Five things we learned from the Ravens’ 27-22 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Ravens sputtered for 30 minutes as their injury-ravaged, pass-first offense came up empty in the red zone. They emerged from the halftime locker room as a team transformed, dominating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with zone runs, run-pass options and healthy doses of Devin Duvernay and Isaiah Likely.

They have won two in a row for the first time this season, and with just one game in the next 23 days, they bought themselves a precious cushion to heal up for the stretch run. Here are five things we learned in Thursday night’s 27-22 comeback victory:

The Ravens dominated after they transformed into who they were supposed to be all along.

You probably thought they were cooked as they trudged off the field at halftime. We all did. What other sane conclusion could we draw after watching 30 minutes of soul-deadening Ravens offense?

You want futile red-zone possessions? Penalties that buried them in third-and-long? Confused blocking schemes that exposed quarterback Lamar Jackson to bodily harm? Injuries that sent vital playmakers to the sideline or the locker room? This stinker had them all.

A Twitter mob was forming, eager to usher offensive coordinator Greg Roman out of town once and for all, with this game as the closing argument at his trial.

Then, the damnedest thing happened; the Ravens emerged from the locker room as a team transformed. Their defense had quietly done its duty for most of the night and ushered the great Tom Brady off the field in three plays to start the new half. Jackson took command at the Ravens’ 23-yard line and from that moment on, the veil of sorrow lifted.

The Ravens ran seven times for 27 yards in the first half. But the most creative ground attack in the NFL returned from exile in the third quarter. Jackson used run-pass options to put the Buccaneers on their heels. Roman relied on the mobility of his offensive linemen, especially center Tyler Linderbaum and tackles Ronnie Stanley and Morgan Moses, to clear expansive lanes for running backs Gus Edwards, Kenyan Drake and Justice Hill. He schemed ways to get the ball to Devin Duvernay, Jackson’s most dynamic target in the absence of injured tight end Mark Andrews and injured wide receiver Rashod Bateman. On three straight possessions, all at least nine plays, the Ravens powered down the field for touchdowns, turning a seven-point deficit into an 11-point lead. They ran for 204 yards on 26 carries in the second half alone.

Afterward, they said the game unfolded as planned. They wanted to take shots with their passing game in the first half and drop the hammer in the second, when an undermanned Tampa Bay defense would be sucking wind. “It really laid out exactly how we had anticipated, in terms of what we called, when we called it in terms of the run-pass ratio,” coach John Harbaugh said. “I thought we’d do a little bit better than three points; we all thought we’d score a little bit more than three, but their defense is tough, and we couldn’t get going with first downs and getting drives extended, but that was how we planned on doing it.”

If that was the grand vision, kudos to Harbaugh and his brain trust. If it was also a case of Roman and Jackson identifying sharp countermeasures during their 15-minute halftime respite, kudos to them.

The upshot is the same: the Ravens displayed resilience and resourcefulness in their most impressive all-around performance of the season. They needed to follow up a tight divisional win at home with an emphatic performance on the road against a desperate but talented opponent. They did it with real mettle and a brand of football that will serve them well as they look to trample one of the league’s easiest slates of opponents over the second half of the season.

We’re glimpsing the potential of a more athletic offensive line.

Jackson’s protectors got their worst moments out of the way early, with the nadir coming when Buccaneers defensive tackle Vita Vea powered between Linderbaum and left guard Ben Powers for a 12-yard sack at the end of the first quarter.

We saw the true upside of this group in the second half, when Ravens linemen used their quickness to stretch the field horizontally and to drop bodies at the second level of the defense.

Moses played his best game as a Raven, not only holding his ground as a pass blocker but overpowering defenders as a run blocker. We also saw Stanley pulling and leading the charge on outside runs. Linderbaum might lose spectacularly every so often when he’s head up with a much larger man such as Vea, but his mobility as a run blocker is something to behold as he fires into space and wrecks linebackers.

This group has already surpassed the performance of last year’s injury-depleted unit, which left Jackson terribly vulnerable as the season went on. There’s still room for growth, however, as Roman explores the possibilities created by his nimble big men.

Justin Houston is still the Ravens’ best pass rusher as he nears his 34th birthday.

We knew the Ravens missed Houston during the three games he sat out with a groin injury, but man has he hammered that point home since returning, with four sacks in two victories despite modest snap counts. He now has six in the five games he has played, and these are not hollow cleanup efforts. He entered the game as the team’s top graded edge rusher, according to Pro Football Focus.

He also provided key run support when the Ravens stuffed the Buccaneers on a 2-point attempt at the end of the game.

The Ravens re-signed Houston after they did not land Za’Darius Smith in free agency or add an immediate contributor on the edge in the first round of the draft. He has already earned the $3.5 million they’re paying him.

“I feel young again,” he said Thursday night.

Houston was the star of another strong all-around effort from coordinator Mike Macdonald’s defense. After Brady cut through the Ravens on an opening touchdown drive, they sent the Buccaneers off the field without a touchdown eight possessions in a row. Even when they did not sack Brady, they got their hands up to deflect his quick passes and put bodies on his targets in the flats. They held Tampa Bay in place while Jackson and the offense built up to that second-half pounding.

Hey, there’s the Isaiah Likely from preseason.

With Andrews in the locker room and then on the sideline in street clothes, the Ravens badly needed a breakout game from Likely. The rookie delivered on their go-ahead drive in the third quarter, bullying through several defenders on a 17-yard catch-and run and finishing with a toe-tapping catch in the back of the end zone for his first career touchdown. He added a 16-yard catch on the drive that put the Ravens up 24-13 and finished with six catches on seven targets for 77 yards.

Who secured the ball on Tampa Bay’s desperate onside kicks at the end of the game? Who else?

Likely clutched the game ball he had been awarded as he waited for his turn to speak at the postgame news conference. He knew this was a night he would not soon forget.

This was the Likely we all saw all summer, the one who seemed to make a showcase catch in every practice, the guy who looked like the best player on the field in a preseason win over the Arizona Cardinals.

Likely’s pass catching skills were never in question, but of late, he could not get on the field enough to show them because of his deficiencies as a blocker and the daft penalties he committed early in the season. After playing at least 20 offensive snaps in each of the first four games, he played seven in the team’s Week 7 win over the Cleveland Browns.

The largest opportunity of his young career arose out of necessity, but that’s so often the case in a sport shaped by injuries. Likely did not pout when his role shrunk, and he answered the call when asked to run in the footsteps of the team’s best offensive player behind Jackson.

This win set up the rest of the Ravens’ season.

The Ravens exhaled four days earlier after they held on to beat the Browns. On Thursday, they finally stacked one victory on top of another despite the injuries that gutted their offense and the presence of Brady, the greatest winner in NFL history, on the other sideline. That would be enough to call this week a rousing success.

But the Ravens’ accomplishment takes on an extra glow when we look at the path ahead. First, they will have 10 days to heal and prepare for the New Orleans Saints, another NFC opponent that has failed to live up to expectations. Then, they will have another 13 days, with their bye weekend in the middle, to rest up for the bottom-feeding Carolina Panthers in Baltimore. They will probably be favored, handily in many cases, for every game they play until their season finale in Cincinnati.

Their first eight weeks tested the nerves of players, coaches and fans, many of whom probably still feel the Ravens should be 6-2 or 7-1 instead of 5-3. The blown leads and tense wins, the offensive dead spots and persistent injuries — this team never seemed to stand on solid ground. But the Ravens played one of the league’s toughest schedules to this point, and they have come out of it with a grip on first place in the AFC North.

They will probably be a substantially healthier team on Nov. 20, when they host the Panthers, than they were against the Buccaneers. Players such as Andrews and Bateman need a break, while reinforcements — outside linebackers Tyus Bowser and David Ojabo and perhaps deep threat DeSean Jackson — are on the way.

We cannot say the Ravens have earned a place beside the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL’s 2022 penthouse. But they’re staring at as clear a path to the postseason as anyone else.

Week 9

Ravens at Saints

Monday, Nov. 7, 8:15 p.m.

TV: ESPN

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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