At halftime of Sunday’s game between the Ravens and Eagles, it looked like Baltimore would cruise to a win.
It was 17-0 and the Eagles offense had failed to do much of anything through the first 30 minutes of play. Things remained that way through the third and the Ravens took a 24-6 lead into a fourth quarter that would play out much differently.
The Eagles sandwiched a pair of touchdowns around two Justin Tucker field goals to get them within 30-22 in the final four minutes of the game. They got the ball back after forcing a punt and a questionable defensive pass interference call on Marcus Peters put them in Baltimore territory.
Wentz would score on a sneak just after the two minute warning, but he was dropped in the backfield by Matthew Judon on the two-point conversion. That play allowed the Ravens to escape with a 30-28 win that probably won’t feel much like one when the coaches begin picking apart the performance in the second half of the game.
Lamar Jackson was 16-of-27 for 186 yards and had touchdowns through the air and on the ground. He led the team with 108 rushing yards, but the team’s backs only managed 69 yards on 27 carries. The defense had three sacks and a lot of hits on Wentz, but they gave up big plays to Sanders, Wentz and John Hightower that allowed the Eagles back into a game they appeared to have no business winning for much of the afternoon.
In addition to dropping to 1-4-1, the Eagles also saw their injury list grow. Running back Miles Sanders, tight end Zach Ertz, defensive tackle Malik Jackson, and right tackle Jack Driscoll were all knocked out with injuries. Driscoll was playing because Lane Johnson missed the game with an ankle injury. They won’t have much time to recover before a Thursday night game against the Giants.
The Ravens will move on to a home game against the undefeated Steelers. They’ll need to be much sharper if they don’t want to cede early control of the division to their rivals from Pittsburgh.