated an 11-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Andrews with 39 ticks on the clock. Then Jackson hit Andrews for the 2-point conversion over the middle to tie it.
The Colts (1-4) made it back into field goal range, with the help of an unnecessary roughness penalty on Baltimore’s Tavon Young with 13 seconds left, but Blankenship’s kick shanked it wide left.
Carson Wentz threw for a career-high of 402 yards and two touchdowns. Jonathan Taylor scored on a 76 yard pass in the first quarter, then punched in a rushing touchdown in the third quarter as Indy took a 22-3 lead.
There were still a lot of football to be played.
“A guy like Lamar, you know he’s going to have a couple plays,” Taylor said. “He’s a special player.”
Baltimore (4-1) took over sole possession of first place in the AFC North after Cleveland and Cincinnati lost Sunday.
The game was slow until late in the second quarter, when Baltimore settled for Justin Tucker’s 23-yard field goal. The Colts drove back the other way, and after converting on fourth-and-11, they set up for a field goal attempt.
The kick was wide left, but Baltimore’s Marlon Humphrey had jumped offside. Blankenship made the re-kick from 37 yards out for a 10-3 lead at the break.
The Colts got the ball first in the second half and took a 16-3 lead on Wentz’s 42-yard touchdown pass to Michael Pittman Jr. Jackson came roaring back the other way, but on first-and-goal from the 1, he lost the ball and Darius Leonard picked it up for Indianapolis.
Leonard ran it back to the Colts 25-yard line, then lateraled to Isaiah Rodgers, who went the rest of the way for a short lived touchdown. It was ruled a forward lateral after review, so that part of the play was negated, but the Colts still got the ball and quickly drove for a TD. Taylor’s 4-yard jaunt made it 22-3.
Jackson threw a 43-yard dart touchdown to Brown late in the third.
“Tough loss. Proud of the way our guys fought. We have to learn from our mistakes and learn how to finish games,” Colts coach Frank Reich said. “No one is going to feel sorry for us. We have to learn from it and get better.”
HONORED AT HALFTIME:
The Ravens inducted DT Haloti Ngata into their Ring of Honor at halftime. Ngata played nine seasons with the Ravens and helped the team to its victory in the 2013 Super Bowl.
UP NEXT:
Colts: After three straight road games, Indianapolis hosts Houston on Sunday.
Ravens: Baltimore hosts the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
