NFL Week 12: Ravens get an A with Lamar Jackson, Bengals fail miserably in loss to Browns



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These are not your father's crows, and we're starting to get the impression that maybe they're not the crows of Joe Flacco either.

For the second week in a row, Lamar Jackson was the starting quarterback of Baltimore. For the second week in a row, the Ravens offensive was victorious.

With Jackson in the center, the Ravens are not really trying to hide their game plan: they are going to put the ball in your throat and that's exactly what they did to the Raiders when they victory from 34-17 Sunday.

Although Jackson fought against Oakland – he made two interceptions – he more than made up for an impressive 71-yard touchdown performance. Jackson gives the Ravens offense an imminent threat that does not exist when Flacco is on the field. Against the Raiders, Jackson has had as many ground touchdowns as Flacco has had since the start of the 2017 season.

We can probably all agree that Flacco does not score with his legs there. Granted, Flacco has a better arm, but when he was quarterback, the Ravens were in the middle of a losing streak of three games that nearly eliminated them from the playoff race.

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With Jackson, the entire offense seems to be clicking. The mere threat of running the ball by Jackson has paved the way for other runners like Gus Edwards, whom most people had never heard of until last week. Edwards scored for the second consecutive time with 118 yards in 23 races against the Raiders, and it's no coincidence that he was released in the same two weeks of Jackson's departure (Edwards had 115 yards in the Baltimore victory in week 11 against the Bengals). .

When crows roll on the ground, they never lose. The Ravens' offense totaled 242 rushing yards, and Baltimore now has 14-0 in franchise history after more than 225 yards. The game against Oakland marked the second consecutive week in which Baltimore has accumulated more than 240 yards. To give you an idea, the last time the Ravens did it came in 2000, when they won the Super Bowl.

Despite Jackson 's success over the past two weeks, John Harbaugh is not willing to disclose whether he plans on whether or not to go ahead with Jackson.

"I'm not going into details for a lot of reasons," said Harbaugh after the win via ESPN.com. "Whether the decision is made or not, it is not important that anyone else know about it except if I decide to do it one way or another, I do not want to our opponent knows. "

Maybe this 39-meter race will help convince him.

The argument for starting Jackson is pretty simple: the Ravens are winning and it will only improve. Jackson's ability to succeed may be his only weakness right now, but he is already improving. Against the Raiders, Jackson concocted many important games, including a 74-yard pass to Mark Andrews and an eight-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree.

The Ravens must stop looking towards the future, because the future is now in Baltimore. With Jackson on the field, the Ravens feel like a team that could sneak into the playoffs and potentially make noise.

Sorry to interrupt your reading, but just a brief message of public interest here. We have a pretty amazing daily podcast that you may not know about the NFL. It is hosted by Will Brinson and offers all the things you are looking for: news, fantastic, choice, really, just football for footballers. Subscribe: via iTunes | via Stitcher | via TuneIn | via Google Play.

Baltimore 34-17 on Oakland

Raiders: C

After seeming pretty impressive in the first half, the second half was a total disaster for Oakland. The Raiders had only 94 yards in the half, which is even worse if you consider that 44 of those yards were scored in one game (Derek Carr to Seth Roberts in the third quarter). The Raiders also gave up a defensive touchdown and a special team touchdown. These are two mistakes that you absolutely can not commit when you play as bad as the Raiders have been this season.

Ravens: A-

The victory over the Raiders is essentially turned into a track competition for Baltimore. The Ravens not only earned huge points against Lamar Jackson and Gus Edwards, but also scored big points from two unexpected sources: Cyrus Jones returned a 70-yard touchdown kick, while Terrell Suggs scored a 43-yard breakaway for one goal. . It was an impressive total win for a Ravens team that seems to have reached its peak at the right time.

Tampa Bay 27-9 on San Francisco

49ers: C-

For the 49ers, the wheels appeared to fall off the car in this match after failing to score a touchdown on three consecutive games from the 1 yard line in the third quarter. After the Tampa goal line, the 49ers' offense seemed to be shocked and they ended the second half with four ugly possessions (punt, punt, interception, interception). The 49ers were also horrible on the third try, converting only 1 of the 8 in the match. Matt Brieda, who carried the ball 14 times for 106 yards, was a positive for the 49ers.

Buccaneers: B +

For once, the Buccaneers did not have to put their starting quarterback in a match, and that's because Jameis Winston played well. In his debut since the eighth week, Winston has amassed 312 yards and two touchdowns. More importantly, Winston did not return the ball, which was fine for a quarterback who made four interceptions on his last start. Winston received some serious help from the Buccaneers defense, who had two assists and sent Nick Mullens four times.

New England 27-13 against the New York Jets

Patriots: B

The Patriots are fundamentally unbeatable when they are able to run on the ground, and they unleashed themselves on New Jersey soil. Sony Michel carried the ball 21 times for a career-high 133 yards as the Patriots managed to reach 215 yards on the ground. This total is the first time since 2014 that the Patriots have run more than 200 yards in a game. The Patriots never lost a match under Bill Belichick when they rushed for 200 yards or more (13-0). Of course, the patriots also caused damage by air. Tom Brady took advantage of the return of Rob Gronkowski in a formation in which Gronk captured three passes for 56 yards and one touchdown.

Jets: C

With Josh McCown at quarterback, the Jets would have to play a perfect match to beat the Patriots and they certainly did not play Sunday. The Jets' defense combined for 498 yards, which is the maximum the team has given up in a home game since 2002. Regarding McCown, it seemed obvious that the Patriots were determined to leave him throw the ball as often as possible. the Jets did it. Of their 62 games, 47 were assists (75.8%), and you simply will not win with a 39 year old McCown who has thrown it several times.

Philadelphia 25-22 against the New York Giants

Giants: D

The Giants get a bad score here because of their inexplicable offensive calls in the second half. During the last two quarters of the game, it's almost as if Pat Shumur had forgotten that he had Saquon Barkley on his team, which is quite surprising considering what the rookie did in return for first half. In the first two quarters of the game, Barkley carried the ball nine times for 94 yards and one touchdown while adding 33 yards and one touchdown. In the second half, Barkley ran only seven meters and only touched the ball five times.

Eagles: B-

The Eagles had an ugly first half, but they largely offset it by an impressive second half where they defeated the Giants 14-3. For once, the Eagles managed to get things done on the ground. Josh Adams (84) and Corey Clement (45) combined for 129 yards, which is remarkable because the Eagles have only accumulated 129 rushing yards in their last two games combined. . Zach Ertz also scored big with seven catches for 91 yards and one touchdown. Although the Eagles defense sometimes struggled, Malcolm Jenkins concocted a huge game late in the second quarter when he eliminated Eli Manning. The Giants were at the 27-yard Eagles line, so the choice probably saved at least one goal.

Buffalo 24-21 in Jacksonville

Jaguars: C

The Jaguars may not want to admit it, but one really begins to feel that Blake Bortles could hold the team. The Jags' ground game totaled 226 yards against the Bills, but Bortles did not help. He completed only 12 passes on 23 passes for 123 yards and two interceptions. Kicker Josh Lambo also dropped the team with a misplacement of 42 yards at the end of the third quarter. The missed kick came after a crazy sequence where the Jags seemed to score a touchdown, but the TD was overturned.

Invoices: B

The Bills had one of the best defenses of the NFL this year and they showed why the Jaguars in this game. The Bills had two assists and shifted Blake Bortles three times. Although Leonard Fournette had a big game, the Bills did not have to worry about him in the fourth quarter because he was ejected after being involved in a fight. This game also featured the return of Josh Allen, who just enough in attack to carry Buffalo. Allen scored two touchdowns with a 75-yard pass to Robert Foster in the first quarter and a 14-yard run in the fourth quarter. Allen actually finished with 99 rushing yards and was the top scorer in the game.

Seattle 30-27 over Carolina

Seahawks: A

The Seahawks did something in this match that no team had been able to do all season: they beat the Panthers in Carolina, thanks to a Clutch Wilson performance. Wilson's biggest play came in the fourth quarter when he hit David Moore for a 35-yard touchdown. fourth and third. The touchdown matched this game to 27 and prepared Wilson for late-game exploits. He led the Seahawks to South Carolina for Sebastian Janikowski to score 31 yards. Wilson threw for 339 yards and two touchdowns in the win.

Panthers: B

Nobody will blame this defeat on Christian McCaffrey, and that's because he almost led the Panthers to a victory. McCaffrey has a franchise record of 237 yards, including 112 yards and 125 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The Panthers did not make many mistakes in this game, but the ones they made were huge. Although Cam Newton finished 25 out of 30 after starting 14 out of 14, he launched a costly interception in the third quarter, which led to a touchdown by the Seahawks. Graham Gano also missed a 52-yard placement that would have given the Panthers the advantage while he remained 1:45 to play.

Cleveland 35-20 on Cincinnati

Browns: A

The Browns might have exorcised all the demons they had in this great victory over the Bengals. On the one hand, this game has scored its first win on the road since 2015 and put an end to a series of 25 consecutive losses on the road. In addition, the Browns had a sweet revenge on former coach Hue Jackson, who is now an assistant to the Bengals. Oh, and the Browns defeated the Bengals after losing seven straight games. None of this would have been possible without the rookie duo Browns, Nick Chubb and Baker Mayfield. Mayfield was on fire in that game, scoring 258 yards and four touchdowns. Chubb also did big damage with 128 yards of scrimmage (84 in a hurry, 44 in the receiving end) and two touchdowns. Of course, the most amazing thing about this game is probably the fact that Damarious Randall gave a football to Jackson after landing Andy Dalton in the first half.

Bengals: D

Bringing in Hue Jackson has definitely done nothing to help the Bengals. In fact, it could have made things worse. In a defeat that can be described as humiliating, the Bengals are delayed by 28-0 before finally making their way. The Bengals season seems to be spinning around the drain and that will not help things that Andy Dalton had to leave the game – and never come back – after suffering a thumb injury.

Los Angeles Chargers 45-10 on Arizona

Cardinals: F

During the first 10 minutes of this game, it seemed like the Cardinals were going home with a dazzling victory. Arizona took a 10-0 lead, but things quickly deteriorated afterwards. During their 10-point thrust in the first quarter, the Cards totaled 108 yards, which we only note to let you know how difficult the rest of the game was. After these two initial possessions, the Cards only scored 41 offense yards on their last eight possessions.

Chargers: A +

The Chargers offensive illuminated the scoreboard of this match, mainly because Philip Rivers had one of the most impressive performances of all quarters of the NFL history. The Chargers quarterback tied an NFL record with 25 consecutive passes. Rivers racked up 224 yards before finally making an incomplete pass in the middle of the third quarter. Rivers finished 28th of 29 for 259 yards and three touchdowns. The most impressive part may have been that Rivers did all this despite the fact that the Cardinals put pressure on him and fired him four times.

Indianapolis 27-24 on Miami

Dolphins: B

The Dolphins played a lot of big games in this game, but they could not do it when it mattered. The game was suspended in the fourth quarter, the Dolphins have two chances to put things away, but they were empty both times. In their last two possessions, the Dolphins actually totaled NEGATIVE-ONE YARD, while they had three assists and two losses. An encouraging thing for the Dolphins is that they got a solid performance from Ryan Tannehill (17 of 25, 204 yards, two touchdowns), who was playing his first game since the fifth week.

Colts: B +

Andrew Luck decided to add a little drama to this game with two interceptions, but otherwise he was almost perfect. With the Colts' fourth quarter win of 24-17, Luck took the lead, bringing 11 of 12 points for a total of 133 yards and one touchdown for three consecutive possessions, all of which resulted in Colts points ( two placements and one touchdown). In total, Luck had 343 yards and three touchdowns. The dolphins had no answer for T.Y. Hilton, who walked the field with seven catches for 125 yards.

Denver 24-17 on Pittsburgh

Steelers: C

It will be a long flight for the Steelers and that could be painful as they fired themselves in the foot repeatedly against the Broncos. The game's ugliest mistake came from Ben Roethlisberger, who intercepted the Broncos' 2-yard line with 1:03 left and Pittsburgh trailed by a touchdown. In one way or another, it was one of two turnovers that the Steelers had inside the Denver 2 yard line in this match. Xavier Grimble also lost a fumble to the one coming out of the end zone, which gave the Broncos a setback. This is the beginning of the holiday season, which is great because the Steelers probably feel like they have offered a victory to the Broncos.

Broncos: A-

If you're wondering what a "turn, but do not break the defense" looks like, just watch a movie of this game. Although the Broncos' defense has been shredded by the Steelers, no one will remember it. because they created big games when they had to. The Broncos forced four turnovers, giving Denver 14 points. Two of these turnovers also took place with Pittsburgh inside the Broncos line, which prevented the Steelers from scoring points. These turnarounds were important because the Steelers were on a roll for most of the match, racking up 527 yards of offense. This game actually marked the first time in franchise history that the Broncos won after giving up 525 yards or more in total offense. By the approach of Sunday, they were 0-8 in this situation. Offensively, Phillip Lindsay carried the charge well with 14 110-yard runs. Although Case Keenum had difficulty with his accuracy (15 of 28), he managed to score big with two touchdowns.

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