Ravens' Jackson gets first playoff win while Browns and Saints progress
Lamar Jackson finally has his first postseason victory, and the fact that it was away from Baltimore makes it even more impressive.
Jackson ran for 136 yards and a 48yard touchdown while throwing for 179 more as the Ravens rallied from 10 points down and beat the Tennessee Titans 20-13 on Sunday in their AFC wildcard game. Baltimore also shut down 2,000-yard rusher Derrick Henry and held Tennessee to their fewest points all season.
The Titans (11-6) had the ball and a chance to tie when Marcus Peters intercepted Ryan Tannehill’s pass intended for Kalif Raymond with 1:50 left. After the turnover, the Ravens came onto the field and waved goodbye to the Titans, drawing a taunting penalty they didn’t mind at all.
“We finished finally,” Jackson said. “We finally finished.”
The Ravens (12-5) snapped a string of 21 straight games lost by the franchise in either the regular season or playoffs when trailing by 10 or more. They will play either top-seeded Kansas City or Buffalo next week.
Henry ran all over the Ravens with 328 yards rushing combined in the past two meetings. With both Calais Campbell and Brandon Williams back on the Baltimore D-line, Henry had his worst performance this season with 18 carries for 40 yards.
Baltimore smothered a Tennessee offense that tied for fourth averaging 30.7 points a game and had more offensive yards per game during the season than any team but Kansas City. The Ravens finished with a 401-209 yards edge in total offense.The Titans lost their first home playoff game in 12 years and now have had three of their past eight postseasons ended on their own field by Baltimore.
Tennessee sacked Jackson five times and got an interception. But the Titans settled for a pair of field goals and couldn’t slow Jackson enough after halftime. Jackson turned in the sixth 100-yard rushing game by a quarterback in the postseason, and joined Colin Kaepernick with two.
Cleveland Browns 48-29 Pittsburgh Steelers
The Cleveland Browns overcame all of it, dismantling the Pittsburgh Steelers 48-29.
It’s the franchise’s first postseason victory in more than a quarter century and earned a trip to Kansas City next Sunday to face the defending Super
Bowl champion Chiefs.
Playing with first-year head coach Kevin Stefanski, Pro Bowl guard Joel Bitonio and top cornerback Denzel Ward back in Cleveland after all tested positive for Covid-19, Cleveland raced to the biggest first half by a road team in NFL playoff history then held on.
Baker Mayfield threw for 263 yards and three touchdowns, including a screen pass that Nick Chubb turned into a 40-yard score that halted Pittsburgh’s momentum after the Steelers had pulled within 12. Kareem Hunt added 48 yards and two touchdowns on the ground while Cleveland’s defense forced five turnovers to hand the Steelers a staggering loss.
The victory was the Browns’ first postseason triumph of any kind since beating New England on New Year’s Day 1995 three months before Mayfield was born and their first playoff win on the road since 1969.
Chicago Bears 9–21 New Orleans Saints
Drew Brees will get to celebrate his 42nd birthday by preparing for a playoff game that will feature the one active NFL quarterback older than him.
Brees completed 28 of 39 passes for 265 yards, connecting with Michael Thomas and Latavius Murray for touchdowns, and the New Orleans Saints defeated the Chicago Bears 21-9.
Alvin Kamara rushed for 99 yards and added a three-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter after sitting out the regular-season finale and not practicing this past week because of Covid-19 protocols.
The victory for the Saints and Brees, who turns 42 on Friday, sets up a divisional-round meeting next weekend in the Superdome with Tampa Bay and 43-year-old QB Tom Brady.
The Bears put forth a scrappy performance defensively that prevented the Saints from building more than a one-touchdown lead until Murray’s six-yard catch-and-run score made it 14-3 late in the third quarter.