Knee-Jerk Reactions: Ravens Beat Bucs, 27-22

The Ravens overcame a dreadful first quarter on offense and beat the Tampa Bay Bucs, 27-22.

They move to 5-3 with a road game in New Orleans up next, in Week 9.

RSR staff react to the win here.

Darin McCann

This was a really good win, especially with a significant chunk of rest coming to this beat up roster. The Isaiah Likely Coming Out Party was fun, but injuries to Mark Andrews and Gus Edwards are a major concern. This was a gutsy performance, on both sides of the ball. Yes, Tampa is on a rough skid, but there was quite a bit to like out there tonight — particularly in the second half.

Obviously, there had to be a little bit of stress at the end, this being the Ravens and all, but for a second straight week they showed good resolve at the end to lock down a win.

Derek Arnold

After that first quarter, who would have thought we’d be sitting here talking about a win? Justice Hill makes it happen on teams and hands the offense the ball at the five and they only come away with three, then Marlon Humphrey drops an easy pick on the Bucs’ first offensive play, then that drive turns into a TD? Another ALMOST game?! But then, it wasn’t.

The Ravens threw the ball 30 times in the first half, and EIGHT times in the second half. Score in the first half? 3. Second? 24.

Stop trying to be something you aren’t. Run the damn ball, man. However, as far as the passing game goes, big ups to Demarcus Robinson & Isaiah Likely, who stepped up huge.

The defense had a rough first drive, then clamped down well. Justin Houston had sacks on back-to-back plays for the second straight game.

Hopefully all the walking wounded can heal up over the next 23 days, a span in which the team will play only one game. 5-3 feels a lot better going into that lull than 4-4 would have.

Rob Shields

Gotta give credit where credit is due. Roman called an excellent game in the second half. I’m not sure I trust him to do it the next game but he did it tonight.

Lamar played a lot better. He got the ball out faster tonight and they did a lot of short, quick passes, which was good to see.

Defense looked rough early but largely dominated the rest of the game.

This was a big win but it was costly. Andrews has a shoulder injury, although he likely avoided something major since his arm wasn’t in a sling in the second half. We wait to see how bad the Gus hammy injury is and did Bateman re-aggravate the foot or was it just sore because of the quick turnaround?  Thursday night football is just the worst but hey, the NFL cares about player safety!

Now you have the mini bye. The trade deadline is Tuesday. Will they make a trade before then?

Ben Dackiw

This game will become known as “The game where the Baltimore Ravens got their stuff together.”

Beautiful. Just a beautiful performance in the second half.

The Ravens got out of Tampa without major catastrophe and Lamar got his groove back. Greg Roman might’ve just saved his job.

The defense continues to improve. Come January, this is going to be a solid group.

Take the extra days off, boys. You’ve earned them.

Kevin McNelis

Man, I hate Thursday Night Football. The short week made things brutal on an already beat-up squad, and it seems like now they’re going to need some healthy reinforcements more than ever.

The good news is they took a road win in a tough environment and now get a bit of a longer rest before seeing the Saints. The best news of all maybe is that the 2022 Ravens… adjusted their offensive game plan at half time? It can be done after all!

Jared Pinder

I’m not sure what I just experienced, but I think it was a game of Football. If you had told me Lamar would have a great day with Andrews and Bateman out after that first half, I would laugh at you. That second-half adjustment might have saved Roman’s job because he was in his bag. Lamar also had a nice bounce back and played much better in the second half; please keep this ruling for the love of everything good in this world. The defense was up and down, and they couldn’t catch a cold, but they got the stops they needed to get on those third downs. The Ravens will now have a long break to get these players healthy.

It bothers me that this offense looked that good in the second half, though, like the injuries forced Greg Roman to be creative with Duvernay and the other receivers because he had no other option. It might seem whiney, but you have the plays in the bag so call them, man.

The Ravens need this long break, and I hope something gets done on the trade market.

Chad Racine

To get a win on the road on Thursday night against Tom Brady feels pretty good. It was also nice to relax for the most part in the 4th quarter. I prefer slower starts and stronger finishes. The second half offense was humming along and running the ball and owning time of possession.

I figured if half the time I predicted Likely scores his first touchdown I’d eventually be correct. He had the kind of game we’ve all been waiting for. Andrews being out the 2nd half certainly got him more looks from Lamar.

Demarcus Robinson also had a pretty solid game and it’s what I expected after his spectacular preseason.

Justin Houston has looked great since returning on Sunday. With Bowser’s return imminent along with Ojabo the pass rush looks to have a much brighter future. Not to mention JPP has been a pleasant surprise.

This mini bye followed by the actual bye week comes at an ideal time and should allow the team to be much healthier when they return.

Chris Schisler

What a difference a half makes. The Ravens were a different team in the second half. The offense found their jetpacks. Lamar Jackson and Greg Roman rebounded from a bad first half and Isaiah Likely got to have his first big game in the NFL. The second half was fun.

If Mike MacDonald hasn’t won you over, I don’t know what to tell you. The defense has been great the past several weeks. After getting down early, MacDonald made adjustments. His unit got the better of Tom Brady. Brady used garbage time to get up to 325 yards. The seconds clicked against him more than the yards helped him. The Buccaneers being 4/13 on third downs is the difference in this game. The defense gave the offense enough time to get clicking.

This is the best team win of the season. The Ravens proved a lot. They beat a desperate Buccaneers team in their house. Things are looking up. It was a sloppy first half. It was a glorious result.

Nikhil Mehta

After that first half, the Ravens scored 24 points in the second half without Mark Andrews and Rashod Bateman. That’s pretty incredible for a team whose season has thus far been defined by second-half collapses.

Greg Roman tried to target the Bucs’ weak secondary in the first half, but went back to the bread-and-butter run game in the second half to gash the Buccaneers and control the clock. It might have been the closest to 2019 that we’ve seen so far this season, with Lamar Jackson settling down in the second half to find Isaiah Likely rediscovering his preseason form.

WR Demarcus Robinson had a sneaky good game too, but Mike Macdonald deserves major props for making the right adjustments after Tampa Bay’s early success on offense. Mike Evans still Mike Evans’d all over the place, but the defense held firm on third down and in the red zone to continually frustrate Tom Brady.

This was by far the most satisfying win thus far this season. Injuries are a major concern, but just one game – against a beatable Saints team – in three weeks should help with that. This is a knee-jerk reaction, so I’m riding the high a little, but this offense can’t afford to be that sloppy against better opponents. Let’s hope that second half is a sign of things to come.