| Dates: 7 September 2023 – 7 January 2024 |
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The Baltimore Ravens sent a huge Christmas Day message to the rest of the NFL with a dominant victory at the San Francisco 49ers in the heavyweight meeting of the league’s top two teams.
Baltimore ended an exciting triple header of games on Monday with a convincing 33-19 win as San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy, a leading most valuable player candidate, endured his worst game since joining the league.
The Kansas City Chiefs – watched by Taylor Swift – earlier missed the chance to win their division as they were stunned 20-14 at home by the Las Vegas Raiders after making a host of errors throughout.
After three straight defeats, the Philadelphia Eagles got back to winning ways, although they had to work hard for their 33-25 success over the New York Giants.
Purdy picked off four times in Ravens rout
It is rare for the NFL’s two best teams to meet so late in the regular season – and the Baltimore Ravens won decisively as Lamar Jackson charged ahead of opposing quarterback Purdy in the race to be most valuable player.
The San Francisco 49ers’ Purdy had been practically perfect this season but had by far his worst outing in the league as he threw four interceptions before leaving the game with a shoulder injury in the fourth quarter, as a rampant Ravens defence dominated.
By contrast, Jackson threw two touchdowns in just 18 seconds either side of a Purdy interception and added a crucial 45 yards rushing to his 252 passing yards in the kind of all action display that made him the league’s unanimous MVP in 2019.
“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.
Catalogue of errors costs Chiefs
With pop superstar Swift watching on at Arrowhead Stadium, the Kansas City Chiefs had a match to forget – as two huge errors on consecutive plays allowed the Las Vegas Raiders to score two defensive touchdowns in a rare win over their big rivals.
A fumble and an interception were both returned for touchdowns by the Raiders on back-to-back Chiefs plays, before the hosts then missed a field goal and had a few more receivers drop passes from an increasingly disgruntled home quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Vegas quarterback Aidan O’Connell threw for just 48 yards while the Raiders became the first side to win a game despite not throwing a completed pass after the first quarter since 2000 – and just the fifth away side to win at Arrowhead Stadium without scoring a touchdown from their offence.
The upset defeat not only means that Andy Reid’s have to wait to clinch an eighth AFC West title in a row, but also ends their chances of claiming the top seed in the play-offs and the only bye available.
It is now also more likely that Mahomes will have to play his first career play-off game on the road if he and the Chiefs want to get back to the Super Bowl – but he is remaining positive that they can clean up their sloppy play.
“I still believe that we can go do what we want to do,” said Mahomes. “If we clean it up, we can beat anybody. I truly believe that, but we got to prove that we can do it.”
Eagles end three-game losing streak
Jalen Hurts scored on another ‘tush push’ one-yard speciality run from the Philadelphia Eagles to grab a record 15th rushing touchdown of the season – the most by a quarterback in NFL history – and help his side end a three-match losing run.
Philadelphia, beaten at the Super Bowl in February, defeated the New York Giants to improve to 11-4 and top the NFC East, as they look to pip the Dallas Cowboys to the divisional title.
Hurts threw for 301 yards and another touchdown but also threw a pick six – when an opposing defensive player intercepts the ball and it is returned for a touchdown – as the Eagles almost let a 17-point lead slip. Despite the much-needed victory, the Eagles still have issues to solve.
“We have 11 wins but we’re not playing good football right now,” said wide receiver DeVonta Smith after the game. “As an offence, we’re not where we want to be. And we’re nowhere near that. So no, I’m not happy.”