OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The lasting image from Sunday’s 19-17 Ravens win over Cincinnati is, as it should be, Justin Tucker celebrating with his teammates after kicking that 43-yard game-winning, walk-off field goal that split the uprights down the middle as time expired. But before the clutch kick it was late-game Lamar Jackson showing up, running the Ravens into field goal range, boosting Baltimore to its first fourth-quarter comeback win of the season.
"I mean there was some pretty darn good blocking going on on some of those runs and they were designed quarterback runs that he read really well and he ran well and he was blocked well, just really well executed by everybody," said head coach John Harbaugh on Monday. "To have that threat, to have Lamar who is willing to do it and able to do it, that’s a tough run game to stop."
Harbaugh praised his quarterback and his defense, which shut down Cincy QB Joe Burrow and the talented Bengals receiving corps.
"We played the best statistically of the season so far," he said. "We played a lot of zone coverage, a lot of split safety zone, a lot of disguises. We didn’t want to give up anything deep."
It worked. Burrow was limited to only 217 yards through the air. He attempted just one pass of 20-plus air yards and averaged a career-low four air yards per attempt, per NextGen Stats.
That defense that played so well did so for a bulk of the game without one of its biggest pieces in the secondary. Safety Marcus Williams suffered a dislocated wrist.
Harbaugh said it is not a season-ending injury but Williams will go on injured reserve. Now the job is to replace his production. Geno Stone and rookie Kyle Hamilton, come on down.
"They both got to step up and do a great job," said Harbaugh. "I’m looking forward to all of those guys, as a team, as a group, kind of filling in for Marcus and not losing a step on that."
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
