TOP AFC SEED: RAVENS
BALTIMORE
Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens clinched a division title and the top seed in the AFC.
Ravens 56, Dolphins 19
There’s no mathematical way to tell if the star quarterback wrapped up the MVP award, too, but his fans made their views on the topic clear.
Serenaded throughout by “MVP!” chants, Jackson threw for 321 yards and five touchdowns as the Ravens eviscerated the Miami Dolphins 56-19 on Sunday. Baltimore won its first AFC North title since 2019, when Jackson was named MVP. He might be closing in on that honor again.
“He played a perfect football game in terms of the passing game,” coach John Harbaugh said.
The stat sheet agreed. Jackson went 18 of 21 without an interception. He finished with a perfect passer rating of 158.3.
Jackson missed the end of the past two Baltimore seasons because of injuries. Now the Ravens can rest him voluntarily next week if they want, although Harbaugh was noncommittal on that.
Baltimore (13-3) has won six straight, and the Ravens rolled through a grueling December stretch with games against the Rams, Jaguars, 49ers and Dolphins.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen a more impressive performance in a game. I’m not sure
I’ve seen a more impressive performance in a season to date,” said Harbaugh, whose team will have a firstround bye before hosting its postseason opener. “Obviously we have a lot more to do. We’ve got a lot of work to do in front of us, but this is a mature football team.”
Miami (11-5) is also postseason bound, but now the winner of next weekend’s Dolphins-Bills game will take the AFC East.
“There’s times like this one where I would like a time machine for sure,” Miami coach Mike McDaniel said.
Jackson had more touchdown passes than incompletions. Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa also accomplished that in a 70-20 win over Denver.
This matchup featured Miami’s top-ranked scoring offense and Baltimore’s topranked scoring defense. In the early going, the Dolphins had the upper hand. They scored on the game’s first drive when Tagovailoa threw an 8-yard pass to Cedrick Wilson Jr. Jackson answered with a 20-yard scoring strike to Justice Hill.
The Ravens took the lead for good in the second quarter when Gus Edwards capped an 89-yard drive with a 1-yard scoring run. After another Miami field goal, Jackson found Zay Flowers open deep for a 75-yard TD that made it 21-13.
Justice Hill returned the second-half kickoff 78 yards, setting up Jackson’s 7-yard
TD toss to Isaiah Likely that made it 35-13.
Miami trailed 35-14 with under 13 minutes remaining last season before rallying to a 42-38 win over the Ravens. The Dolphins started the fourth quarter with a touchdown this time, a 1-yard pass from Tagovailoa to De’Von Achane, but it was Baltimore that closed strong.
“Last year, the score was looking like that at halftime and third quarter. Then those guys started making plays and we didn’t do anything,” Jackson said. “The only thing that was on my mind was to finish the game, and today we did it.”