HOUSTON — The Baltimore Ravens entered their Week 14 bye with two losses in three games, significant questions about their defense and normally reliable kicker Justin Tucker, and a two-game deficit to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North.
The challenge that awaited their return to play was simple in theory: Win three games in 11 days and still be in the mix for a division title once Week 18 rolled around.
The Ravens exited the visiting locker room at NRG Stadium Wednesday night, looking to enjoy the final few hours of Christmas and having accomplished far more than they could have imagined when this decisive stretch of their regular season began. Their 31-2 bludgeoning of a Houston Texans team that was overmatched in every phase gave the Ravens sole possession of first place for the first time this season and set them up for a hat and T-shirt game at home next weekend against the Cleveland Browns.
“That feels good,” Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said. “I know the Browns are probably just as excited as we are to try to not let that happen. So, it’s very exciting to be able to enjoy this Christmas, enjoy the days off.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’m going to go home and enjoy the baby, enjoy the wife, but I’m ready to get back to work. I want that AFC North. It feels good to get that hat and T-shirt, and hopefully everybody can enjoy a day or so and then lock back in.”
GO DEEPER
Lamar Jackson runs away with QB rushing record in 31-2 win over Texans: Takeaways
While the Ravens have won three games in 11 days to get to 11-5, the Steelers lost three games during that same span to fall to 10-6. With a win by the Ravens or a loss by the Steelers against the desperate Cincinnati Bengals next weekend, Baltimore would repeat as division champs.
“These guys took these three games in 11 days and smashed it, obliterated it, tore it up and made it into a bunch of smithereens laying around everywhere,” coach John Harbaugh. “I’m proud of the guys, how they did it. They did a great job.”
The numbers support Harbaugh’s comments. In an 11-day span, the Ravens outscored the New York Giants, Steelers and Texans, 100-33, with two of those wins coming on the road. Over the past five days, their margin of victory over playoff-bound Pittsburgh and Houston was 65-19.
The Ravens didn’t just show mental and physical toughness during this stretch, from which they’ve seemingly emerged from mostly healthy heading into a mini bye week (players won’t return to the team facility until Monday). They stamped themselves as legitimate contenders, a team getting better at the right time, limiting mistakes that consistently hurt them over the first three-plus months of the season and playing solid complementary football.
Lamar Jackson continues to add to his MVP resume and enhance one of the best seasons a quarterback has ever played. Derrick Henry’s ability to get stronger as the season moves along is playing out again. Tight end Mark Andrews has been a fixture in the end zone for 10 weeks now. The penalty numbers are dropping, and Tucker is consistently making kicks again.
The Ravens’ defense, maligned over the first three months, is starting to take the ball away and play much more disciplined. Before Wednesday’s game turned into a rout, there were safety Ar’Darius Washington and cornerback Tre’Davious White pushing Joe Mixon out of bounds for a fourth-down stop and safety Kyle Hamilton making a diving interception.
CHRISTMAS PLAYMAKER!!! @kyledhamilton_ WITH THE INTERCEPTION!! TUNE IN ON NETFLIX!!! pic.twitter.com/dk1tivZelb
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 25, 2024
Mixon finished with just 26 yards rushing, and Texans second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud had a miserable evening, completing just 17 of 31 passing attempts for 185 yards. He was sacked five times and intercepted once. The Texans’ offense was booed loudly during multiple points of the game.
“I’m not going to lie, I think when I have conversations with some of the guys one-on-one, two-on-two, there were some tough conversations,” Humphrey said. “We still believed, but it did seem far away, because it just seemed like every single guy was having a mishap at just the wrong time. Like I said earlier in the season, it seemed like luck just was not on our side.”
“We kept being like, ‘What are we doing wrong? What are we doing wrong?’ And it was simple. We just needed to get all 11 guys doing their job. … When we do that, we’re a really tough defense. When we’re not, we look average, and that’s not the standard. Today, I thought the standard was there.”
Houston bore the brunt of those improvements in front of a Netflix audience in a game that didn’t even feel as close as the score indicated. If Beyonce was the star of the show with her halftime performance, the Ravens were the show stoppers, scoring touchdowns on their only two possessions of the third quarter to turn the game into a rout. The game was so in control that Jackson headed into the locker room early in the fourth quarter, slapping fives with Ravens fans on his way in. He returned a few minutes later, accepted a chain that a Baltimore fan gave him near the tunnel and promptly gave it to general manager Eric DeCosta to wear on the sideline.
The Ravens wracked up 432 yards of total offense, more than double the Texans’ number, and averaged 7.1 yards per play despite pulling Jackson early in the fourth quarter and attempting just 17 total passes. The Ravens rushed for 251 yards and averaged 5.8 yards per rush.
Other than a couple of rocky possessions in the second quarter, one of them ending with Henry getting tackled for a safety — Jackson later apologized to the defense that it didn’t have the zero to show for its shutout — it was a near perfect outing for the Ravens.
“I believe how our season has gone, it just explains how the NFL is,” Jackson said. “It really doesn’t matter how you start off. It’s about how you finish, and I believe we’re finishing pretty well right now.”
Jackson completed 10 of 15 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns, a 9-yard strike to Isaiah Likely that added to the season highlight reel and a 1-yard score to Andrews. Jackson ran four times for 87 yards and a 48-yard touchdown. In doing so, Jackson broke Michael Vick’s record for most career rushing yards by a quarterback.
LAMAR JACKSON IS COMING TO TOWN. #NFLonNetflix#BALvsHOU on @Netflix pic.twitter.com/YwqfIlRs3m
— NFL (@NFL) December 25, 2024
“It feels unreal, to be honest with you,” said Jackson, who now has 6,110 career rushing yards, one more than Vick.
Henry rushed for 147 yards and set the Ravens’ single-season touchdown record with his 16th score, a 2-yard run on Baltimore’s first drive that essentially set the tone for the rest of the game. The Ravens took the opening kickoff and needed eight plays (all but two of them runs) to drive 75 yards.
But this win — like the two that preceded it — was more about the collective than a specific player. One by one, players said as much after the game, pointing to the plan put forth by Harbaugh and his staff ahead of this stretch, and to the work of head strength and conditioning coach Scott Elliott, director of high performance Sam Rosengarten and team nutritionist Sarah Snyder.
It was on full display Tuesday. The Ravens were physical, and they looked fresh. They were certainly plenty focused, too. Their reward is a shot to win a division title on their home field.
“We never doubt ourselves or think we’re not going to have success against any team,” Henry said. “We believe in ourselves to go out there and do our job.”
(Photo of Derrick Henry, left, and Lamar Jackson: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
