The battle of the birds on Sunday afternoon in Baltimore ended with the Eagles (10-2) heading back to Philadelphia with a big 24-19 win over the Ravens (8-5).
Decided by five points, the game could have turned out differently if Baltimore’s star kicker Justin Tucker had been able to find the range on a pair of field goals and an extra point. Instead, he missed all three kicks and the Ravens missed out on seven points.
The game, which dropped the Ravens two-and-a-half games behind the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North and helped the first-place Eagles maintain their cushion over the trailing Washington Commanders in the NFC East, also could have turned out differently if Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson did what his mother wanted.
Jackson, who ran eight times for 79 yards on Sunday but boosted his yardage total with a 39-yard scamper with the game already decided, said his mom told him he should have carried the rock more against Philadelphia.
“My momma just told me that. She just cussed me out,” Jackson said following the loss. “I’m mad. We’re going to get after it. I’m not going to lie to you, we’re going to get after it. I can’t wait for this bye to get on. We got the Giants coming up, I’m ready to go.
“She said there were lanes I should have taken and ran. I was just trying to let guys develop routes. We had developing routes. I was just trying to go through my progression, but yeah, she [was] right.”
Baltimore’s second-leading rusher behind Derrick Henry (82 yards), Jackson threw for 237 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday in front of his home crowd at M&T Bank Stadium but didn’t use his legs enough to prevent the Eagles from running away with the victory.
Sacked three times and under pressure all afternoon due to Philadelphia’s aggressive pass rush, Jackson would be wise to listen to his mother and rely on his arm as well as his legs — especially because Tucker is having so much trouble using his.
“That was a pretty good team, don’t get me wrong, but I feel like we left stuff out there,” Jackson said. “We should have put more points on the board.”
They should have. Mama knows best.
