Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens handed the New England Patriots their first loss of the season Sunday night, earning an impressive 37-20 victory at M&T Bank Stadium. It's the type of win that can build a huge amount of momentum for a Ravens team that now occupies the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoff race with a 6-2 record atop the AFC North division.
Jackson also established himseld as a top-tier candidate for NFL MVP. He had to outplay Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for the Ravens to have a chance at an upset victory, and the Ravens quarterback did just that with three touchdowns -- one through the air and two more on the ground -- and zero turnovers.
“I’m trying to win versus anybody I play. I don’t really dwell on one player, or it’s just this guy I want to beat," Jackson told reporters. "Like I said before, that’s still the ‘G.O.A.T.’ Nothing changes that. I’m happy to get the win, of course, and especially at M&T Bank Stadium. It’s pretty cool, but I don’t really care because it’s against Tom Brady. I just want to win.”
The Ravens were pretty fired up after the game, and who could blame them? Beating the Patriots in convincing fashion is no easy task, and the Ravens dominated in several facets of the game. They even made the Patriots defense -- which had been historically dominant through the first eight games -- look pretty bad at times, particularly in the run game.
Jackson was quick to stress, however, that the Ravens can't feel too good about this Week 9 win. There's still a lot of football to be played, and if there's a rematch between these teams in January, it'll probably be at Gillette Stadium, where Brady has won nine consecutive playoff games since 2012.
“I feel like our team already knew what we were capable of," Jackson said. "We just had to show it, and we did that tonight. We just have to build off that. We just can’t get on our high horse and feel like we just won the Super Bowl, because we didn’t. That’s just one regular season game. We have to continue to build.”
New England Patriots
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