Ravens vs. 49ers score, takeaways: Baltimore throttles Brock Purdy, San Fran as Lamar Jackson makes MVP case

The Baltimore Ravens have put the rest of the NFL on notice. In what was billed as a potential Super Bowl preview as Lamar Jackson and Co. traveled to Santa Clara and delivered a 33-19 shellacking on the San Francisco 49ers to wrap up Week 16 and the Christmas Day slate.   

It was a shaky start for both clubs as the Ravens had a three-and-out and committed a safety on its first two drives of the game, while the Niners also turned the ball over on their first possession. After that, Baltimore started to come alive and kicked off what would be seven-straight scoring drives to leave San Francisco in the dust. While this game did feature two of the MVP frontrunners in Brock Purdy and Lamar Jackson, this game was owned by the Ravens defense. The unit tallied five turnovers, which included four interceptions off of Purdy. 

That final pick by Purdy did prove to be the most fatal. After the Ravens had extended their lead in the third quarter to 11, the Niners QB tossed a pick to linebacker Patrick Queen, who took the ball to the San Francisco 9-yard line. It took Baltimore’s offense just one play to find the end zone after the turnover and suddenly built up a 30-12 advantage. That proved to be an insurmountable deficit. 

Jackson finished his night 23 of 35 for 252 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 45 yards on the ground. As for Purdy, he completed 18 of his 32 throws for 255 yards, a touchdown and those four interceptions. He did leave this game late in the fourth quarter after dealing with a stinger, but was cleared to return to action. Given the score, Kyle Shanahan elected have backup Sam Darnold finish out the contest. 

Why the Ravens won

Baltimore played tremendous complementary football throughout this game. The Ravens scored on seven straight drives at one point and in the process were able to force multiple turnovers. Three of the five turnovers forced by the Ravens on the night resulted in scoring drives and the team finished with 17 points off turnovers. The pass rush was routinely able to disrupt Purdy and bat balls down at the line of scrimmage and made life extremely tough on each dropback. 

While the defense was smothering San Francisco’s offense, Lamar Jackson was toying with the Niners defense and may have boosted his MVP odds in the process. While he finished with 252 passing yards and two touchdowns, Jackson really shined with his mobility. He was extending passing plays with his legs, and also gashing the 49ers when he did decide to tuck and run, finishing with 45 yards in the win. 

Why the 49ers lost

You can’t throw five interceptions and expect to win the game, so the loss does fall on the shoulder of Brock Purdy (who tossed four of the picks). He had picks on three of the 49ers’ first four drives of the night, which erased any sort of home momentum they had at Levi’s Stadium. Purdy led one touchdown drive in the first half, but beyond that was a shell of the MVP candidate that we saw coming into Week 16. While Purdy will have a bit piece of blame pie, the defense didn’t have an answer for Lamar Jackson and the special teams unit killed them at a critical point in the game. 

After going three-and-out to open up the first half, the San Francisco punt team committed back-to-back penalties that helped give the Ravens possession at the 49ers’ 44-yard line. That helped spark a three-play touchdown drive and kicked off what was ultimately their run to push the lead to three scores. No matter which way you slice, it was a rather poor showing for a team that was looked at as the Super Bowl favorite coming into this weekend. 

Turing point

Even with Purdy throwing three first-half interceptions, the 49ers were able to stay within range of the Ravens, trailing by just four points heading into halftime. However, Purdy’s final interception on the night was the straw that broke the camel’s back. After the Ravens had scored on their opening possession of the second half, Purdy immediately threw an interception to Patrick Queen and Lamar Jackson then threw a 9-yard pass to Zay Flowers on the following play to go up 30-12 before the second half could even get rolling. At that point, Baltimore kept the Niners at bay and they never truly sniffed a comeback for the remainder of the game.   

Play of the game

Kyle Hamilton has been an anchor in the Ravens secondary and he came up with a number of high-impact plays in the win, including two interceptions. His second pick of the night was one of the better effort plays that you’ll see this season. Hamilton (No. 14) was initially blitzing off the left side of the line and was taken down to the ground on an illegal chop block. Despite being shoved to the ground, Hamilton got up as Purdy was scrambling in the backfield, worked back in coverage and was able to secure the interception on a tipped ball intended for George Kittle.

What’s next

From here, the Ravens will head back to Baltimore for their final two games of the regular season. On Sunday, they have another pivotal matchup as they’ll play host to the Miami Dolphins with a chance to wrap up the AFC’s top seed. As for the 49ers, they’ll look to rebound off of this loss when they travel to Washington to face the Commanders in Week 17.