'MNF' takeaways: Ravens are AFC's best, Brock Purdy's MVP bid comes to an end
The biggest regular-season game of the year turned into a massive statement by the Baltimore Ravens. Here are our takeaways from their 33-19 win over the San Francisco 49ers on "Monday Night Football."
Baltimore is the team to beat in the AFC: The AFC is stacked with Super Bowl contenders, but the Ravens are the team others should fear the most. The defense forced five interceptions and held the league's second-highest-scoring offense entering Week 16 to 19 points. Offensively, quarterback Lamar Jackson was outstanding against a 49ers team that was second in total defense coming into the game.
Baltimore has won five in a row ahead of its game on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins for the AFC's No. 1 overall seed. The Ravens were 6.5-point underdogs against the 49ers but shouldn't be disrespected anymore this season.
Don't bury the 49ers...: Yes, Monday night's loss was ugly, but let's not overreact. The 49ers only trailed by four at the half, outgained the Ravens 429-343 and averaged 6.3 yards per play compared to Baltimore's 5.4 yards per play. The run game was effective, gaining 121 yards on 18 carries. The Niners were ultimately undone by losing the turnover battle 5-0, an occurrence that will be difficult to replicate.
As "This Is Football" host Kevin Clark noted, San Francisco is still the best team in the NFC as displayed in its dominant wins earlier this season against the Cowboys and Eagles.
FTN Fantasy's analytics guru Aaron Schatz also noted that because of the stiff competition in the AFC, the 49ers still have an easier path to the Super Bowl than the Ravens.
Monday night was miserable for San Francisco, but it wouldn't be surprising if the result fueled the 49ers on their postseason run.
...but that will do it for Brock Purdy's MVP case: A quarterback emerged from the game as the MVP favorite, and it wasn't Purdy. The trendy pick for Most Valuable Player had his worst game as a pro, going 18-of-32 for 255 yards and four interceptions. Quarterbacks are allowed to have bad games and still win the league's highest individual award, but as ESPN's Bill Barnwell accurately said, having that performance in Week 16 during a high-stakes game should be too much for him to overcome.
Instead, Jackson, who was 23-of-35 for 252 yards with two touchdowns and 45 rushing yards in the win, became the front-runner, putting significant distance between himself and Purdy.
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