The Baltimore Ravens have taken over first place in the AFC North, and Lamar Jackson made his statement for his third MVP award in a Christmas Day blowout of the Houston Texans. Jackson threw for 168 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 87 yards — and passing Michael Vick for the most rushing yards by a quarterback in NFL history — in the blowout victory.
Jackson passed Vick on a 6-yard run with 7:16 remaining in the third quarter to give him 6,110 rushing yards in his career, passing Vick’s mark of 6,109. He had 87 of his yards on just four carries and amassed 73 yards on his first two carries — including a 48-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that put him within striking distance of Vick.
Derrick Henry rushed for 147 yards as the Ravens finished with 251 rushing yards in the win. The Ravens defense also didn’t allow a point, as the Texans’ points came off a safety in the second quarter. C.J. Stroud finished 17 of 31 for 185 yards and an interception.
Baltimore needs a win in Week 18 to wrap up the AFC North and the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. Houston appears locked into the No. 4 seed in the AFC with the loss, needing a lot to happen to improve its playoff standing.
Takeaways and a recap of this Christmas Day blowout can be found in the live blog below.
Why the Ravens won
The Ravens were just better than the Texans in every facet of this game, but the biggest discrepancy ended up being the rushing totals. Baltimore set the tone on the first possession by rushing for 51 yards on an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to kick off the game — and never relented.
Baltimore had 115 rushing yards to Houston’s eight after the first quarter, and the Ravens finished with 228 rushing yards to the Texans’ 45. Henry had 143 rushing yards and Jackson had 87 on four carries. Just the Ravens doing what they do very well.
Why the Texans lost
The Texans are just not on the same level as the Ravens, and were underwhelming in a lot of areas. The defense allowed the Ravens to average 7.7 yards per play and 6.5 yards per carry when the starters were in. The Ravens also scored touchdowns on four of their nine possessions when the starters were in.
Stroud and the offense were shut out as well, with the only points coming via the defense (a safety). The Texans quarterback was inaccurate early in the game, which led to them getting into a hole. Houston was also 3 of 13 on third down and 0 of 2 on fourth down when the starters were in.
Just a poor showing by the Texans.
Turning point
The Texans were facing a fourth-and-goal at the 4-yard line late in the second quarter, but failed to convert a touchdown and get back in the game. Stroud threw a pass underneath to Joe Mixon that only got three yards. The Texans turned the ball over on down, and that was the closest they got to scoring anything on offense.
The Ravens responded with a six-play drive that went 99 yards, capped with a Jackson 9-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Likely that was an MVP-type throw. Baltimore took a 17-2 lead, and the game felt out of reach at that point.
The Texans needed a touchdown on that fourth-and-goal.
Play of the game
There were plenty of plays from Jackson that could qualify for this list, but let’s go with the Likely touchdown that put Baltimore up 17-2.
Jackson took a read-option and rolled to his right, pump faked twice and saw nothing open, so he bought himself more time along the sideline. Jackson had Texans pass rusher Danielle Hunter on skates as he moved backwards and faked him out several times before pointing to Likely in the end zone.
He fired to Likely in the middle of the field for the 9-yard touchdown that showcased why Jackson will likely win MVP. This was on the same day Jackson broke the rushing yardage record for quarterbacks.
Just another amazing play for Jackson in a career full of them.
Up next
The Ravens (11-5) close their regular season against the Browns, while the Texans (9-7) end their season against the Jaguars. Both teams are going to the playoffs.
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