The Ravens felt “disrespected” in the words of Kyle Hamilton that they were underdogs heading into Monday’s game but they were anything but in this game. Hamilton had 2 interceptions and Baltimore’s defense was insane with 4 sacks and 5 total interceptions. Lamar Jackson was practically untouchable and he played a great game along with Zay Flowers who was his best receiver on the night. Baltimore was outpassed, outrunned, and the Niners had more total yards then them but John Harbaugh’s team was clutch in the important moments. On the other hand, it was a rough MNF game for Brock Purdy and the MVP award may have slipped out of his hands.
The Ravens came to California with a plan and they got the job done on the road. The defense was huge and when the 49ers were driving down the field, the defense got a couple key turnovers and held the Niners to only 19 points. They pressured Purdy quite a bit and that led to some uncharacteristic plays by him. They gave up a lot of yards but yards are irrelevant if you can’t score so it was a fantastic job by Mike Macdonald’s defense. The Ravens play another stellar offense next week in the Dolphins and the defense will have to play super like they did in this game. On the offensive side, it wasn’t a big game but they put up points which is what you need to do against San Fran. Jackson was excellent and his movement troubled the 49ers defense a lot. He strengthened his MVP case and it was a mistake-free game from the quarterback. Zay Flowers was the only WR that got going and they’ll need more from the others next week. In addition, the running backs weren’t that good and Lamar Jackson will need them to contribute more. It was a statement win by the Ravens and they’ll have a chance to clinch the top seed with a win vs Miami.
Brock Purdy may have thrown his MVP chances out the door but he can’t let this bump in the road affect the rest of their games. Two of the picks weren’t his fault as they bounced of the receiver’s hand but I think the Niners have to slow down a bit. They had a couple good drives going and they were going up tempo but that’s when Purdy started forcing things. Other than these silly mistakes, the offense was productive because Aiyuk, Kittle, CMC, and Samuel were all good. They couldn’t put many points on the scoreboard but the silver lining is that their stars were still heavily involved. McCaffrey had another 100+ yard day and he continues to take apart every defense. Kittle was great in the middle of the field and it was important they got their tight end going. On the other side of the football, the defense had a tough day dealing with Jackson and the speed of Baltimore caused them problems.It was a rough loss for the 49ers but it doesn’t affect them too much in the big picture since the Ravens are an AFC team. The Niners are a whopping 9-1 in conference games and as of now, they are ahead of the Lions and the Eagles by conference record (ESPN Playoff Standings). They need to play more mistake free than this game and they have a good matchup against the 4-11 Washington Commanders. They still control their own playoff path and are in the driver’s seat for the 1st seed.
One more win for the Ravens and they’ll receive a bye in the 1st round of the playoffs. San Francisco is tied with the Lions and the Eagles but they have the lead on a tiebreaker. Will the Ravens take down Tua from Baltimore and secure the 1st seed next week? Are the San Francisco 49ers going to overcome this loss and finish the last 2 games strong?
THE END