The Lions slept long before the night.
Sunday served as a victorious tribute to the Baltimore Ravens' past, present, and potential future: with the Detroit Lions stopping by for what some saw as a potential Super Bowl preview, Charm City basked in the glory of a 38-6 victory over the co-leaders of the NFC. Two dominant halves sandwiched Terrell Suggs' immortalization into purple nirvana, as the team inducted the 16-year defender into its Ring of Honor during the intermission.
“(It was) a statement for the outsiders who don’t quite know exactly what we’re about,” linebacker Roquan Smith said on Sunday's win, per Brian Wacker of the Baltimore Sun. “As far as the guys in the locker room, we had faith all week. Once we got back from London we knew exactly what were had at hand and we went out and handled business from Monday to Sunday.”
Suggs' successors perhaps played the ultimate collection of No. 55's greatest hits, literally and figuratively: declawing the surging Lions was led by the relentless pass rush, perfectly mirroring the franchise-record 132.5 sacks that Suggs earned during his time in Baltimore.
Odafe Oweh, back on the field for the first time since a Week 2 ankle injury, officially announced his return to action with one while Kyle Van Noy took down Jared Goff twice. The remainder of the five were earned by Justin Madubuike and Arthur Maulet while the Ravens (5-2) were also credited with five further quarterback hits.
The best thing one could say about the Ravens' defense, perhaps, is that they were hardly on the field during the first half. Each of Detroit's first three possessions ended in three-and-outs, allowing the offense to find its red zone groove and build an impenetrable lead.
"Honestly, I'm not trying to be disrespectful, that's a (butt)-whooping. I say that in the nicest way possible," Van Noy said, per Clifton Brown of the Ravens' official site. "I've been on the other end of that a couple of times, and it's just one of those games.
"Detroit is better than that, and this one got away quickly. I think we took it to them really, really early, and we showed up. I think a lot of people were touting them this week, and the Baltimore Ravens' defense, we came together like we should."
With victory well assured after the first half-hour, the defense spent the rest of the game engaged in relative housekeeping, which included Geno Smith's NFL-best fourth interception. As they became increasingly desperate, the Lions (5-2) failed on three fourth-down tries in the second half.
Detroit only scored at the onset of the fourth quarter to prevent a shutout and while it hardly beautified the final result, it seemed to stick with Smith. The Lions ended the day with 337 yards but that was hardly indicative of their game-wide effort, one that ended a four-game winning streak.
"They got cheap yards at the end, but hats off to just the way we played as a team," Smith, he of eight tackles and pass breakup. "I’m just proud to be a part of it.”
The Ravens' defense will return to action next Sunday afternoon when they hit the road for another interconference matchup with the Arizona Cardinals in a Week 8 matchup.
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