The Baltimore Ravens recorded a statement win on Monday night in a battle of the NFL's best against the San Francisco 49ers. Both teams entered with 11-3 records, but the Ravens proved their worth on both sides of the ball and played a nearly flawless game in the 33-19 victory.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson continued his dominance and slid right to the top of the NFL MVP race with the win. Though the spotlight was on him last night, Jackson deferred some of his praise for Baltimore's recent success on the Ravens defense.
“They've been making statements,” Jackson told Lisa Salters postgame (per Jeremy Fowler).
The Ravens have beaten virtually every team in front of them and the defense is a big reason why. Balitmore leads the league in takeaways and scoring defense and is sixth in total defense.
The Ravens forced the 49ers to turn the ball over five times Monday night, their most in a game since Week 3 of the 2019 season. Baltimore also held its opponent under 20 points for the ninth time this season.
Forcing mistakes
Brock Purdy has been one of the most secure quarterbacks in the league in terms of hanging onto the football since he took the starting job in the middle of the 2022 season.
That wasn’t the case on Monday night as the Niners QB threw four interceptions for the first time in his NFL career. The Ravens defense was locking all windows and doors and putting pressure on Purdy all night until he eventually left the game in the fourth quarter.
Kyle Hamilton led the way with a pair of interceptions including a very impressive read on a Purdy pass to Deebo Samuel on San Francisco's opening drive that would’ve been a touchdown. Roquan Smith had a team-high eight tackles and Ravens veteran Brent Urban notched two sacks for the first multi-sack game of his career.
The 49ers failed to score 20 points in all four of their losses this season. The Ravens handed them that fourth loss Monday night and in doing so established themselves as the team to beat in the NFL.
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