It takes more than just a few missed practices to stop Lamar Jackson. The much-anticipated clash between Baltimore’s offense and Denver’s defense turned out to be a one-sided affair. Jackson passed for 280 yards and three touchdowns, achieving a perfect passer rating.
Derrick Henry reached several rushing milestones, and the Ravens scored on seven straight drives, winning 41-10 against the Broncos on Sunday.
Jackson missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday, but he and coach John Harbaugh said it was just for rest, even though the team listed him with back and knee problems. He looked ready to go on game day.
“I knew what the assignment was,” Jackson said. “I definitely studied those guys.”
Baltimore’s defense struggled early and didn’t force a punt until the third quarter, but a couple of key fourth-down stops helped the Ravens (6-3) take the lead as they bounced back from last week’s surprising loss to Cleveland. Zay Flowers made five catches for 127 yards and two touchdowns, while Henry rushed for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
Rookie quarterback Bo Nix caught a touchdown pass on a trick play for Denver, but the Broncos (5-4) seemed outmatched as they faced a tough two-game stretch, with Kansas City next on the schedule.
Henry scored his 100th and 101st rushing touchdowns and surpassed 1,000 rushing yards for the season for the sixth time.
He has scored in every game this season and is now one of only three players to record at least 10 rushing touchdowns in seven consecutive years, joining LaDainian Tomlinson (2001-09) and Adrian Peterson (2007-13).
“We have been really good at running the ball for a long time, but he is different. Derrick Henry’s different,” coach John Harbaugh said. “He is adding a dimension that we have not had before. I don’t know. You go back to Jamal Lewis maybe.”
Jackson completed 16 out of 19 passes, achieving a perfect passer rating of 158.3 for the fourth time in his career, which is the most by any player with at least 15 attempts in a game.
“He’s a phenomenal football player, throws the ball really well. Hard to do what he does on a consistent basis,” Nix said. “He missed some practice this week and came out and looked very sharp. Props to him. He’s a phenomenal player.
That’s why he gets all the accolades that he does. It’s special to be able to share a field with a guy like that.”
Baltimore was ahead 17-10 after Denver scored a field goal with 54 seconds left in the first half. The Ravens then scored quickly on both sides of halftime.
Flowers caught a pass, avoided a tackler, and raced to the end zone for a 53-yard touchdown with 16 seconds left in the second quarter. When Baltimore got the ball to start the third quarter, they increased their lead to 31-10 with a 6-yard run by Henry.
“It’s a big swing,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “You know when you play a good team like this on the road you want to get into the fourth quarter and we weren’t able to do that.”
Denver had only allowed two teams to reach 20 points this season, but their game against Baltimore’s strong offense did not go as planned.
The Broncos’ defense held after Nix threw an early interception, but after Denver failed on a fourth-and-1 attempt, the Ravens drove 57 yards and opened the scoring with Henry’s 7-yard run.
Another fourth-down miss — Nix overthrew an open Troy Franklin on a deep throw — led to a Baltimore field goal that made the score 10-0.
The Broncos finally succeeded on fourth down from the Baltimore 2 with a reverse pass from receiver Courtland Sutton to Nix. The Ravens defended it reasonably well, but Nix caught the ball at the goal line for a touchdown.
Jackson quickly responded with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Flowers, putting Baltimore up 17-7. Fullback Patrick Ricard caught Jackson’s last touchdown throw of the day, a 3-yarder in the third quarter.
