After a full week of practice for Jackson, his head coach saw a performance like this on the horizon.
“He was so sharp mentally all week and he was so sharp Tuesday when we went fast,” John Harbaugh said. “We went through the half practice fast on Tuesday and he was off. It was impressive. I was pretty optimistic that he would play well.”
Jackson found himself in just about the perfect environment to return to action, as the Pompano Beach, Fla., native carved up Miami once again, throwing for four or more TDs for the third time in five games against the Dolphins. He completed 18 of 23 passes for 204 yards with no interceptions and a sparkling 143.2 rating.
In five career starts against the Dolphins, Jackson is 3-2 with 1,405 yards passing (281 per game), 18 passing touchdowns, just one interception and a 142.9 passer rating, the highest of any player (minimum 100 attempts) against a single opponent in history, according to NFL Research.
After hitting Andrews for his first two touchdowns, Jackson hit Charlie Kolar and Rashod Bateman for the third quarter.
There appeared to be some rust early — most notably the aforementioned little miss by Bateman on the first drive — and Jackson didn’t look like his usual speedy self rushing five times for 14 yards, but the overall stats and end result were certainly great.
“Yeah, a little bit,” Jackson said when asked if he felt like he hadn’t played since Week 4 against the Chiefs. “I missed a pass to Bate like on the first drive, so it was going through my mind the whole game. But it’s cool. We got the call.”
Miami had twice as many first downs (10-4) and twice as many yards (225-109) as Baltimore in the first half, but Jackson and the Ravens had a 14-6 halftime lead.
In the second half, the Ravens really got going, with a Jackson offense sparking them. At the start of the second half, Jackson faced a third-and-6 before scampering for 13 yards.
“That was probably the key play of the whole game, probably because if not, you’re still in the second quarter,” Harbaugh said of Jackson’s third win.
Andrew’s second TD catch came with 14:10 left in the second quarter and preceded a trio of threes to end the half. Jackson’s scrimmage reignited the team and set up an 11-play, 68-yard drive that ended with Kolar’s TD and certainly got the ball rolling on a punt.
Baltimore finished with 338 yards of offense, 229 coming in the final two quarters.
“I just felt a little bit comfortable and our guys were ready to score,” Jackson said. “Shout out to the offensive line. They did a great job. All phases, all skill positions and our backs, they were just locked in and wanted to put points on the board because we only scored twice in the first half.”
Baltimore has now won two in a row after a terrible 1-5 start. Only four teams since the merger in 1970 have progressed from such a start.
However, since 1990, 21 teams have advanced to the postseason after a 3-5 start.
Jackson returns, and with him the Ravens’ infamy may have returned as well.
“Yeah, I mean it’s do or die,” Jackson said. “Win or go home. Usually we start winning games, and we’re never down, but now we’re behind and we all have to step up.”