Ravens vs. Texans: 3 game ball candidates

The Baltimore Ravens earned a blowout victory in the divisional round, defeating the Houston Texans by a score of 34-10. The Ravens went on a 24-0 run in the second half after a tied ball game following two quarters of play.

Baltimore’s defense stifled the Texans offensively, limiting them to just three points on the day. The Texans’ only touchdown came via a special teams punt return in the second quarter. Meanwhile, the Ravens’ offense came alive down the stretch and scored three straight touchdowns over the final two frames of play.

Who were the standout performers from the divisional round victory? Check out some notable performances below and vote for your game ball recipient!

Lamar Jackson

The Ravens didn’t have a ton of success pushing the ball downfield against the Texans, but Jackson had an efficient performance through the air. The MVP quarterback completed 16-of-22 pass attempts with two touchdowns and no turnovers, while accumulating 152 passing yards.

Jackson orchestrated six scoring drives in total and accounted for all four of the team’s touchdowns on the day. In addition to throwing a touchdown to Nelson Agholor and Isaiah Likely, he scored two times on the ground as a runner. Jackson began to pick apart the Texans’ defense in the second half both with his legs and throwing the ball.

Houston’s run defense, which entered this game as a high-ranked unit, had no answers for stopping Jackson on the ground. He picked up chunk yards on designed runs and scrambles alike, totaling 100 rushing yards on 11 carries and an average of 9.1 yards per rush.

Jackson’s two rushing touchdown were his first scores on the ground since earlier in the season. The Texans’ defense blitzed him on well over half of his dropbacks on the night and Jackson responded after taking a few sacks in the first half. He delivered accurate throws under pressure without putting the ball in harms way.

Roquan Smith

The Ravens’ defense surprisingly did not record a sack or takeaway in this game after leading all teams in both categories on the season. However, while there was no individual highlight moments, Smith had a strong performance as the team’s defensive leader.

The All-Pro middle linebacker finished with a team-high seven total tackles, five of which were solo, and two tackles-for-loss. His two tackles-for-loss accounted for nearly the entire defense’s total for the game. Smith helped lead a defensive effort where the Ravens allowed just three points and slightly over 200 total offensive yards.

His impact was particularly noticeable in run defense, where the Ravens completely stifled the Texans’ rushing attack. The Texans ran the ball 14 times as a team for 38 yards. Starting running back Devin Singletary was limited to 22 yards on nine carries.

Justice Hill

While Jackson was the leading catalyst of the Ravens’ dominant rushing attack, the contributions of Hill should not be overlooked. Hill had a team-high 13 carries and totaled 66 yards on the ground with an additional 11 yards on two catches as a receiving threat.

These numbers don’t scream amazing performance but Hill was an impact player. He was responsible for multiple first-down conversions and averaged an efficient 5.1 yards per carry. While Gus Edwards also had some solid runs and Dalvin Cook received eight carries, it was Hill who starred at running back.

On the Ravens’ 78-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter, Hill had separate runs of five, nine, and 14 yards to help move the chains. That possession ended with a touchdown that put the Ravens up 31-10 late in the game.