Before the Ravens take on the Lions on Monday Night Football in Week 3, there’s a few numbers to keep in mind.
Ahead of kickoff, here’s five numbers to know:
38-6
The last time these teams matched up ( ), the Ravens handily took care of business. A Lions team that entered play tied for the best record in the league at 5-1 and featuring the league’s 3rd-highest scoring offense looked helpless against a formidable Baltimore offense. QB Lamar Jackson (en route to his second MVP award at the end of the season) led the Ravens to a 35-0 lead by the end of the 3rd quarter. Jackson completed 21-27 passes on the day for 357 yards and 3 touchdowns, adding 9 carries for 36 yards and a touchdown on the ground as well. TE Mark Andrews hauled in 2 touchdowns on the receiving end for Baltimore, while Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs was held to 68 yards rushing with a touchdown, although nearly half of those yards and the touchdown came in the 4th quarter when the game was already out of reach.
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66, 61
While Justin Tucker may no longer be the Ravens kicker, his legacy as one of the NFL’s all-time greats remains strong, particularly in the minds of Lions fans. The last two times these teams met in Detroit, Tucker won the game for Baltimore in the final seconds. In 2013, Tucker kicked a 61-yard field goal – his sixth of the game – with under a minute to go, giving the Ravens an 18-16 lead they would ultimately finish with. And the last time Baltimore visited the Motor City, Tucker’s capped off a 19-17 comeback victory for Baltimore. So, while Tucker may no longer be wearing purple and black, Lions fans will certainly still flashback to games past if tonight’s score is close and Tyler Loop jogs onto the field near the end of the contest.
22-3, 10-1, 24-2
Perhaps including three records in one spot is cheating the premise of “five numbers to know,” but to paraphrase a classic saying in the journalism/broadcasting world, math was never a strong suit. Anyways, those records represent (in order) John Harbaugh’s record in primetime home games as Ravens coach, Lamar Jackson’s record in primetime home games as the Ravens starting quarterback, and Lamar Jackson’s record against NFC teams as Baltimore’s starter. The Ravens most recent night games in Baltimore featured a 35-10 slaughter of the Bills in Week 4 as well as a 35-34 comeback victory over the Bengals in Week 10, both last season. Meanwhile, Jackson’s 24-2 record against NFC foes is the best record in the NFL in interconference matchups, going back to the NFL-AFC merger in 1970. However, one of those losses came in December 2024, as the Eagles came into Baltimore and handed the Ravens one of their most complete defeats in the Jackson era, winning 24-19 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
409.5
The numbers aren’t entirely rosy for the Ravens heading into this matchup. Baltimore has allowed 409.5 yards per game through two weeks, dead last in the NFL. Despite beating the Browns 41-17 in their last game, the Ravens were outgained 323-242 in total yards. That does not bode well going against a Lions team ranking 4th in the NFL with 378.5 yards per game so far this season and featuring some of the game’s best skill position players in Gibbs, wide receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, and TE Sam LaPorta. For the Ravens to continue their historical success against the Lions, they’ll need the defense to play its best game of the young season.
0.048
That’s the difference separating Lamar Jackson and Aaron Rodgers in career passer rating, with Lamar’s early-season success and Rodgers slow start allowing the Ravens QB to overtake the Steelers starter as the NFL’s all-time leader in the stat category. Jackson’s 102.648 rating lands him just ahead of Rodgers’ 102.6 mark. Passer rating is calculated using a formula that includes five stat categories: pass attempts, completions, passing yards, touchdown passes, and interceptions. QBs can finish with a rating between 0 and 158.3. In 2024, the league-wide average for passer rating was 92.3, with Jackson ending the year best in the league with a 119.6 mark. Second place? That was Jackson’s counterpart tonight, Jared Goff, who ended last season with a 111.8 rating. Fun fact: Jackson has four career games with a perfect 158.3 passer rating, tied with former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger for most all-time. His most recent such performance came in Week 9 of 2024, when Jackson’s immaculate game led the Ravens to a 41-10 win over the Broncos.