Jackson dazzles as Ravens stage furious comeback to down Colts in OT
'It's one of the greatest performances I've ever seen,' head coach John Harbaugh says
Even more than usual, the Baltimore Ravens needed Lamar Jackson to do pretty much everything as they tried to climb out of a second-half hole.
Their running backs had been stopped, and another key offensive player had left with an injury — but the Ravens still had their star quarterback, whose latest scintillating effort may have been the best of his young career.
Jackson threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Brown on the first possession of overtime to give the Ravens a 31-25 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night. The Baltimore quarterback threw for a career-high 442 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair of short TD passes to Mark Andrews in the fourth quarter as the Ravens rallied from a 25-9 deficit.
LAMAR TO HOLLYWOOD.<br><br>The <a href="https://twitter.com/Ravens?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Ravens</a> come back to win it! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RavensFlock?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RavensFlock</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/INDvsBAL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#INDvsBAL</a> <a href="https://t.co/Rd0f4CxcRy">pic.twitter.com/Rd0f4CxcRy</a>
—@NFLAndrews also caught the two 2-point conversions during that furious comeback.
Jackson went 37 of 43 without an interception. He also ran for 62 yards. If you subtract the 5 yards Jackson lost when sacked, he accounted for 499 of Baltimore's 523 net yards on the night.
"I was just locked in," Jackson said. "I was just calm. Everything was just moving slow."
WE ARE TIED. 25-25 with 39 seconds remaining.<br><br>📺: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/INDvsBAL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#INDvsBAL</a> on ESPN<br>📱: <a href="https://t.co/cpgwIpWHHN">https://t.co/cpgwIpWHHN</a> <a href="https://t.co/rDYzpOjDwB">pic.twitter.com/rDYzpOjDwB</a>
—@NFLJackson, Ravens weather the storm in the clutch
The Ravens had to withstand a 47-yard field goal attempt by Rodrigo Blankenship on the final play of regulation, but the Indianapolis kicker missed, sending the teams to overtime.
The Ravens had their record-tying streak of 43 straight 100-yard rushing games snapped, and it looked like they were in big trouble after Jackson fumbled near the goal line in the third quarter. But after that turnover, Baltimore scored a touchdown on each of its final four possessions.
The Indianapolis kicking game was a big reason the game got to overtime. Blankenship — who hurt a hip in warm-ups — missed an extra point in the third quarter. With the Colts up 25-17, he had a 37-yard kick blocked by Calais Campbell with 4:29 remaining, giving the Ravens a chance to tie the game.
"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."
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 sailed wide left.
Wentz threw for a career-high of his own, 402 yards and two touchdowns. Jonathan Taylor scored on a 76-yard swing pass early in the first quarter, then added a rushing touchdown in the third as the Colts took a 22-3 lead.
But the game was far from over.
"A guy like Lamar, you know he's going to have a couple plays," Taylor said. "He's a special player."
The Ravens (4-1) took over sole possession of first place in the AFC North after Cleveland and Cincinnati lost Sunday.
Poor 1st half from Ravens
The first half was fairly uneventful, but the Ravens started and finished it poorly. On third-and-15, Taylor took a swing pass, slipped into the Baltimore secondary and outran everyone for a touchdown just 2:01 into the game.
There was no more scoring until late in the second quarter, when the Ravens settled for Justin Tucker's 23-yard field goal. The Colts had enough time to drive back the other way, and after converting on fourth-and-11, they set up for a field goal.
The Ravens, already without injured rookie wideout Rashod Bateman, lost receiver Sammy Watkins to a hamstring injury in the second quarter.
Indianapolis got the ball first in the second half and took a 16-3 lead on Wentz's 42-yard scoring pass to Michael Pittman Jr. Jackson drove the Ravens back the other way, but on first-and-goal from the 1, he lost the ball and Darius Leonard picked it up for the Colts.
Leonard ran it back to about the Indianapolis 25, then lateraled to Isaiah Rodgers, who went the rest of the way for an apparent touchdown. It was ruled a forward lateral after a 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 run made it 22-3.
Jackson threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Brown late in the third.
