Ravens Beat Buccaneers 41-31 As Chris Godwin Suffers Gruesome Leg Injury

On a night that saw the Baltimore Ravens assert their dominance over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it's hard to focus on anything other than the status of Chris Godwin.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell to the Baltimore Ravens 41-31 on Monday Night Football at Raymond James Stadium in a game that was marred by injuries to key players, including Chris Godwin, Mike Evans and Tykee Smith.

Despite losing their first two games of the season, the Ravens had reeled off four consecutive wins coming into this primetime matchup, and they’d done it in dominating fashion. The addition of Derrick Henry, combined with a rock solid run defense, has allowed Baltimore to achieve the highest rushing yards differential by any team since 2000 (+146 yards per game).

Meanwhile Baker Mayfield, Liam Coen, and the rest of the Bucs’ offense have been lighting up the scoreboard in recent weeks with their potent aerial attack.

The Buccaneers had the ball first and Mayfield and Coen wasted no time before finding their groove. An 18-yard catch and run by Rachaad White and a fourth down conversion on a jet sweep to Jalen McMillan helped the Bucs advance the ball into Baltimore territory. Then, Mayfield found a gap in the Ravens defense where he placed the ball to Evans in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown. It was Evans’ 100th career touchdown reception.

The Ravens’ ensuing possession came to a relatively quick conclusion after the Bucs’ defense had three consecutive huge plays. First, Calijah Kancey had a TFL, then a sack by YaYa Diaby which resulted in a loss of 8 yards, followed by another sack on the very next play by Antoine Winfield Jr.

The Bucs’ second possession looked promising, especially when Mayfield hit Chris Godwin for a touchdown. But the play was quickly negated due to a very questionable holding call on Tristan Wirfs, which he — along with every Bucs fan in attendance — took great exception to. It was Wirf’s first holding call since the end of the 2022 season, and right or wrong, it was a costly one. The Bucs opted to settle for a chip shot field goal to extend their lead.

The Ravens offense is simply too talented to roll over, though. And in the opening drive of the second quarter, the Ravens were able to move the ball relatively easily. Zay Flowers took a jet sweep 20-yards before a Lamar Jackson scramble put the Ravens deep in the Bucs’ red zone. Shortly thereafter, Lamar hit a wide-open Mark Andrews in the endzone for a 9-yard TD reception.

The following Bucs’ possession did not end as swimmingly as the previous two. After marching the ball down the field with successful runs up the middle by all three running backs, Mayfield hit Evans for a would-be TD strike. But after it appeared as though he made the catch, Evans dropped the ball and he fell to the turf at the back of the end zone, in obvious pain while holding his hamstring.

That would be the last we would see of Evans in this football game, as he was ruled out for the remainder of the contest. Just a few plays later, Baker tried to force a ball to Jalen McMillan, but apparently couldn’t see Marlon Humphrey in close proximity to the rookie receiver, who proceeded to intercept the ball with ease.

The Ravens are simply too good of a football team to not take advantage of those types of unforced errors, and they proved it on their following possession, which saw Lamar Jackson hit Rashod Bateman for a 59-yard touchdown reception.

The Bucs had a chance to respond, though. And after a strong run by Sean Tucker picked up 15-yards, Baker Mayfield again tried to force a ball into a tight window, and again was picked off by Marlon Humphrey.

Mayfield was 11/13 for 133 yards to start the game, and 0/3 with two interceptions in his last three pass attempts at that point.

Humphrey was forced to leave the game with a knee injury on the play, and did not return.

The final possession prior to halftime for the Ravens resulted in a Justin Tucker 28-yard field goal. Unfortunately for the Buccaneers, Tykee Smith sustained a concussion on the drive, and would not return to the game.

The second half started how the second quarter ended.

The Ravens’ first possession of the third quarter resulted in them putting more points on the board with Justin Tucker hitting another field goal to extend the lead.

The Bucs responded with a decent drive, but Todd Bowles — notoriously conservative in his offensive decisions — was too scared to go for it on 4th-and-4, and instead opted to send out Chase McLaughlin to attempt a 55-yard field goal, which doinked off the right upright, providing the Ravens with great field position and no points to show for it.

The Ravens seemed to unlock a cheat code on offense from there on out.

Lamar Jackson launched another deep shot to Rashod Bateman,m who had no problem cruising