Lamar Jackson’s tightrope act fuels Ravens’ comeback win over Bengals: ‘We got through it’

“I mean, what can you say? We’ve seen it before. I just think he took the game on his shoulders like he does,” Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh said. “But appreciate the other guys with him.”

The other guys with Jackson included the rarely used Tylan Wallace, who followed Jackson’s tightrope walk with an 84-yard tightrope TD catch on the ensuing drive. Then it was Jackson’s longtime top target, Mark Andrews, who fired an 18-yard lob. Jackson then made a jumping alley-oop to Rashod Bateman for a game-winning 5-yard score with 1:49 to play after the Bengals failed on a two-point goal attempt.

“It starts with Lamar and a lot of times it ends with Lamar,” Harbaugh said. “But between Lamar and Lamar, there’s a lot of great players surrounding him, and I think that’s kind of where our offense is at right now.”

Jackson came back again and again in the second half after struggling with just 71 yards passing in the first half.

In the final two quarters, Jackson went a perfect 7-for-7 in the third while throwing all three of his second-half touchdowns for 133 yards.

It was the second thriller of the season against the Bengals and the second win for Jackson and the Ravens, who prevailed 41-38 in overtime in Week 5.

In each game, Jackson led his team to comeback triumphs despite double-digit deficits in the second half, throwing a quartet of touchdowns in both rollercoaster drives.

Statistically, it was his counterpart Joe Burrow (428 yards, four touchdown passes) and Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase who put up the most jaw-dropping stats. But again it was Jackson and Co. who prevailed.

“This is an explosive offense,” Jackson said. “Burrow is a great quarterback. Chase is a great receiver. I knew what kind of game it was going to be and we came out on top and that’s all that matters.”

Although it was the arm of the reigning AP NFL Most Valuable Player that accounted for the majority of the Ravens’ offensive success, the comeback was due to a forced fumble by Marlon Humphrey and Jackson’s quick feet.

The Bengals had a commanding 21-7 lead in the third quarter and lost possession when Chase Brown was thrown from the field by Humphrey.

“I feel like when Marlon forced that fumble,” Jackson said, “that kind of woke us up because I feel like we were asleep the whole first half.”

Four plays later, on second-and-nine from the Cincinnati 11-yard line, Jackson fell back – way back.

According to Next Gen Stats, Jackson totaled 58.1 yards on a first down run to the Bengals’ 1-yard line. There were countless huge games to come, but it was Jackson’s ridiculous run that got it all going.

“I told my guys on the sideline we were allowed to score,” Jacksons said. “If they score, we have to score, that’s the type of game it’s going to be. We saw that from the first moment, but I’m proud of my boys because we completed one of these tough environmental games. We made it.” .”