BALTIMORE — John Harbaugh's teams are known for being tough, physical and not having any fear when it comes to playing good teams like the Patriots.
That proved true Sunday night in Baltimore's 37-20 win, which was New England's first loss of the season.
In fact, speaking with several Ravens players after the game, they were very confident going into the game even with the Patriots having the No. 1 ranked defense in the NFL.
"I mean, just watching the film they definitely have holes in their defense," wide receiver Willie Snead said. "They are a respectable defense. They had plenty of turnovers to count. We just had to protect the ball. We knew what we had to do to win the game. Each drive we were able to get points, or some kind of points. It was important for them to play from behind."
The Ravens jumped out to a 17-0 lead before the Patriots scored 13 unanswered points to make it a game going into the second half. But on the first drive of the third quarter, Julian Edelman fumbled and Marlon Humphrey returned it 70 yards for a touchdown that completely changed the game.
Overall, the Ravens finished with 210 yards on the ground, which were the most the Patriots defense has allowed in more than five years. Lamar Jackson led the way with 61 yards and two touchdowns rushing, and then added 163 yards and a touchdown passing.
"Dude, you can't handle Lamar. You just have to go with it," said Snead. "Lamar is just a game-breaker at any time. Just to have him on our team is a difference-maker and it's hard for teams to be able to gameplan for a guy like that."
Baltimore came into the game 5-2, and the win proved to the rest of the league it is one of the better teams in the conference, and Jackson can win games for them.
Snead called it a statement win.
"Yeah, definitely. I mean shoot, these guys were undefeated," he said. "They were on top of the league and they were coming in here to try and win. We've got a little pride. I mean, this rivalry goes back further than when I was in the league, so the tone was set in the beginning of the week. We just had to follow through and just play our style of football."
Given the talent of these two teams, as well as the state of the AFC at the moment, it would not be a surprise in the least if there is a rematch come January.
