Ravens, Saints march on after wild-card wins
Lamar Jackson finally has his first postseason victory — and on the road, no less.
Combine that with Baltimore smothering 2,000-yard rusher Derrick Henry, and the Ravens look playoff tough.
Jackson ran for 136 yards and a 48-yard touchdown and threw for 179 more as the Ravens rallied from 10 points down and beat the Tennessee Titans 20-13 Sunday in their AFC wild-card game.
Baltimore also held Tennessee to its 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 started waving good-bye to the Titans — drawing a taunting penalty they didn’t mind at all.
“We finished finally,” Jackson said.
Tannehill thought Raymond was bumped by Peters.
“It definitely looked like it could’ve been a flag and probably should’ve been, but it wasn’t thrown so here we are,” Tannehill said.
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 in a divisional game set up by how Baltimore stopped Henry for the first time in three games.
The All-Pro 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.
“Our defense was tired of hearing the noise,” Jackson said. “And they did what they were supposed to do.”
Tennessee sacked Jackson five times and got an interception. But the Titans 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.
SAINTS 21, BEARS 9 >> Drew Brees will get to celebrate his 42nd birthday by preparing for a playoff game that will also 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 in an NFC wildcard game.
Alvin Kamara rushed for 99 yards and added a 3-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
The victory for the Saints (13- 4) 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 (8- 9) put forth a scrappy performance defensively that prevented the Saints from building more than a one-touchdown lead until Murray’s 6-yard catch-and-run score made it 14-3 late in the third quarter.
LATE SATURDAY >> Brady threw for 381 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers past Washington 31-23 in their NFC wild-card game for their first playoff victory since the 2002 season.
Brady was 22 of 40 passing and at 43 years, 159 days passed George Blanda as the oldest player to throw a TD pass in a playoff game.
Brady had to outduel Washington’s Taylor Heinicke, who ran for 46 yards and a touchdown and threw for 306 yards and a score.