Baltimore Ravens 27-22 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Tom Brady's Bucs drop to 3-5 on the season after third-straight defeat and fifth in six
Lamar Jackson beat seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady for the second time in as many career meetings, directing scoring drives of 77, 80 and 85 yards in the second half after the Baltimore Ravens sputtered early and initially trailed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10-3 at half-time
Friday 28 October 2022 09:22, UK
Lamar Jackson threw for 238 yards and two second-half touchdowns to lead the Baltimore Ravens to a come-from-behind 27-22 victory over Tom Brady and the struggling Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night.
Story of the Game
The Bucs (3-5) lost for the fifth time in six games following a 2-0 start to the season, with the 45-yard-old Brady finding himself riding a three-game losing streak for the first time since 2002, his first season as a full-time starter in the NFL with the New England Patriots.
Jackson beat the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback for the second time in as many career meetings, directing scoring drives of 77, 80 and 85 yards after Baltimore sputtered early and trailed 10-3 at half-time.
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The Ravens (5-3) rushed for 233 yards, while Jackson completed 27 of 38 passes without an interception, including touchdown throws of 5 yards to Kenyon Drake and 10 yards to Isaiah Likely in the third quarter.
Baltimore scored on their first four possessions after the break, with Justin Tucker also booting a 30-yard field goal to make it 27-16 with a little over two minutes remaining.
Brady threw an eight-yard TD pass to Julio Jones with 49 seconds remaining, finishing 26 of 44 passing for 325 yards without an interception. He was also sacked three times.
Leonard Fournette scored on a one-yard run for the Bucs, and Mike Evans had six receptions for 123 yards.
Fournette's TD was the first the Bucs have scored in the opening quarter this season. However, the offense did little to build on the early advantage after Ryan Succop's 31-yard field goal made it 10-3 heading into half-time.
The Ravens, meanwhile, wasted a couple opportunities take control early, settling for a 22-yard field goal after recovering a fumble at the Bucs six-yard line on a muffed punt return, and coming away with no points when Jackson threw incomplete into the endzone on 4th-and-3 from the Tampa Bay 10-yard line late in the second quarter.
Another chance to cut into their 10-3 deficit was thwarted when a Tucker 61-yard field goal attempt was deflected at the line of scrimmage as time expired in the half.
But, after the break, Jackson and the Ravens offense finally clicked into gear and ran away from the the faltering Bucs.
Stats leaders
Ravens- Passing: Lamar Jackson, 27/38, 328 yards, 2 TDs
- Rushing: Gus Edwards, 11 carries, 65 yards
- Kenyan Drake, seven carries, 62 yards
- Receiving: Isaiah Likely, six catches, 77 yards, 1 TD
Buccaneers
- Passing: Tom Brady, 26/44, 325 yards, 1 TD
- Rushing: Leonard Fournette, nine carries, 24 yards, 1 TD
- Receiving: Mike Evans, six catches, 123 yards
What they said... 'The sky is the limit' for Ravens
Ravens quarterback, Lamar Jackson: "I feel like were very close. We're right there, but there's still room for improvement.
"The little mistakes were still making out there. We change those and I feel the sky is the limit."
Buccaneers quarterback, Tom Brady: "We just didn't play well enough to win. We give them credit - they played good. Certainly better than we did.
"We've just got to figure out what we can do better, if we can play more consistently, score more points and put ourselves in a better position to win.
"I don't think you can erase what happened the last eight weeks. We've got to dig deep, see what we're all about, come to work, try to improve and give ourselves a better chance to win."
Buccaneers wide receiver, Mike Evans: "Nobody is pointing the finger at Tom Brady. It's a team game. It's not just one player, it never has been.
"He is the best to ever do it. He hates losing. That's all he knows, winning, and being 3-5 is not good enough, so we've got to turn it around and soon."
What's next?
The defending Super Bowl champions are back in action live on Sky Sports this Sunday, with the Los Angeles Rams (3-3) facing off against their big NFC West rivals, the San Francisco 49ers (3-4) - in a repeat of last season's NFC Championship Game and a must-win game already for both sides.
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The Rams won that playoff clash on their way to lifting the Vince Lombardi Trophy, but they have lost their last seven-straight regular season games against the Niners, including a handy 24-9 win for their opponents in Week Four of this year. The action gets under way live on Sky Sports NFL from 8.25pm, Sunday.
Prior to heading out to LA, we visit the Big Apple to see the upstart New York Jets (5-2) host the struggling New England Patriots (3-4) in another division rivalry matchup, this one from the AFC East - kick-off at 5pm.
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And rounding off the Sunday night action, we join our friends at NBC for Football Night in America and Sunday Night Football, with many people's Super Bowl favourites, the Buffalo Bills (5-1), hosting one of the biggest surprise strugglers of the season, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers (3-4) - kick-off is at 12.20am, early on Monday morning.
Sky Sports NFL is your dedicated channel for NFL coverage through the season - featuring a host of NFL Network programming. Don't forget to follow us on skysports.com/nfl, our Twitter account @SkySportsNFL & Sky Sports - on the go!
