Lamar Jackson’s return provides a much-needed jolt as Ravens run roughshod over Cowboys
Jackson, the reigning NFL MVP, returned to the Ravens’ lineup after missing one game following his own positive coronavirus test. He was activated Monday from the covid-19 reserve list. But he looked sharp and was productive Tuesday. He threw two touchdown passes, one each to wide receivers Miles Boykin and Marquise Brown, and had a 37-yard touchdown run.
“The one thing you do know about Lamar: You’re going to get everything he’s got,” Ravens Coach John Harbaugh said. “And that’s really all you can ask for. He’s going to give you whatever he has. And it turned out that he had a lot tonight. That was good to see. I don’t think you could predict that. … He played a great football game.”
Jackson had 94 of the Ravens’ 294 rushing yards. He added 107 yards through the air on 12-for-17 passing, rebounding from an early interception.
Tailback Gus Edwards ran for 101 yards for the Ravens. After J.K. Dobbins’s five-yard touchdown run with just more than two minutes remaining, offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. could be heard yelling, “Easy money!”
This was more like the Ravens of last season, who rolled to the top seed in the AFC playoffs.
“It was very encouraging,” Harbaugh said in a postgame video news conference. “I think our guys did a great job. They blocked. They ran. … Obviously Lamar had a lot to do with that as well. … That’s big for us.”
Kicker Justin Tucker provided two field goals, although he also missed from 36 yards to end a streak of 70 straight successful field goal attempts inside 40 yards.
The Ravens improved their record to 7-5, bolstering their AFC wild-card playoff chances. They’ll need this victory to serve as the springboard for a late-season push. The schedule is favorable. The Ravens play a challenging game next Monday night at Cleveland but then have matchups with the below-.500 Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants and Cincinnati Bengals.
“I feel like the whole team just played lights-out tonight,” Jackson said.
Jackson said he had experienced flu-like symptoms and lost his senses of taste and smell.
“I’m good now,” he said. “I wouldn’t wish that on nobody, though.”
Jackson missed the Ravens’ loss at Pittsburgh last Wednesday, a game that was postponed three times amid the team’s outbreak. That game originally had been scheduled for Thanksgiving night. This game had been slated for last Thursday night. Instead, it joined the Titans-Bills game from October as this season’s Tuesday affairs.
“When I found out I had it, I was ticked off because it was a big game,” Jackson said. “We had to go to Pittsburgh and play them, and we lost to them prior to that. I was just going through a lot of emotions like, ‘Man, how did it come now? Why did I have to get sick now?’ But, you know, it is what it is. I feel like my guys fought that game. But I’m here now. The sickness is gone. You don’t get it no more. We’ve just got to keep rocking. We played a great game tonight. Just keep it going.”
Jackson said he slept a lot during his time in isolation. In between, he studied the Cowboys to be prepared for his return.
“It felt like I didn’t play a whole season,” he said. “I was like I feel good to be back with my guys, even in practice, walking into the locker room and stuff like that. It was like, ‘Man, I couldn’t wait to see y’all’s faces.’ It was like two weeks I [didn’t] see those guys. It was like I can’t wait to get out and perform for those guys because I know how much it means to us to win games.”
For the Cowboys, playing on a Tuesday wasn’t any better for them than playing on any other day of the week has been this season. They fell to 3-9 in Coach Mike McCarthy’s first season since being hired by owner Jerry Jones to replace Jason Garrett.
Quarterback Andy Dalton threw two touchdown passes, one apiece to wide receivers Michael Gallup and Amari Cooper. Dalton also threw an interception in a 31-for-48, 285-yard passing performance. The Cowboys have lost four of the five games started this season by Dalton while filling in for injured starter Dak Prescott.
Tailback Ezekiel Elliott had 77 rushing yards for Dallas. Kicker Greg Zuerlein missed three of his four field goal attempts.
Fox analyst Troy Aikman, the Hall of Fame former quarterback for the Cowboys, questioned the effort level of the Dallas defensive players on the broadcast following the Ravens’ final touchdown. The reeling Cowboys showed up in Baltimore at just the right time for the Ravens.
“It’s a win,” Harbaugh said, “that we really, really had to have.”
‘Easy money’ for Ravens on touchdown as Aikman questions Cowboys’ effort level
By Mark Maske
The Ravens are running right over the Dallas defense. Tailback J.K. Dobbins ran for a five-yard touchdown and the Ravens are up to 294 rushing yards in the game. Fox analyst Troy Aikman, the Hall of Fame former quarterback for the Cowboys, questioned the effort level of the Dallas defensive players on the broadcast after the touchdown. Ravens offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. could be heard yelling, “Easy money!” during the touchdown celebration. (Ravens 34, Cowboys 17 with 2:08 left in the 4th quarter)
Dalton throws fourth-down touchdown pass to Amari Cooper
By Mark Maske
The Cowboys drew closer with a two-yard touchdown pass from Andy Dalton to wide receiver Amari Cooper on a fourth-and-goal play. A defensive pass interference penalty on the Ravens gave the Cowboys a first down at the 1-yard line. The Baltimore defense stuffed tailback Ezekiel Elliott on three straight carries, two for no gain and one for a one-yard loss, as the Cowboys allowed time to slip away. But Dalton zipped his fourth-down pass to Cooper along the back line of the end zone. The Ravens failed to issue an instant replay challenge on a possible interception, ruled an incompletion, on the play before the interference penalty. (Ravens 27, Cowboys 17 with 3:59 left in the 4th quarter)
Ravens pad lead with field goal
By Mark Maske
The Ravens are firmly in control of the game now. Kicker Justin Tucker added to the lead with a 22-yard field goal. (Ravens 27, Cowboys 10 with 8:15 left in the 4th quarter)
Kicking misadventures continue for Cowboys
By Mark Maske
Make it three missed field goals for Cowboys kicker Greg Zuerlein. This misfire came from 52 yards. Zuerlein is one for four on the night. The Ravens sacked Andy Dalton on the play before the kick. (Ravens 24, Cowboys 10 with 14:14 left in the 4th quarter)
Jackson’s touchdown pass to Marquise Brown increases Ravens’ lead
By Mark Maske
The Ravens increased their lead with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Lamar Jackson to wide receiver Marquise Brown. Jackson dropped a well-placed lob to the back left corner of the end zone, and Brown made the grab and managed to get both his feet in bounds. Jackson had gotten a first down with a 14-yard scramble on third and 10 on the previous play. Jackson has two touchdown passes and a touchdown run in his return. The Ravens have 207 rushing yards on the night, 78 of them by Jackson. (Ravens 24, Cowboys 10 with 4:40 left in the 3rd quarter)
Another missed field goal for Cowboys’ Zuerlein
By Mark Maske
Cowboys kicker Greg Zuerlein missed his second field goal attempt of the night, this time from 53 yards. Zuerlein sent the kick wide left. The Cowboys converted on fourth and one on the drive on a quarterback sneak by Andy Dalton. (Ravens 17, Cowboys 10 with 9:07 left in the 3rd quarter)
Ravens lead Cowboys, 17-10, at halftime after Dez Bryant’s positive coronavirus test
By Mark Maske
The Ravens continued to experience coronavirus issues but lead the Cowboys, 17-10, at halftime in Baltimore in the NFL’s second Tuesday game of this pandemic-affected season.
Ravens wide receiver Dez Bryant was placed in isolation, under NFL protocols, after testing positive for the coronavirus in a pregame point-of-care test taken at the stadium. Bryant had been on the field before the game. But the NFL went ahead with the game and did not quarantine any other players or personnel as high-risk close contacts.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson, making his return to the Ravens’ lineup after missing one game following his own positive test, threw an interception but also had a 37-yard touchdown run and a 38-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Miles Boykin. Kicker Justin Tucker provided a 35-yard field goal after a miss from 36 yards, ending a streak of 70 straight successful field goal tries from inside 40 yards.
Cowboys quarterback Andy Dalton threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Michael Gallup. Kicker Greg Zuerlein made one field goal attempt but missed another. The Cowboys were denied points in the final moments of the first half when the officials appeared to miss a blatant pass interference penalty by the Ravens on Dallas rookie wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. Dalton’s Hail Mary pass into the end zone as time expired in the half nearly was caught but fell incomplete. (Ravens 17, Cowboys 10 at halftime)
Tucker’s field goal extends Ravens’ lead
By Mark Maske
Justin Tucker missed one easy field goal. He wasn’t going to miss two of them. This time, the Ravens kicker connected from 35 yards. (Ravens 17, Cowboys 10 with 46 seconds left in the 2nd quarter)
Cowboys miss field goal
By Mark Maske
Each kicker has missed a routine field goal attempt. The Cowboys’ Greg Zuerlein sent a 40-yard try wide right. The Cowboys had a delay-of-game penalty right before the miss. (Ravens 14, Cowboys 10 with 2:02 left in the 2nd quarter)
Ravens’ Dez Bryant tests positive for coronavirus
By Mark Maske
The Baltimore Ravens’ game against the Dallas Cowboys in Baltimore began as scheduled Tuesday night after Ravens wide receiver Dez Bryant tested positive for the coronavirus at the stadium before the game.
Bryant tested positive in a point-of-care test at M&T Bank Stadium and was ruled ineligible for the game and removed from the team setting under NFL protocols, according to a person familiar with the situation. His test taken Tuesday morning under the league’s daily testing program was inconclusive and a rerun of that test also was inconclusive, according to that person.
The lab examining the results is located in Maryland so the daily testing results were returned quickly. The NFL proceeded with the game and, according to the person close to the situation, there were “no other issues” immediately with Ravens players being ruled ineligible for the game or placed in quarantine because of contact tracing.
Bryant confirmed his positive test on social media and said he was pulled from pregame warm-ups.
“Tell me why they pull me from warming up so I can go get tested… my [stuff] come back positive… I tested positive for Covid,” Bryant wrote on Twitter.
The Ravens announced that Bryant was “scratched from tonight’s game due to an illness.”
The NFL performed contact tracing related to Bryant’s testing results Tuesday, with interviews and tracking-device data, and found no one classified as a high-risk close contact, a person close to the situation said. The league followed its usual procedures related to a positive test result and was prepared to pull any players or other personnel if they’d been identified as high-risk close contacts, that person said.
Bryant was seen and photographed interacting with others on the field before the game. But league medical officials have said that the NFL makes its classifications of high-risk close contacts based on the proximity and length of interactions, whether masks were worn and how much ventilation was involved. In this case, the pregame activity occurred outdoors and the NFL determined that none of Bryant’s interactions qualified under its criteria. Under NFL protocols, any players or others classified as high-risk close contacts are placed on mandatory five-day quarantines.
The Ravens are playing their second rescheduled game since having the second major outbreak on an NFL team this season, following one involving the Tennessee Titans in late September and early October. The Ravens’ previous game, played last Wednesday in Pittsburgh, was postponed three times after being originally scheduled for Thanksgiving night. This game originally was scheduled for last Thursday night.
Bryant had been readying to face the Cowboys, his former team.
“The crazy thing is [I] have the same damn routine…. this [stuff] do not make sense to me,” Bryant wrote on Twitter.
He also wrote: “Yea I’m going to go ahead and call it a quit for the rest of the season… I can’t deal with this.”
Andy Dalton throws touchdown pass after long kickoff return
By Mark Maske
The Cowboys wasted no time responding to the Ravens’ touchdown with one of their own. Andy Dalton threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Michael Gallup. The touchdown was set up by a 66-yard kickoff return by Tony Pollard. (Cowboys 10, Ravens 7 with 14:19 left in the 2nd quarter)
Jackson throws touchdown pass as Ravens cash in on interception
By Mark Maske
The Ravens rebounded from Justin Tucker’s rare field goal miss with a quick touchdown off an interception of an Andy Dalton pass. Linebacker Patrick Queen got the interception, setting up the Ravens at the Dallas 38-yard line. The Ravens scored on the next play on a pass from Lamar Jackson to wide receiver Miles Boykin. Jackson has a touchdown pass and a touchdown run in his return. (Ravens 14, Cowboys 10 with 8:08 left in the 2nd quarter)
Justin Tucker has rare field goal miss
By Mark Maske
The Ravens’ Justin Tucker is about as reliable as a kicker can be. But not this time. Tucker missed a 36-yard field goal attempt, pulling the ball wide to the left. The miss ended a streak of 70 straight successful field goal attempts inside 40 yards for Tucker. (Cowboys 10, Ravens 7 with 8:53 left in the 2nd quarter)
Lamar Jackson runs for touchdown on fourth-down keeper
By Mark Maske
Lamar Jackson, in his first game back in the Ravens’ lineup, made amends for his early interception with a 37-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-two quarterback keeper. It was Jackson at his dynamic best, and it was the longest touchdown run ever by a quarterback against the Cowboys. (Ravens 7, Cowboys 3 with 25 seconds left in the 1st quarter)
