Oakland at Baltimore recap, final score 34-17: Ravens run away with win over Raiders in 2nd half

This Week 12 match-up in Baltimore started out with the Ravens kicking off to the Raiders. Oakland coming off their win last week against Arizona stayed hot on their opening drive with a Doug Martin touchdown run. The touchdown made the score 7-0, but it came after review because it was initially called a fumble. Martin clearly crossed the line though so the play was overturned for the opening drive TD for Oakland.

The Ravens responded with a field goal on their next drive but it was mostly made possible because of one big 25 yard pass. Outside of the one big play the Raiders defense played strong, and very nearly got a big sack on 3rd down that could’ve kept that field goal of the board too. Justin Tucker nailed the 46 yard field goal to make the score 7-3 Raiders.

The two teams traded punts back and forth the next 3 drives in a row. That’s exactly where the next issue for the Raiders came up though because of a huge return from Ravens adding another 7 points for Baltimore to the scoreboard. The refs missed a blatant holding call that helped spring the 70 yard return that made the score 10-7 Ravens.

After another Raiders punt it was time for another big play for the Ravens. This one was a 74 yard pass to Baltimore TE Andrews who rumbled all the way to the Oakland 7. The Raiders defense came up big after that though and got the goal line stand. Justin Tucker kicked the 28 yard field goal good for a 13-7 lead but that was a win for the Raiders after the Ravens got their biggest play of the season earlier in the drive.

Oakland’s offense continued to struggle with another drive that ended in a punt, this one featured a couple of first downs at least before the punt though. The defense came up big afterwards with a Reggie Nelson interception on the Ravens 3rd down. The Oakland offense took over at the Ravens 43yard line after the turnover, leading to a Daniel Carlson 42 yard field goal. The kick was right down the middle and made the score 13-10.

The Ravens were driving pretty well on their next drive but it ended without any points thanks to an awesome interception from the Raiders. Lamarr Jackson threw deep to a receiver that was blanketed by Gareon Conley who beautifully batted the ball to Rashaan Melvin who barely managed to tap both feet in bounds for the interception in the end zone. The Raiders then kneeled the rest of the clock of the half out so the score remained 13-10 Ravens at the break.

The 2nd half started with the Ravens getting the ball first and they ran right through the Raiders defense. Literally. They put together a 13 play, 75 yard drive in which 12 plays were running plays. They eventually scored on a Lamarr Jackson QB sweep run for their touchdown to make the score 20-10 Baltimore.

This time the Raiders had a huge response though, they quickly score a touchdown of their own. The score came on a beautiful catch from Jared Cook who fell to the ground for a one handed catch on a soft, high arching pass from Derek Carr. They also had a long 44 yard pass to Seth Roberts on a perfect pass from Carr earlier in the drive despite him having the ball hit seconds before letting the pass fly. The quick response to the Ravens TD made the score 20-17.

Again though, the Ravens just keep running and the Raiders have shown no capacity to stop it. This time they ran the ball 12 of their 17 plays on their way to another touchdown. Adding insult, the touchdown did come on a pass on a 8 yard pass to former Raider Michael Crabtree. The touchdown again gave the Ravens a 10 point lead at 27-17 with 11:16 left in the 4th quarter.

The two teams traded punts over the next two drives. It would have been 3 drives in a row with a punt except the Raiders went for it on 4th down. Maybe they should have punted though, because Derek Carr got stripped on the 4th down and the Ravens future hall of famer Terrell Suggs returned it for a touchdown. Just like that the once competitive game became a 34-17 beat down with just under 6 minutes left in the game.

Oakland essentially gave up after that with 2 sacks and then a screen on 3rd and 23 before punting back to the Ravens. Baltimore then ran the remaining almost 4 minutes of clock out for the win. Final score 34-17, Raiders lose again.