Ravens vs. Saints final: MVP, 9 Winners and 1 Loser

A solid win earns a positive MVP, W, L

In their most dominant win since Week 1 against the Jets, the Ravens practically coasted to victory in the dome down in the bayou. Let’s review some performances.

MVP: Justin Houston

Justin Houston has found the fountain of youth. Besides the Patriots game in week 3 that he started but left early for injry reasons, Houston has had a sack in every game this year. And he’s come back from his injury on a warpath. After notching two sacks in back-to-back games against the Browns and Bucs, Houston had another multi-sack game for a third week in a row, totaling 2.5 against the Saints. He also added an interception on the night as well.

Now, despite missing four games, he’s tied for second place in the league with 8.5 sacks along with Za’Darius Smith and Nick Bosa, ahead of guys such as Myles Garrett, Micah Parson, and Von Miller. A conversation for Defensive Player of the Year might be in order.

Winners

Lamar Jackson — While the numbers won’t show it, Lamar continued his performance from Thursday Night in a well-managed game that had some “wow” plays. With two of his top targets out as well as Gus Edwards, he spread the ball around, throwing for 133 yards and a touchdown, with no picks, and added 82 yards on the ground.

Kenyan Drake — With Edwards out, the burden was left on Drake and Justice Hill to carry the load. Drake did exactly that, taking a bell cow role tonight with 24 carries for 93 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

The offensive line — Bullies. All that needs to be said. The eighth straight game the Ravens have had 150 rushing yards or more and it starts with the big men up front. The line has been rock solid all year and they are gonna be a big part of the formula if the Ravens are to have post-season success.

The receivers — There are too many to list individually, so the section is for them. With top tight end Mark Andrews out, all the wide receivers and tight ends stepped up today with catches from Isaiah Likely, James Proche, Josh Oliver, Demarcus Robinson, Devin Duvernay, DeSean Jackson and more. A total of 10 guys caught a pass today to help fill the void.

Marlon Humphrey — A lot has been made about the guy who’s loud on social media. After a down year, Marlon has stepped up back to his normal standard. He continued that with another great game, breaking up passes for would-be touchdowns and leading the team in tackles with seven. He’s been an absolute rock star for this team.

Roquan Smith & Patrick Queen — After being traded to the Ravens last Monday, a lot was made about the future of Queen and what this duo could look like. The tandem answered in a big way. The pair had five tackles apiece. Smith had less than a week to learn as much of the Ravens playbook before playing. He responded with tackles and a huge third-down stop. Queen had his own highlight play, blanketing the dangerous Alvin Kamara and knocking the ball away.

Kyle Hamilton — Every week the first-round pick for the Ravens looks better and better, and today he might have had his best game yet. After nabbing an interception that was taken back by a penalty that even the broadcast booth disagreed with, Hamilton showed up everywhere and totaled six tackles. He continues to improve and his role will likely grow to show that.

Jordan Stout — The rookie punter has really come as of late. He’s been sending absolute rockets to the sky and today was another great performance. Four punts, averaging 48.3 yards, two inside the 20-yard line and a long of 67 yards.

Losers*

*= This title does not mean these players are losers. They played a poor game. It happens to the best players and should be taken lightly.

Chuck Clark — A fine performance overall but he pulled up on a touchdown-saving tackle after thinking the receiver. John Harbaugh said after the game he did it to avoid the penalty, which is a hard position for Clark to be in. But you have to play to the whistle and it was a really bad look. Clark has been the leader and green dot guy on this defense for multiple years, I have no doubt he’ll bounce back and finish every play the rest of the season.