On Christmas Day, the Baltimore Ravens delivered a powerful message to the rest of the NFL with a dominant victory against the San Francisco 49ers in a matchup between the league’s top two teams.
The Ravens secured a convincing 33-19 win, with Lamar Jackson outperforming San Francisco’s quarterback Brock Purdy, a leading MVP candidate, who had his worst game since joining the league.
The Kansas City Chiefs, despite being watched by Taylor Swift, missed the opportunity to win their division, suffering a surprising 20-14 home defeat to the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Philadelphia Eagles, after three consecutive defeats, returned to winning ways with a hard-fought 33-25 victory over the New York Giants. The Ravens’ decisive win showcased Lamar Jackson’s exceptional performance, strengthening his MVP candidacy.
“I thought Lamar had an MVP performance tonight,” said Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. “It takes a team to create a performance like that, but it takes a player to play at that level, to play at an MVP level. Lamar was all over the field.”
San Francisco still lead the NFC but only by way of a tiebreaker as they are now level at 11-4 alongside the Eagles and Detroit Lions, who both have renewed hope of pinching that coveted top spot – which comes with a first-round bye and home advantage in the play-offs.
The Ravens are out on their own at 12-3 but face their closest challengers, the 11-4 Miami Dolphins, next week in another huge game where they can clinch the AFC number one seed.
“We play a brand of football that people don’t want to play,” said Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen. And with Baltimore now 6-1 against teams currently in the play-offs, it is hard to argue with him.