Instant analysis from Ravens’ 37-31 overtime win over Los Angeles Rams (2024)

Here’s what The Baltimore Sun sports staff had to say immediately after the Ravens’ 37-31 overtime win over the visiting Los Angeles Rams in Sunday’s Week 14 game at M&T Bank Stadium.

Brian Wacker: This one was as ugly as the weather at times. The Ravens were fresh off a bye week yet often looked discombobulated, from self-inflicted mistakes to poor execution, on a soggy Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium. It would be one thing if it were September, but there are only four games remaining in the regular season and Baltimore (10-3) has a chance to secure the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

The Ravens can get away with these sorts of errors against the Rams (6-7), but the postseason is a different animal when it comes to mistakes, as Baltimore discovered in painful fashion last season.

If there were positives to take away, you had to sometimes squint through the rain drops to see them, but they were there in a game that earlier this season the Ravens might have lost.

Lamar Jackson is still one of the most dynamic, electric and simply best players in the league, and that was on display, particularly down the stretch when he led the Ravens on a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to give Baltimore the lead late in the fourth quarter. Rookie Zay Flowers continued to show he’s the team’s best wide receiver, catching not only the fourth-quarter score but the 2-point conversion as well. Fellow receiver Odell Beckham Jr. picked up where he left off before the bye week, showing good speed breaking open for a long touchdown and predictably good hands. And the defense mostly kept the Rams in check in the second half with just one touchdown allowed after giving up 216 yards and 20 points in the first 30 minutes.

And then there was Tylan Wallace, a goat earlier in the game for lining up offsides on a punt that kept a Rams drive alive and led to a touchdown, who saved them in the end. The 24-year-old, who was on the bubble of even making the roster back in training camp, delivered a stunning 76-yard punt return in overtime for the win. It was a testament to the young receiver’s grit that he wouldn’t go down and to the team’s next-man up mantra with Pro Bowl returner Devin Duvernay out with an injury.

It was a game the Ravens couldn’t afford to lose if they want to get to where they ultimately want to go.

Childs Walker: Who had the Tylan Wallace punt return in overtime on the bingo card? Seriously, who? Better to win an absurd game like that than lose it.

Lamar Jackson’s touchdown strike, with the great Aaron Donald in his face no less, seemed to bail the Ravens out near the end of a chaotic 60 minutes. But Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp had other ideas, schooling Marlon Humphrey on a 34-yard catch to set up a game-tying field goal.

The Ravens were their own worst enemies for much of the afternoon, with penalties and other flubs — including a mistimed snap that resulted in a safety — undermining an ostensibly efficient offensive performance. They rolled up 243 yards in the first half without looking particularly sharp. Wallace, a goat before he was the ultimate hero, lined up offsides in punt coverage, erasing a three-and-out for the defense and extending a Rams drive that ended in the end zone.

The Ravens’ No. 1 scoring defense did not get off to a banner start, offering soft resistance to the Rams’ runs and allowing too many receivers to spring wide-open in the middle of the field. They adjusted well in the second half, forcing the Rams to punt on four straight possessions.

Even on that side of the ball, the news was not all good, as the Ravens lost perhaps their most important defender, safety Kyle Hamilton, to a knee injury. They’ll pray that Hamilton, who does everything for them, isn’t out long.

Jacob Calvin Meyer: In a game that included everything but the kitchen sink, let’s use this as an opportunity to make sure some overlooked details — both the good and bad — don’t become so here. Justin Madubuike remained a menace with his 11th sack of the season. Lamar Jackson’s interception and the snap snafu with Tyler Linderbaum were costly, but Jackson’s deep passing game looked better. Odell Beckham Jr.’s ability to adjust with the ball in midair is elite. Marlon Humphrey dropped what should’ve been a game-winning interception. John Harbaugh’s challenge on the Rams’ go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter that cost the team a timeout was one that shouldn’t have been thrown.

C.J. Doon: What a wild ride that was. It felt all afternoon like the Ravens were going to let this one slip away against a relentless Rams offense led by quarterback Matthew Stafford, running back Kyren Williams and receivers Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp, who have been one of the league’s most dangerous groups when healthy. Even former Ravens receiver Demarcus Robinson came back to haunt them with a go-ahead touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter.

But Lamar Jackson delivered in the clutch, leading a 13-play, 75-yard march capped by a 21-yard touchdown pass to rookie Zay Flowers with 1:16 to go in regulation.

Then, after a disappointing three-and-out on the Ravens’ opening possession of overtime, reserve wideout Tylan Wallace delivered by far his most memorable moment with the team, returning a punt 76 yards for the game-winning score.

It might seem like an overreaction, but that was an important win for the Ravens to prove they can come through late in a close game, something they hadn’t done all season. At 10-3, the Ravens put the pressure on the Dolphins to win Monday night against the Titans to keep their lead in the race for the AFC’s No. 1 seed.

Tim Schwartz: Tylan Wallace! Who would’ve thunk it? What a play by the backup punt returner. An unsung hero comes through again, and it’s becoming the DNA of this squad. It must be infectious in that locker room. But after that MVP-type drive Lamar Jackson put together at the end of regulation, it’s fitting Baltimore pulled it out. That 13-play, 75-scoring march was a clinic by a quarterback unlike any other. It was an MVP moment on a day the defense struggled to slow down Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua.