“I mean, what can you say? We’ve seen it before. I just think he took the game on his shoulders like he does,” Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh said. “But appreciate the other guys with him.”
The other guys at Jackson included the rarely used ones Tylan Wallacewho followed Jackson’s tightrope walk with a tightrope TD catch from 84 yards on the ensuing drive. Then it was Jackson’s top target, Mark Andrieswho netted a lob from 18 yards. Then Jackson jumped Rashod Bateman for a 5-yard score with 1:49 to play, which would be the game winner after the Bengals fell short of a two-point lead.
“It starts with Lamar and often ends with Lamar,” Harbaugh said. “But between Lamar and Lamar, there are a lot of great players surrounding him, and I think that’s exactly where our offense is right now.”
Jackson got into the clutch again and again in the second half after struggling through the first with a pass of just 71 yards.
Over the final two quarters, Jackson was a perfect 7 for 7 on third down, throwing all three of his TDs for 133 yards in the second half.
It was the second nail-biter of the season against the Bengals, and the second win for Jackson and the Ravens, who had the upper hand. 41-38in overtime during week 5.
In each game, Jackson guided his team to comeback victories despite double-digit deficits in the second half, throwing a quartet of touchdowns in both rollercoaster drives.
Statistically, it was his counterpart Joe Burrow (428 yards, four touchdown passes) and Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase who put up the most stunning stats. But it was Jackson and Co. who once again had the upper hand.
“That’s an explosive offense,” Jackson said. “Burrow is a great quarterback. Chase is a great receiver. We knew what type of game it would be and we came out on top, and that’s all that matters.”
Although it was the reigning AP NFL Most Valuable Player’s arm that provided the bulk of the Ravens’ offensive success, the comeback was sparked by a forced fumble by Marlon Humphrey and Jackson’s fleet feet.
With a healthy 21-7 lead in the third quarter, the Bengals fumbled possession away when Chase Brown was stripped by Humphrey.
“I feel like when Marlon forced that fumble,” Jackson said, “it woke us up because I felt like we were asleep the whole first half.”
Four plays later on second-and-9 from the Cincinnati 11-yard line, Jackson dropped back — way back.
Jackson covered a total of 58.1 yards on a first down run to the Bengals’ 1-yard line, according to Next Gen Stats. There were plenty of big plays in the offing, but it was Jackson’s ridiculousness that got everything going.
“I told my guys on the sideline that we had to score,” Jacksons said. “If they score, we have to score, that’s the kind of game it will be. We saw that from the first picture, but I’m proud of my boys for completing one of these tough environmental games. We got through it. .”