Hogs Haven
Derrick Henry & Lamar Jackson lead Baltimore to 176 rushing yards and a pair of rushing TDs
The Commanders entered the Week 6 game against the Ravens with the top scoring offense in the NFL, a 4-game winning streak, and sole possession of first place in the NFC East. A win in the “Battle of the Beltway” would not only keep Washington in control of the division, but would add a quality win to the team’s resume — the first win of the young season over a team with a winning record.
Ultimately, the Ravens would end up winning this game by 7 points, but the Commanders never had the lead in this football game beyond a first quarter field goal that gave them a 3-point lead. As an early-season test, it showed that the Commanders had some way to go before the team would be able to beat a quality playoff-bound squad, though, in the end, Washington had the better playoff performance, losing in the NFC title game to the eventual super bowl champion Eagles while the Ravens lost to Buffalo in the divisional round.
In this Week 5 game, King Henry flexed his muscles and showed that the Commanders would need to solve issues if the defense hoped to stop a quality rushing attack — an issue that plagued the defense all the way to the conference title game.
Ravens get the first bite at the apple
The Commanders won the toss and deferred, so the Ravens received the opening kickoff and started their first drive on the 34-yard line following a good 36-yard return.
The Washington defense started out by giving up a 44-yard catch and run to Zay Flowers on 2nd & 8. The Ravens were set up with a first down on the Washington 20-yard line.
Mikey Sainristil makes a huge play
On 2nd & 10, Commanders CB Mikey Sainristil grabbed the ball out of the air off of TE Mark Andrews’ fingertips for the team’s first interception of the season. He then returned the ball 38 yards to the Baltimore 49-yard line. The first big break of the game goes to the Commanders.
Commanders
Two plays later, on 3rd & 2, Daniels hit Austin Ekeler on a wheel route to the right, which the RB carried 25 yards to the Baltimore 16-yard line.
Two plays later, Washington faced 3rd & 7 at the 13-yard line. The Ravens defense came up with a huge play, with Travis Jones sacking Daniels for a loss of 11 yards. Austin Seibert came on the field to attempt the 42-yard field goal. He split the uprights to make the score 3-0 with just over 9 minutes remaining in the 1st quarter.
Ravens
Runs by Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson on the Ravens’ 2nd possession brought up 3rd & 1 at the 39-yard line. On the 3rd down play, Lamar Jackson kept the ball himself and ran for 10 yards to earn a fresh set of...
