The last time the Detroit Lions visited Charm City, Baltimore served them a can of whooping with their crab cakes. In 2023, the Ravens whipped Detroit 38-6 in a game that was over before half the crowd settled into their seats.
That Lions team wasn't ready for the smoke.
Monday night showed how far Dan Campbell's club has come, from a nice turnaround story to a legit contender -- despite massive changes.
The Ravens usually mash in prime time, particularly at home. Lamar Jackson entered 7-2 with 22 passing touchdowns and zero interceptions in the previous nine Monday games of his career. Baltimore was 29-9 (.763) all-time at home in prime-time games, the highest win percentage in such games among all NFL franchises since 1970.
Make that 29-10.
The Lions, who looked like a lost puppy in need of tender care during their Week 1 loss to Green Bay, completely flipped the script. Campbell's club out-physicaled John Harbaugh's team in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Detroit out-Baltimored Baltimore.
Detroit has won its share of prime-time games in recent years under Campbell. But this one felt different. It felt like a statement from a team with loud lingering questions. Were the new coordinators – John Morton and Kelvin Sheppard – good enough? Were the young guards ready for the spotlight? Could the run game get on track? Where was the pass rush? Could Jared Goff deliver in the new offense?
For one week, all those questions were answered resoundingly.
Let's take a look at five plays that keyed the Lions' big road win to end Week 3 of the 2025 season:
1) Hutchinson forces late Henry fumble
Aidan Hutchinson was relatively quiet up to this point in the fourth quarter. With the Lions' pass rush more concerned with keeping Lamar Jackson in the pocket than going full bore as Houdini, and Hutchinson seeing chips and double teams, the pressures were few and far between. But then, ohhhh, Billy, did Hutch make a racket. His perfect, textbook punch on Henry stripped away a chance for Baltimore to retake the lead in a four-point game. The lone forced turnover was a massive, massive defensive stop in a game that combined for 746 total yards and 68 points scored. Hutchinson later added a Lamar-enveloping sack to help seal the win. According to Next Gen Stats, all four of Hutchinson's pressures and his sack came in the fourth quarter, when he generated a 30.8% QB pressure rate. When the Ravens offense began to tire, Hutchinson ate.
2) Montgomery's 72-yard blast in fourth quarter
It wasn't a house call -- that would come later -- but Lions running back David Montgomery's 72-yard sprint flipped the game. In a 21-21 affair, Detroit's defense forced a three-and-out, but the Lions once again were backed up in their own end. Three plays later, Montgomery sprinted through the Ravens' secondary. Four plays later, the Lions cashed in on a fouth-and-1 to take a lead they'd never relent. Montgomery's big run typified a mammoth night for the Lions' offensive line, which was under scrutiny after a poor Week 1. Detroit blew the Ravens off the ball time and time again, creating running lanes for Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs to jaunt through. The Lions duo dashed for 218 rushing yards and four TDs. Even if the massive yardage is discounted somewhat because the Ravens didn't have Nnamdi Madubuike and Kyle Van Noy up front, it's still a huge developmental moment for rookie Tate Ratledge and second-year pro Christian Mahogany. If those two guards continue to play like that, we'll see a lot more big runs from the Lions.
Aside: Kudos to 29-year-old Marlon Humphrey, who'd been dealing with a groin injury, for chasing down Montgomery to keep the Lions briefly out of the end zone. If you've ever dealt with a groin injury, you understand how impressive that was.
3) Goff hits St. Brown on key fourth down
Love him or loathe him, Dan Campbell is going to play his game. The Lions coach is unabashedly aggressive in a sport in which most coaches play it safe. With a seven-point lead at midfield, the Lions faced a fourth-and-2 at the two-minute warning. The Ravens still held three timeouts, so even a first down couldn't completely ice the contest. Most coaches wouldn't want to chance giving a two-time NFL MVP the ball with a short field to tie the game. There was 0.0 chance that Campbell was punting that pigskin. If the play failed, it failed. Detroit would move on to try to find a victory another way. Instead, Morton dialed up a beautiful pass and Goff dropped a picture-perfect lob to Amon-Ra St. Brown for the first down. The play call was immaculate. The Ravens, having been gashed all night, fully expected a run play. The call fooled them to the extent that Humphrey grabbed St. Brown off the line. Even with the penalty, the wideout still made the catch. Campbell is going to go for it on fourth downs in every big spot. Some days it won't pay off. Monday, Detroit went 3 of 3. That's how a coach can tip the advantage his way in a tight tussle.
4) Barnes' shoestring sack forces a field goal
The Lions' defensive game plan was to hem in Lamar Jackson, forcing him to shuffle his feet without being able to dart into free space, where he bedevils defenders. The plan worked to aplomb, frustrating the Ravens quarterback on Monday night. Over and over again, the Lions forced Jackson to move, and then didn't miss their opportunity to take him to the ground. Multiple times, Lions defenders brought down Jackson by the shoestrings. On this particular sack -- the Lions' fifth of seven -- Barnes spied Jackson from his boundary zone, then when the QB made his move, the linebacker blasted into the fray, diving at just the right time to twist Jackson down. If Barnes hadn't made the play, Jackson, who had a couple of blockers on the outside, might have sprinted to the end zone. At worst, it was a likely first down. Instead, the Ravens settled for a field goal. Detroit's stellar tackling, particularly on Jackson, is a feather in Sheppard's cap.
5) Goff to LaPorta for tone-setting first down
Perhaps there is another big play that sticks out in your mind. Maybe an Al-Quadin Muhammad sack, the goal-line stand, the Gibbs trick-play TD. But for me, this was a huge play in the game. Tied 7-7 Lions started the drive at their own 2-yard-line late in the first quarter. After two Montgomery runs netted three yards, Detroit stared at a third-and-7. Goff dropped into his own end zone and rifled a bullet to Sam LaPorta, who generated just enough separation from Malaki Starks. If Goff doesn't convert that third-down pass, Jackson gets the ball in excellent field position and the entire game unfolds differently. Instead, the 10-yard play got the Lions out of harm's way and jumpstarted a tone-setting 18-play, 98-yard TD drive that milked 10:48 off the clock. The drive kept Jackson on the sideline and wore down the Ravens' defense. Goff was excellent on third and fourth downs on Monday, completing 10 of 13 for 100 yards on the pivotal downs. Keeping drives alive allowed them to gobble up 426 yards and keep their defense fresh.
