Two of the preseason favorites to make deep runs in the NFL playoffs will try to get back on that path when the 4-3 Ravens take on the 3-4 Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium on Thursday night.
Both teams have underachieved, but the Ravens, sitting atop the AFC North with a 2-0 conference record, are in full control of their playoff destiny at this point.
Tampa, which has lost four of its last five games, is coming off a shocking 21-3 loss to the lowly Panthers. Carolina had lost 12 of its prior 13 games and is led by interim coach Steve Wilks, who replaced Matt Rhule earlier this month.
What made the result even more distressing for the Bucs defense was that they lost to a third-string quarterback, P.J. Walker, due to injuries to Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold.
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Baltimore’s longtime nemesis, seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, finds himself in a position that he hasn’t been in since 2002 when his Patriots squad lost four straight games to fall to 3-4. He’s never led a team that was under .500 eight games into a season, a hole that the Ravens eagerly want to put him in.
“No one feels good about where we’re at,” Brady said after the loss to Carolina. “No one feels good about how we played or what we’re doing. We’re all in it together, and we have to pull ourselves out of it.”
Many franchises and their fanbases, who have suffered due to Brady’s greatness over the past two decades, took extreme delight in seeing the Panthers defense hold him to a minuscule three points on Sunday.
The Brady vs. Baltimore animus is very real and runs deep, with the Ravens having done battle with the future Hall of Famer in some classic matchups.
Longtime Ravens fans can easily recall the 23-20 loss to his then-New England Patriots squad in the 2011 AFC Championship game. They can instantly foment the disgust they felt when his fourth-quarter dive into the end zone proved to be the winning score prior to kicker Billy Cundiff missing a potential game-tying 32-yard field goal.
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Baltimore exacted its revenge in the 2012 AFC Championship with its 28-13 win over Brady’s Patriots, ultimately delivering one of the city’s most thrilling and memorable sports moments two weeks later with their 34-31 Super Bowl XLVII win over the 49ers.
Over 50 members of that championship squad came back to M&T Bank Stadium to commemorate the 10th anniversary of that season during Sunday’s 23-20 nail-biting win over the Browns.
The rivalry added another chapter in 2015 when Brady, trailing by 14 points at two different junctures, led New England back for a 35-31 win over the Ravens in the Divisional round of the playoffs. He threw for 367 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning 23-yarder to Brandon LaFell that gave the Patriots its first and only lead of the game.
It wasn’t until Lamar Jackson’s first full season as a starter in November 2019, when he led the Ravens to a 37-22 win over the 8-0 Patriots with his two rushing and one passing touchdowns, that Baltimore finally beat the Patriots again, ending a drought that dated back to that 2012 AFC Championship game.
So any Brady sightings, no matter what uniform he’s in, will always be an emotional encounter for Ravens players, coaches and fans alike.
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After cruising by the Cowboys and barely getting past the Saints in their first two games, the Buccaneers have been as confusing a mess as M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Last Airbender”.
Panic surrounds them as Brady and the Bucs face the very real possibility of being 3-5 and a playoff long shot if they fall to the Ravens at home.
Their once-vaunted defense is surrendering 118.3 rushing yards per game, so look for a heavy dose of Gus Edwards and Jackson spearheading a motivated rushing attack. Edwards looked great in his first return to action since his devastating 2020 knee injury, gaining 66 yards on 16 carries and scoring two touchdowns against the Browns on Sunday.
Jackson, who’s thrown for 1,397 yards and 13 touchdowns to go along with his team-leading 510 rushing yards, needs to be wary of Tampa’s pass defense, though, as that unit is one of the league’s best, limiting opponents to only 190 yards per game through the air. (But it could be missing four of its top six defensive backs.)—
A concern for John Harbaugh and the coaching staff will be protecting Jackson against the Bucs pass rush.
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The Browns got to Lamar and hit him with impunity, like Chalky White’s boys jumping on Dunn Purnsley in “Boardwalk Empire”.
A similar effort from the offensive line could have disastrous results because the Bucs love to blitz, they’re excellent at forcing turnovers and are among the league leaders with 22 sacks.
Tight end Mark Andrews, who played despite missing practices with a knee injury, was a non-factor against the Browns with zero receptions. That can’t happen on Thursday night. He’ll need to be a crucial part of the game plan if the Ravens hope to be successful.
Justin Houston, Patrick Queen, Calais Campbell, Kyle Hamilton and the defense sacked Cleveland quarterback Jacoby Brissett five times on Sunday.
They’ll need a similar effort against Brady who, though not fleet of feet, is exceptionally mobile within the tight confines of a collapsing pocket and has only been sacked 10 times all year.
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This is a huge game that could dictate the immediate trajectory of both teams, and whether they’ll be recognized as contenders or pretenders as the season marches toward its halfway point.
alejandro.danois@thebaltimorebanner.com
Read more:
After another collapse, this year’s Ravens team has much it can learn from 2012 Super Bowl champions
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