Lions down Ravens 38-30 behind forced fumbles, sacks
BALTIMORE, MD - In a battle of offensive juggernauts, the Detroit Lions outlasted the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football by a final score of 38-30.
Turnovers ended up being the story of the day. The Ravens turned the ball over multiple times; the Lions didn't turn it over at all. Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry each lost key fumbles, both of which turned into Detroit points.
The Lions (2-1) marched over 90 yards down the field, twice, to score touchdowns.
Defensively, Detroit sacked Jackson seven times. On back-to-back fourth quarter defensive plays, Aidan Hutchinson stripped Henry of the ball forcing a turnover, and then sacked Jackson on the first play of the next drive.
Detroit had four rushing touchdowns and over 220 yards on the ground. David Montgomery had 151 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Jahmyr Gibbs only had 67 rushing yards, but also had two scores of his own.
Up 31-24 at the two-minute warning, Detroit converted on fourth-and-2 from its own 49 when Jared Goff completed a 21-yard pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown. Then Montgomery raced for a 31-yard touchdown with 1:42 to play.
Jackson threw his third touchdown pass of the night, a 27-yarder to Mark Andrews with 29 seconds remaining. A failed 2-point conversion and a failed onside kick later, the Lions could kneel out the clock.
It was a jarring sight to see the Ravens (1-2) pushed around on their home field, where they lost for only the fourth time in 26 prime-time games under coach John Harbaugh. When Gibbs and Montgomery weren’t running through the Baltimore defense, Goff had plenty of time to pick the Ravens apart as Detroit methodically advanced down the field.
With the score tied at 21, the Lions faced fourth-and-1 from the Baltimore 4 on the first play of the fourth quarter. St. Brown took the ball on what initially looked like a jet sweep, then pitched it back to Gibbs, who scored easily.
After a field goal made it 28-24, the Ravens got a defensive stop, but Derrick Henry lost a fumble in a huge fourth-quarter spot for the second time in three weeks, giving Detroit the ball at the Baltimore 16. Still, the Lions couldn’t put the game away, settling for a field goal when that drive was derailed by a facemask penalty on Christian Mahogany.
The first half of the game saw the two teams trade touchdowns, and then trade three and out drives, before the Lions marched 98.5 yards down the field to take a 14-7 lead. On the next Ravens drive, they got to the Lions 1-yard line before a fumble on fourth down gave the Lions the ball back with about 1:30 to play in the half.
The Lions were forced to punt, giving the Ravens the ball back with under a minute to go.
The Ravens drove down a short field and scored a touchdown before the half to make the score 14-14 with 24 seconds left before halftime.
Detroit attempted a 67-yard field goal to end the half. Lions kicker Jake Bates missed wide left on what would have been an NFL record had it gone in.
Injuries
Detroit RB Sione Vaki left the game with a groin injury.
Up next
Baltimore plays at Kansas City on Sunday in another marquee matchup between Jackson and Patrick Mahomes. Detroit hosts Cleveland.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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