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Final Ravens vs. Commanders: MVP, 10 winners and 4 losers


Final Ravens vs. Commanders: MVP, 10 winners and 4 losers

The Ravens continue, they comfortably defeat the Washington Commanders 30:23 and now have a four-game winning streak. The offense got through the Commanders' defense in another balanced fashion while the defense held its own against one of the NFL's best. Here are Sunday's winners and losers.


MVP: Coaching

No bad decisions. No errors. Intelligent use of timeouts. Good play calls and persistent execution mean that the Ravens never really let the Commanders get back into the game. The game plan was effective, the game calling never showed errors and it was a methodical victory. On offense, Todd Monken used what worked, but mixed in more playmakers all around. When Flowers was on fire, they went to him. They also integrated Bateman, Andrews and Henry into the first half and allowed him to finish. This was a methodical, drama-free win – at least aside from the Commanders trying to get into the game on the sideline with 1:05 to play.


winner

Zay flowers: Last Sunday against the Bengals, Flowers set a career-high 111 yards rushing. It only took the first half for him to surpass his career high against the Commanders, 132 on nine catches. Flowers repeatedly made big plays, starting with a 44-yard screen pass on the second play from scrimmage and helping move the ball downfield on the Raven's final drive of the first half to give them a touchdown lead bring.

Lamar Jackson: Win on the ground. Win through the air. A cool passing game for 300 yards and another 40 rushing yards as Jackson passed Cam Newton for the second-most rushing yards by a quarterback in NFL history. Just another day at the office for the leading MVP candidate.

Rashod Bateman: Two consecutive catches in the first half rescued the offense from its second straight three-and-out, and he made it on 3rd-and-5 with a 13-yard reception. He then ripped off another 23 yards to bring them downfield on a drive that ended with Henry's touchdown run. Bateman finished the day with four receptions for 71 yards and looked good against the Commanders' secondary.

Derrick Henry: Another quick trip to the end zone for Henry, the NFL's leading touchdown scorer this season and the first since the great LaDainian Tomlinson, who started a season with a rushing touchdown in the first six games.

Mark Andrews: After his first goal deflected off his hands and into a defender's, tensions grew among fans as his sluggish season progressed. That all disappeared when he threw his first touchdown of the season with 53 seconds left in the first half. Andrews is now tied with Todd Heap (41) for the most touchdowns in franchise history.

Travis Jones: He's helped create lanes and eat up blockers all season long so the edge rushers can have fun and hit the big numbers. But against the Commanders, he came through with a great sack in the red zone on 3rd-and-7 to force a field goal.

Nate Wiggins: Good physical game, running up and scoring on short throws from Daniels to the flats and also holding up with receivers on the outside. He didn't allow any significant plays in the first half. He also delivered

Justin Tucker: Just a simple day at the office scoring field goals at 3-on-3. And for the second game in a row, his opponent missed from 50+, proving that scoring from 50+ isn't easy.

Yannick Ngakoue: His second promotion from the practice squad and he reaches Jayden Daniels in the fourth quarter. The Ravens may face a difficult decision in two weeks about whether or not to add him to the active roster.

Ben Cleveland: He blocked a field goal? Who would have thought that his biggest block this season would be defense?


loser

Marcus Williams: Lost on Terry McLaurin's touchdown in the first half. He doesn't face the tacklers directly, but grabs them after they get to him, hoping to trip them instead. He's healthy, but no longer resembles the playmaker he was for the Ravens that made him a top free agent years ago.

Brandon Stephens: It's not because of his game, it was good. I have Stephens here because McLaurin just did things that were frustrating. Stephens stayed hip-to-hip with McLaurin in the end zone, getting his arm between both the receiver's arms and chest, and still came away with six points. Perfect passes and perfect catches are better than perfect coverage, and I'm not sure Stephens could have done much more in this case.

Drama: There were none. The Ravens actually took a 14-point lead into the fourth quarter and were never in danger. That was a welcome sight.

Hip drop tackle: Dante Fowler Jr. was inches away from becoming the first NFL player penalized for a hip drop tackle. Luckily, Jackson's legs didn't end up on the gridiron with Fowler's body weight in one of the ugliest tackling shapes. No, it didn't have all the elements of a hip-drop tackle that would constitute a flag, but it was certainly close against one of the NFL's overlooked stars. Jackson is still not receiving the calls.

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