Ravens Beat Patriots, 37-26

The Ravens beat the New England Patriots 37-26 in Foxborough in Week 3 of the 2022 NFL season. RSR staff react to the win here.

Darin McCann

This was a much-needed road win against an AFC foe following a catastrophic loss last week. And Lamar Jackson sealed the deal this week, along with some help from a returning defensive playmaker in Marcus Peters.

There is a lot to digest still, with possibly significant injuries to Patrick Mekari, Justin Houston, and Michael Pierce. But there were also some spectacular performances, and a little redemption for rookie safety Kyle Hamilton with his forced fumble late. Marlon Humphrey also turned in a nice performance, but there were still some significant issues in pass coverage and pass rush.

Good win.

Needed this win.

Derek Arnold

Great to see the offense put this one away after being unable to do so last week, and big credit to the defense for a few huge fourth-quarter turnovers of their own right. They were needed, because once again there was just far too much room for an opponent to operate in both the run and pass games all afternoon.

Odafe Oweh not only remains sackless, but his edge-setting is incredibly poor, and once again there was plenty of room to be found by bouncing outside of 99. Dobbins showed some nice juice, as did Justice Hill, but there were far too many empty sets for my liking, especially after the Mekari injury.

And speaking of injuries…man, what is going on? Mekari, Pierce, Houston…just, brutal.

I am pumped after the win. But with Buffalo and then Cincinnati looming, it seems like Lamar Jackson will once again need to take this team upon his shoulders, as there just doesn’t seem to be much help, aside from that provided by Mark Andrews and Justin Tucker.

Chris Schisler

Lamar Jackson is the MVP. The Ravens OL was horrible, but the offense still put up a lot of points. Jackson had his third straight game with three or more touchdown passes. There may not be another quarterback in the NFL who could have had this kind of success behind this banged up, struggling line.

The Ravens made things harder than they had to be. The defense gave up a lot of big plays. Pass rush wasn’t very prevalent. Mac Jones looked better than he should have against a defense with this much talent. DeVante Parker continued where Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle left off last week. Parker had over 150 yards receiving. There’s a lot to be frustrated about.

The Ravens made this game harder than it had to be. Up 31-20, they failed to stop the Patriots on a big fourth down. New England swiftly scored a touchdown. The drama was on. Last week’s collapse against the Dolphins loomed over this finish like an ominous cloud. You just kind of knew the offense had to keep the foot on the gas pedal.

In the spirit of making things harder than they had to be, Rashod Bateman fumbled.

Marlon Humphrey, Kyle Hamilton and Marcus Peters had their hands in huge fourth quarter turnovers. Jackson scored his fifth overal touchdown. He had one on the ground and four through the air. In the end the Ravens pulled away with the win.

When Jackson plays like this the Ravens have a chance to beat anyone, but they need to make things easier. They need to play better in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

Lamar Jackson is the MVP and the offense is a true scoring machine.

Take a deep breath. The 2-1 Ravens have the biggest difference-maker in the NFL.

Kevin McNelis

Wow, was that sloppy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to see another master-class performance from #8, but I’d feel a lot better if we kept putting games on his shoulders.

Foxboro is never an easy place to play, as evidenced by the fact that Baltimore had never taken a regular-season W there before today. I just wish they hadn’t made it so hard on themselves at times. Between Patrick Queen missing a possible pick-6 at the goal line and Rashod Bateman coughing the ball up after a big catch (and questionable ruling), this game could’ve been put away much sooner.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a Ravens game without a whole bunch of injuries. Fingers crossed that none of what happened today lingers, but the initial indicators from Pierce’s injury don’t sound good.

Batten down the hatches, boys. The Bills are coming to town next week.

Ron Toothe

It wasn’t pretty the whole time, but man, what a bounce back performance for the purple birds. After a rough first half offensively, Jackson and the offense began to hum in the final two quarters like we’ve become accustomed to through the first two games. More and more by the day Lamar continues to show why he may just be worth every cent of that fully guaranteed record setting deal he’s seeking.

The defense also finally recovered some of that turnover juju that they’ve been sorely missing for a long time, in the form of two late interceptions and a fumble recovery. Kyle Hamilton got himself his first game-changing play, Marcus Peters and Marlon Humphrey got on the board, and perhaps this is the start of some positive momentum on that side of the ball.

Overall, a fun day in Foxborough that got the blood pumping a bit. We’re on to Buffalo!

Nikhil Mehta

Weirdly, this was a pretty standard Ravens game. Another round of injuries to key players, the defense giving up a ton of yards but forcing four turnovers, and of course, Lamar-freaking-Jackson making the other team look like they’re running with weights around their ankles.

Felt like Macdonald made some good adjustments and the run game was humming along today.

Plenty of mistakes to nitpick throughout the week, but I’m always satisfied with a solid W against Belichick in Foxborough.

Rob Shields

This was a big win by the Ravens this week. Any time you win on the road, it’s a good win and winning in New England is never easy.

The run game looked better and you figure that should continue to grow with Dobbins now back.

Lamar was great today.

I also want to credit Greg Roman for adjusting in the second half. After the Pat Mekari injury, the Ravens went to Daniel Falaale at LT, a position he has never played before. He got crushed early on but he did a good job in the second half.

As for the defense, something has to give. The turnovers were great today and that’s a big reason you win the game but yet again, a QB goes over 300 yards and a WR goes over 150 yards and another offense going well over 400 yards. Now, you did a great job on third down, holding them to 2-for-9, but that was about it. The Pats ran for 145 yards and averaged over 5 ypc.  Mac Jones, who came into the game was a top 5 QB in terms of air yards per throw, averaged 10 yards per attempt.  I counted nine plays of 15 yards or more.

The defense just has to button that up or this team has zero chance of going anywhere long term.

And speaking of the long term, this was potentially a costly game due to injuries. They lost Mekari (maybe Stanley decides he cares about playing football?), Pierce and Justin Houston. These are all very key guys. Pierce had to be carted off and had an arm injury. That doesn’t sound good to me.

The next two weeks are big. You have Buffalo next week, who just lost to Miami and have some back end injuries now and then Cincinnati. We can’t beat those teams if the defense is going to give up tons of big plays. I’m glad we won today but given that the Pats aren’t an impressive offense, this win only makes me so happy about where this team is going forward.

Jared Pinder

Name a better duo than the Ravens and sloppy games that turn into competitive victories.

This was a game the Ravens defense had to have. It was a sloppy first half and rough patches in the second didn’t help, but the late turnovers by the defense helped seal the deal. Pass Rush did nothing again and the injuries are starting to pile up again, but obviously a much better day from the Ravens. Brandon Stephens needs to do better though.

Offense pretty much speaks for itself. Lamar was awesome again and while they couldn’t get the deep ball working, they had a lot more success running the ball and hitting check downs and throwing over the middle.

The Ravens now hope they can catch the Bills at home, but the injuries won’t go away and they need reinforcements at pass rush and corner, which are coming.

Chad Racine

I was ready to be salty all week after watching DeVante Parker look like Davante Adams. I didn’t care about the style points I just wanted the Ravens to come away with a needed win. After the Dolphins beat the Bills this week it’s puts things into perspective a little more.

The injuries are now a serious concern after just three weeks. The biggest one of all has to be Patrick Mekari. Daniel Faalele gave up a sack almost after immediately entering the game and he’s now the 4th string left tackle. No matter how prepared Eric DeCosta has been you can never prepare for counting on a 4th string left tackle. The good news was the offense still performed after that.

Dobbins looked good for his first game back. That one spin move would have had any other back on the roster tackled but Dobbins managed another several yards. Justice Hill is obviously the second best back on the team after Dobbins. Going forward it makes me feel a little better about the run game.

Defense is still going through some growing pains but wow it became a turnover fest. Good to see Kyle Hamilton get some redemption.