TAMPA, Fla. – Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson had everything else done. He had thrown four touchdown passes. He threw one more for good measure. He had picked up some key first downs with his legs. He had handled the offense after a rough start by taking the lead on six consecutive scoring drives as the Ravens scored 34 unanswered points against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

With the Ravens facing a second-and-7 from their 33 and looking to build on a 16-point lead, Jackson saw an opportunity to do one more thing. As Derrick Henry backed away and found an opening to his left, Jackson decided to turn into a $260 million lead blocker.

Lamar Jackson’s lead ahead of Derrick Henry is incredible.

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—NFL (@NFL) October 22, 2024

Jackson sprinted in front of Henry and blocked the path of Buccaneers cornerback Tyreek Funderburk’s pursuit. Then Jackson blocked safety Antoine Winfield Jr., allowing Henry to pick up many more yards down the far sideline. It was only fitting that Jackson connected with Henry six plays later for a 13-yard touchdown pass that all but secured the Ravens’ 41-31 win over the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium.

“It speaks for itself. That’s the kind of thing Lamar does, and what about the way he runs? He’s just the ultimate competitor,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “There’s no doubt about it. I don’t know if I’ve seen a better competitor than Lamar Jackson. It’s just great.”

Nearly 65,000 spectators at Raymond James Stadium and a Monday Night Football crowd that had been impressed by the Baltimore quarterback several times before were treated to Jackson’s latest feat. His 49-yard touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman about midway through the third quarter was one of the greatest throws of his career. But Jackson’s overall body of work on Monday was the latest proof that no one plays the quarterback position better than he does right now.

LAMAR DEEP TO BATEMAN. 49-YARD TOUCHDOWN.

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—NFL (@NFL) October 22, 2024

“The best in the competition. And if people don’t think so, I don’t know what does. They don’t watch football. They’re just hating,” Ravens defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike said.

There were also two touchdown passes to Mark Andrews, the first making the tight end the franchise’s all-time leader with 42 touchdown receptions. The second rewarded a brave decision by Harbaugh to go for it on fourth-and-3 from the Tampa Bay 4-yard line. There was an 18-yard touchdown to Justice Hill on a screen pass, and then the 13-yard connection to Henry, who Tampa Bay was clearly tired of chasing and tackling.

All told, Jackson accounted for 333 yards, had as many incompletions as touchdown passes and could have had an even more impressive stat line if his second-quarter touchdown run hadn’t been nullified by a penalty. But the most impressive thing Jackson did on Monday was stabilize the Ravens after a rough start that included bad luck, penalties and back-to-back Buccaneers scoring.

“There’s not really any conversations to be had when Lamar Jackson is your quarterback,” said Bateman, who had a career night with four catches for 121 yards and the touchdown. “If he stays balanced, we stay balanced. He will lead us, and he has done a good job.”

Early in the game, it looked like the Buccaneers might blow the Ravens out of the building. Jackson then took over and, aided by two Marlon Humphrey interceptions from Baker Mayfield, the two-time Baltimore MVP quarterback never left the Tampa Bay defense in the air until the game was no longer in doubt.

‘Let’s go. You know we have to score points,” Jackson told his teammates in the huddle after falling behind early. “In front of us we see a team that only moves the ball and puts points on the board, without us scoring. During our first ride we didn’t actually do anything. It’s like, ‘Man, we gotta have some urgency for ourselves,’ and it was. I think we did that the next few rides as well. We started putting points on the board.”

Have they ever. After punting on their first possession, the Ravens’ next six drives went as follows: touchdown, touchdown, field goal, field goal, touchdown, touchdown. And after Jackson’s only mistake of the night, an errant backward pass to receiver Zay Flowers that turned into a turnover, Baltimore added another touchdown.

That’s a JACKSON FIVE!

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— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) October 22, 2024

The Ravens have now won five straight games and are now 5-2. In doing so, they leave little doubt that they currently own the AFC’s top offense. They are averaging 35 points and 479 yards per game over their winning streak after putting up 508 yards on Todd Bowles’ team on Monday night. Their 244 rushing yards Monday made them just the fourth team since 1980 to reach at least 1,400 rushing yards in seven games.

They have the league’s leading MVP candidate in Jackson, who is undoubtedly playing the best football of his career, and the NFL’s leading rusher in Henry, who added 169 yards to his total and now has 873 yards to go in the season, along with 10 in total. TDs.

Remember all those questions from September about what’s wrong with Andrews? He has 11 catches for 162 yards and three touchdowns in the past three games. Remember the story about Bateman and Jackson never getting along? Bateman now has 12 catches for 250 yards and two scores in his last three games.

Then you still have Flowers, Hill and Isaiah who are likely to play if given opportunities. Eight different Ravens had a reception on Monday.

“You kind of look at our stats and anyone can touch the ball — anyone can do something,” said Andrews, who had four catches for 41 yards and two touchdowns. “I think what makes us so dangerous is that we spread the ball around. We have athletes and playmakers across the board.”

The only group that has really held the Ravens back in recent weeks has been the Ravens themselves. Even Monday, when they marched down the field for most of three quarters, Baltimore was sometimes its own worst enemy. And the Ravens also made a mess of the fourth quarter, despite entering the frame up 34-10.

The Ravens were assessed nine penalties for 85 yards. Late in the second quarter, penalties left them with a second-and-28 and a third-and-30, and they got a field goal on that drive. They also had a third-and-25 on their first drive of the third quarter, but Justin Tucker converted a 52-yard field goal. Their turnover in the fourth quarter, in which Jackson threw a backwards pass, was a combination of poor play calling and poor execution.

Defensively, the Ravens started and finished poorly, and for the first time this year, they did get five consecutive stops in the second and third quarters. Some of Mayfield’s numbers (370 passing yards, three touchdowns) came in garbage time, but there were still too many blown assignments, too many missed tackles and too many dropped interceptions. And the Ravens could now be without Humphrey, their top corner, after he suffered a knee injury in the second quarter.

“We want to end the game on a better note,” Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton said. “Of course we want to catch cocks. I don’t know, I think we just have bad juju right now, but we’ll get it over with.”

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Special teams also came into action, allowing the Buccaneers to recover a late onside kick. Two onside kicks have been successfully recovered during seven weeks of the NFL season. Both were against the Ravens.

Still, none of those miscues mattered Monday — and that’s mainly because the Ravens had Jackson. Whether he was running, throwing, blocking or calmly leading, he was the star of the show.

Hamilton compared him to basketball star LeBron James, calling him “one of a kind.” Henry seemed almost in awe of the quarterback and was rightly moved by his efforts on the lead block.

“It’s unbelievable for someone to be a quarterback of his caliber to be so unselfish and block your teammate down the field,” Henry said. “That’s the type of guy who can play a great game and (not) even know his statistics. All he knows (are) the guys he threw to and the guys who scored. The guy is just incredible.”

(Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)