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The Baltimore Ravens showed everyone on Monday, December 25, that they are a legitimate threat to win the Super Bowl this season. They took down the San Francisco 49ers during a Week 16, 33-19 victory, which Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen believes was no accident.
Sports Illustrator’s Albert Breer spoke with the veteran after the victory. Queen said, “We know they [49ers] don’t believe that people can tackle them for four quarters. We’re the team to do that.”
Much of the week was spent by pundits giving flowers to the 49ers, like Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio having some aggressive comments about the Ravens, but also saying, ‘The quest is for second place.”
The 49ers are the current Super Bowl favorites and when fully healthy have looked unbeatable for most of the season.
Many assumed the 49ers were going punch the Ravens in the mouth and send them home early, but instead, the 49ers were exposed in front of their home crowd.
“People don’t want to play the style of football we like to play. They are a physical team. They are that aggressive team. But I think our brand of football outmatches anybody,” Queen said.
According to Breer, “The belief, from there, went that eventually if Baltimore kept swinging, with physicality and creativity, the dam would break.”
The Ravens kept coming in waves after both QBs Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold. The Ravens did not get a sack until late in the game, but once they did, the 49ers’ offensive line could not stop Baltimore’s front.
Patrick Queen Gives Brock Purdy Backhanded Compliment
The defense was keyed in on forcing Purdy to make mistakes. With weapons like RB Christian McCaffrey, WRs Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk and TE George Kittle the Ravens defense focused in on making the at the time MVP front-runner as uncomfortable as possible.
“[Purdy is] a great quarterback. He made some miraculous throws these weeks leading up. We knew that there are plays out there that you can capitalize on. There are plays where he does mess up, but people just don’t capitalize on it. We knew we could take advantage of that,” Queen told Breer.
Safety Kyle Hamilton capitalized twice with interceptions of Purdy. He first picked him off in the redzone on what looked to be a bad read by the QB.
According to The Ravens Wire’s Kevin Oestreicher, “Kyle Hamilton baited Brock Purdy into this interception.”
Then later on, he appeared to get pancaked trying to rush the QB, but followed the play after getting leveled and was the recipient of a tipped pass.
According to Queen, “Those guys up front, when they eat, we’ll be able to make plays on the back end.” Two of Purdy’s four interceptions came on plays were a defender at the line had pressure or deflected the pass.
Patrick Queen and Teammates Sound off on Lamar’s MVP Chances
A byproduct of the Ravens victory was the effect it has on the MVP race. Purdy before the game was the favorite with Ravens QB Lamar Jackson being second.
Now, according to VegasInsider, Jackson is the front-runner for the award and teammates believe its warranted. Queen told Breer, “I think he proved that over and over again. He’s going to continue to do that. We’ve got all faith in him. That’s the MVP in our eyes.”
Fellow linebacker Roquan Smith was speaking to reporters after the game and said, “I think if anybody watched the games, if anybody watched football this season and watched the Baltimore Ravens, they know for a fact that Lamar Jackson is the MVP hands down.”
Head coach John Harbaugh gushed about his QB in his post game presser saying, “Lamar had an MVP performance tonight.”
Jackson is of course still focused on winning the Super Bowl and has sights set on the Lombardi trophy rather than another MVP award.
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