Honestly, if you looked at the halftime score of the Ravens vs Bucs 2022 matchup, you’d have bet the house on Tom Brady. It was 10-3. The Buccaneers looked like they finally had their act together, and Baltimore was literally limping. Mark Andrews, the heart of their passing game, was out with a shoulder injury. Rashod Bateman was done for the night. Lamar Jackson had thrown the ball 30 times in the first half—which is basically the opposite of how the Ravens actually want to play football.
But then the third quarter started.
What followed was one of the most drastic mid-game identity shifts you’ll ever see in the NFL. The Ravens basically decided to stop overthinking and started bullying people. It worked. By the time the clock hit zero at Raymond James Stadium, the Ravens walked away with a 27-22 win, handing Brady his first three-game losing streak since 2002. Imagine that—twenty years since he’d felt that kind of slump.
The Half-Time Pivot That Flipped the Script
People talk about "halftime adjustments" like they're some mystical coaching secret. In this game, the adjustment was just: "Run the ball until their legs give out."
Baltimore came out for the second half and looked like a completely different team. After throwing it nearly every play in the first two quarters, Lamar Jackson only threw the ball eight times in the entire second half. Eight! Instead, the Ravens leaned into their ground game, racking up a massive 204 rushing yards in the final two frames alone.
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It was a total gashing. Gus "The Bus" Edwards was hammering the middle for 65 yards. Kenyan Drake was slashing for 62. Even Devin Duvernay got in on the action with a 15-yard jet sweep touchdown that felt like the nail in the coffin. The Bucs' defense, which started the game looking elite, ended it looking completely gassed. They couldn't get off the field. By the end, Baltimore held the ball for over 38 minutes. You can't win when you're sitting on the bench for nearly two-thirds of the game.
The Rise of Isaiah Likely
With Mark Andrews out, everyone expected the Baltimore offense to crater. Instead, rookie tight end Isaiah Likely had his "I've arrived" moment. He was everywhere. He finished the night with 6 catches for 77 yards and a beautiful 10-yard touchdown where he just out-worked the coverage.
It was a glimpse into the future of the Ravens' depth. When your superstar goes down and a rookie steps up to lead the team in receiving yards against a Tom Brady-led squad, you know you’ve got something special.
Why the Bucs Couldn't Buy a TD
On the other side, Tampa Bay was struggling with what I'd call "red zone claustrophobia." They moved the ball okay—Brady actually threw for 325 yards—but they couldn't finish. It was painful to watch.
They’d get down inside the 20 and just... stall. Penalties were the primary culprit. At one point in the fourth quarter, Brady actually hit Cade Otton for what looked like a touchdown, but a holding call on Donovan Smith wiped it off the board. A few plays later? A false start. They settled for field goals when they desperately needed six points.
The Stats That Tell the Real Story
To understand why the Ravens vs Bucs 2022 game went the way it did, you have to look at the rushing disparity. It’s almost comical.
- Ravens Rushing: 231 yards (7.0 average)
- Buccaneers Rushing: 44 yards (2.9 average)
In modern football, people say the run game doesn't matter, but when one team is picking up 7 yards every time they hand the ball off, the other team's defense eventually breaks. Tampa's defense didn't just break; they stopped forcing turnovers entirely. In fact, this game marked the fourth straight game where the Bucs failed to record a single takeaway—the first time that had happened in the franchise's 50-year history.
The Lamar Jackson Factor
Lamar didn't have his "craziest" game on paper, but he was incredibly efficient when it mattered. He finished 27 of 38 for 238 yards and two touchdowns. No picks. He also ran for 43 yards, including a 25-yard scramble on the first play of the second half that basically signaled the comeback was on.
He’s now 2-0 against Tom Brady in his career. There’s something about the way Lamar’s style of play frustrates veteran-heavy defenses. They want to play chess, and Lamar is out there playing tag at 20 miles per hour.
What This Game Taught Us
Looking back at the Ravens vs Bucs 2022 clash, it was a turning point for both franchises that season. For Baltimore, it proved they could win without their primary targets if they stayed true to their "run-first" DNA. For the Bucs, it was the loudest alarm bell yet that the roster was aging and the offense was becoming too one-dimensional.
Key Takeaways for Your Next Matchup Analysis:
- Watch the Time of Possession: If a team is winning the TOP by more than 10 minutes, the defense will almost always crumble in the fourth quarter.
- Red Zone Efficiency is Everything: Passing yards are a "vanity metric" if you can't convert them into touchdowns. Brady out-passed Lamar by nearly 100 yards but still lost.
- The "Backup" Effect: Don't count a team out just because their star (like Mark Andrews) goes down. Often, it forces a quarterback to go through his progressions and find open guys he usually ignores.
If you’re looking to dive deeper into how these two teams have evolved since that Thursday night in Tampa, start by comparing the current rushing averages of the Ravens' backfield to that 2022 season. You'll see that the "bully ball" philosophy hasn't gone anywhere—it's just gotten more sophisticated.