Had it not been for an epic collapse against the Miami Dolphins, the Ravens would have entered Week 4 of the 2022 NFL season as one of two teams in the league with an undefeated record.
Baltimore owned a 28-7 halftime lead at M&T Bank Stadium on Sept. 18, only to watch Tua Tagovailoa and company dominate the final two quarters of the Week 2 matchup and secure a 42-38 comeback win. The blown lead and wasted opportunity served as an early wake-up call of sorts for the Ravens, who preached the importance of finishing the job in the lead-up to Sunday’s meeting with the New England Patriots.
“We talked about it — after that game happened, we talked about it Monday and Tuesday,” Lamar Jackson told Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer after the Week 3 contest at Gillette Stadium. “We told each other, ‘We can’t let anything like that happen again. When we take the lead, we expect to win the game, finish the game out, close the game out, four quarters.’ We just didn’t do what we were supposed to do. So we better keep our head up and focus on the next opponent, and that’s what we did today.”
The Ravens didn’t throttle the Patriots in the early goings as they did against the Dolphins, as New England and Baltimore engaged in a tightly contested, back-and-forth affair through nearly three full quarters. But Baltimore pushed its lead to double digits shortly before the start of the fourth and never looked back, ultimately notching a 37-26 road win.
Jackson and company will need to employ the same attack-mode mentality Sunday when they host the Buffalo Bills, who will be hungry to avenge their Week 3 loss to the division rival Dolphins.
