On Christmas Day, the Baltimore Ravens sent a powerful message to the rest of the National Football League by claiming a resounding victory over the San Francisco 49ers. This victory came in the heavyweight matchup between the two best teams in the league. At the same time that San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy, a leading candidate for the most valuable player award, experienced his worst game since joining the league, Baltimore finished an intriguing triple header of games on Monday with a dominating 33-19 victory.
Earlier, the Kansas City Chiefs, who were being watched by Taylor Swift, were defeated by the Las Vegas Raiders at home by a score of 20-14. This defeat came about as a result of the Chiefs making a number of mistakes throughout the game. Even though they had to put in a lot of effort, the Philadelphia Eagles were able to get back to winning ways after suffering three consecutive losses. They were victorious over the New York Giants by a score of 33-25. It is quite uncommon for the two greatest teams in the National Football League to face one other so late in the regular season.
The Baltimore Ravens emerged victorious with a dominating victory, while Lamar Jackson surpassed Purdy, the opposition quarterback, in the competition for the title of most valuable player. Despite the fact that Purdy, who plays quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, had been virtually flawless throughout the season, he had by far his worst performance in the league. He threw four interceptions before departing the game with a shoulder injury in the fourth quarter, as the Baltimore Ravens defense dominated the performance.
In contrast, Jackson tossed two touchdown passes in just 18 seconds each side of an interception by Purdy. In addition, he added a critical 45 yards rushing to his 252 passing yards, which was the kind of all-action game that propelled him to the position of unanimous Most Valuable Player in the league in 2019. According to John Harbaugh, the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, “I thought Lamar had an MVP performance tonight.” Not only does it take a team to produce a performance of that caliber, but it also takes a player to perform at that level, to perform at the level of an MVP. Lamar has a wide range of play potential.
San Francisco is still in first place in the National Football Conference (NFC), but it is only because of a tiebreaker. They are currently tied with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Detroit Lions at 11-4. Both of these teams have rekindled their hopes of capturing the coveted top slot, which comes with a bye in the first round and the opportunity to play the playoffs at home. In spite of the fact that they are now in first place with a record of 12-3, the Baltimore Ravens will be facing their most formidable adversary, the Miami Dolphins, who have a record of 11-4, in a highly significant game next week.
“We play a brand of football that people don’t want to play,” stated Patrick Queen, a linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens Football team. It is difficult to argue with him given that Baltimore has a record of 6-1 versus teams that are currently competing in the playoffs. A match that the Kansas City Chiefs will never forget occurred at Arrowhead Stadium, where pop singer Taylor Swift was present. The Chiefs made two significant blunders on successive plays, which allowed the Las Vegas Raiders to score two defensive touchdowns, resulting in a rare victory over their major rivals Kansas City Chiefs.
A fumble and an interception were both returned for touchdowns by the Raiders on consecutive plays by the Chiefs. After that, the Chiefs missed a field goal and had a couple more receivers drop passes from an increasingly dissatisfied home quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The Raiders went on to win the game. While the Raiders were the first team to win a game since the year 2000 despite without throwing a completed pass after the first quarter, Vegas quarterback Aidan O’Connell passed for only 48 yards. Additionally, the Raiders became the fifth away team to win at Arrowhead Stadium without scoring a score from their offense.
The shocking loss not only means that Andy Reid’s team will have to wait in order to win the AFC West for the eighth consecutive season, but it also eliminates their chances of winning the top seed in the playoffs and the one and only bye that is available. Mahomes is still optimistic that the Chiefs will be able to improve their sloppy play, despite the fact that it is now more possible that he will have to play his first career play-off game away from home if he and the Chiefs want to return to the Super Bowl. “I still believe that we can go do what we want to do,” Mahomes told reporters. “If we clean it up, we have the ability to defeat anyone. That is something that I firmly believe in, but we need to demonstrate that we are capable of achieving it.
Another ‘tush push’ one-yard speciality run by the Philadelphia Eagles allowed Jalen Hurts to score a record 15th rushing touchdown of the season, which is the most by a quarterback in the history of the National Football League. This helped Hurts’ team end a losing streak of three games. The Philadelphia Eagles, who were defeated by the New York Giants in the Super Bowl in February, improved their record to 11-4 and took the lead in the NFC East. They are now attempting to overtake the Dallas Cowboys and win the divisional championship.
Additionally, Hurts threw for 301 yards and another touchdown, but he also threw a pick six, which is when a defensive member from the opposite team intercepts the ball and returns it for a touchdown. This occurred as the Eagles came dangerously close to losing a 17-point advantage. Even after achieving a victory that was desperately needed, the Eagles still have problems to resolve. “We have 11 wins, but we’re not playing good football right now,” said wide receiver DeVonta Smith after the game. “We’re not playing good football right now.” As an offense, we are not where we would like to be at this point. Moreover, we are not even close to it. Consequently, I am not content.