Chants of “MVP! MVP!” began to break out midway through the fourth quarter early Sunday evening at M&T Bank Stadium. Only they weren’t for the NFL’s reigning and two-time Most Valuable Player, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, and they were in stark contrast to the boos that had wafted through the chilly air earlier in the game after another disastrous performance from Baltimore’s special teams.
In what was billed as a possible Super Bowl preview and showdown between Jackson and Eagles running back and NFL rushing leader Saquon Barkley, it turned out to be anything but, at least for the Ravens.
Instead, this one was about what didn’t happen for the Ravens — yet again — in an ugly 24-19 loss to Philadelphia, which extended its winning streak to eight, improved to 10-2 and sent Baltimore limping into its bye week.
Justin Tucker, who earned the nickname “Automatuck” for a reliability that made him once the most accurate kicker in NFL history, was anything but, missing two field goals and an extra point. Both were costly.
With Baltimore trailing 14-12, Tucker’s 47-yard field goal attempt on the opening series of the second half sailed wide left and kept the Ravens (8-5) from the lead. On the Ravens’ next possession with the deficit the same, his 53-yarder missed right.
Despite possessing the ball for 12 of 15 minutes in the quarter and out-gaining Philadelphia 87 yards to 3, Baltimore came away with nothing.
“As simply as I can put it, I missed the kicks, and I’ll leave it at that,” said Tucker, who has converted on just 19 of 27 field goals this season for a career-worst mark of 70.4%. “I feel like I cost us this one, but it doesn’t really do anybody any good to dwell on it. The only thing that we can do — that I can do — is just continue to work, move forward, take it one kick at a time.
“I hate that I’ve had to have this same conversation over the course of this season, but that’s something that comes with the territory in this job description.”
It’s a job he’ll keep for now, with coach John Harbaugh saying he has no plans to move on from the five-time All-Pro and seven-time Pro Bowl selection because he doesn’t think that would be “wise.”
It was also perhaps not wise for the New York Giants to have moved on from Barkley. Sunday was only the latest example.
With Philadelphia clinging to a 14-12 lead midway through the fourth quarter following Tucker’s pair of misses, the Eagles’ star back delivered a knockout punch that would have made Rocky Balboa blush.
With just over 8 minutes remaining and the ball on the Ravens’ 25-yard line, Barkley, who signed with Philadelphia in the offseason, took a handoff from quarterback Jalen Hurts, shot past linebacker Roquan Smith and through the right side of the line, breaking one tackle along the way as he galloped into the end zone for a backbreaking score. The visiting faithful among the crowd of 71,344 serenaded him as he celebrated.
Eagles kicker Jake Elliott tacked on a 35-yard field goal to extend the lead to 24-12, and by the time Jackson connected with tight end Isaiah Likely for an 11-yard touchdown with 3 seconds left, it was too little, too late.
But in the quarterback’s eyes, it never should have been.
“That was a pretty good team, don’t get me wrong,” said Jackson, who was held to 23 of 36 passing for 237 yards and two touchdowns. “But I feel like we left stuff out there. We should’ve put more points on the board. We shouldn’t even have put Tuck in those type of situations.
“But it’s football, not everything gonna go right.”
That included with the Ravens’ high-octane offense, which came into the game leading the NFL in yards per game and second in points per game but has dealt with bouts of inconsistency. Most notably, they went three-and-out on three straight possessions after taking a 9-0 lead following a 34-yard field goal on their first series and a 14-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to tight end Mark Andrews on their second.
Holding onto the ball was also a problem as the Ravens fumbled three times. Jackson lost the ball twice (and was sacked three times) and punt returner Tylan Wallace also coughed it up. Baltimore recovered them all, but the mishaps set the offense back. Despite out-gaining the Eagles, 372-252, in total yardage and a defense that has found its footing in recent weeks, it wasn’t enough.
“Just gotta make better decisions back there,” Wallace said. “That’s probably one of the worst things you can let happen as a punt returner. When that happens it kind of messes with your head and you’re thinking about it. You just gotta try to move on and get the next one.”
In the end, they never got the chance and couldn’t overcome the missed kicks — or Barkley.
The last time a running back won the MVP Award was in 2012 when former Minnesota Vikings star Adrian Peterson took home the honor. The Eagles’ standout bolstered his case, chewing up the Ravens’ stingy run defense by the chunk.
Baltimore entered the week second in rushing yards allowed (77.9) and first in yards per carry (3.5). But Barkley battered the Ravens with 107 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries.
Jackson had 79 yards rushing but was upset with the opportunities he didn’t take when running lanes opened up.
“I’m trying to find the right word to say about that,” he said, pounding his fist and adding that his mom told him after the game he needed to run more. “We gotta finish.
“She just cussed me out. I’m mad. … She said there was lanes I should took and ran, but I was trying to let guys develop routes … I was trying to go through my progressions, but yeah, she right. I’m going through my [crap]. I’m just mad because I feel like we should win these games and we’re not getting them done.”
For the first 30 minutes, it was about as even as a game could be.
Baltimore owned the first quarter, Philadelphia the second and the Eagles led 14-12 at the half. Each team had 10 first downs, the Ravens had 169 yards to the Eagles’ 164, and both teams had 30 plays with the Ravens averaging 5.6 yards per play and the Eagles 5.5.
But the Ravens could only keep Hurts and the Eagles down so long.
He got rolling in the second quarter, and thus so did the Eagles. Hurts was 8 of 9 passing for 99 yards with a 17-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dallas Goedert and then gave Philadelphia the lead with a 1-yard scoring run, despite fumbling the snap from under center on Philadelphia’s tush push.
After struggling mightily, the Eagles rolled up 142 yards in the second quarter and cleaned up their penalties, too, with just one for 5 yards.
The Ravens, meanwhile, will be left to wonder what went wrong after an impressive start on Sunday and squandering a 9-0 lead. They’ll have plenty of time to think about it with two weeks until their next game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Dec. 15.
There’s also the matter of trying to catch the Steelers, but that’s a problem for another day.
“We don’t need to worry about the Steelers,” Jackson said, again pounding his fist. “We need to worry about us.
“We need to clean up on this side, clean that [crap] up. Forget every other team. We be beatin’ ourselves out there.”
Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1.
Week 15
Ravens at Giants
Sunday, Dec. 15, 1 p.m.
TV: CBS
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
