“Beat your ass tomorrow,” barked an overzealous woman to Lamar Jackson before their Week 5 showdown. five touchdowns, 392 Joe Burrow passing yards, and one nerve-wracking overtime later, Jackson made sure this passionate grandmother’s prediction aged like milk in the Cincinnati sun.

The scene played out in a video shared by Ravens’ receiver Zay Flowers, capturing a moment that would set the stage for an AFC North classic. Jackson’s cool response – “It’s her fault” – proved prophetic as Baltimore stunned Cincinnati 41-38 in overtime, sending their division rivals spiraling to a concerning 1-4 start.

What followed was pure football theater. The Ravens erased three separate 10-point deficits in the second half alone. Burrow was dealing, slinging a career-high five touchdown passes including a 41-yard beauty to Ja’Marr Chase. But Jackson matched him blow for blow, orchestrating scoring drives on all four second-half possessions.

Then came The Play. Down 38-28 with just over five minutes left, Jackson pulled off what might go down as 2024’s most improbable touchdown. Facing pressure, he casually tossed 265-pound defensive end Sam Hubbard aside like yesterday’s newspaper, took flight near the sideline, and somehow found Isaiah Likely for a six-yard score. The NFL’s Next Gen Stats gave the throw a 31.4% completion probability – typical numbers for a quarterback who makes the impossible look routine.

Baltimore’s celebration afterward painted two very different pictures. While Coach Harbaugh and his players jumped for joy in the locker room, their star quarterback stood apart, brooding over his overtime fumble that nearly gift-wrapped Cincinnati a win. “This is not an exciting win for me at all… I’m ticked off,” Jackson admitted, embodying the perfectionist mindset that’s made him the NFL’s most electrifying show.

Henry and Tucker turn Jackson’s rare mistake into the Ravens’ glory

Just when it seemed Jackson’s fumble might steal the headlines, enter Derrick Henry. The man who’d already notched his 100th career touchdown earlier – becoming just the 27th player in NFL history to hit triple digits – wasn’t done writing his story. After Cincinnati’s missed field goal attempt in overtime, Henry burst through the line for a game-changing 51-yard sprint, setting up Justin Tucker’s winning chip shot.

The victory marked Baltimore’s first comeback from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit since their overtime thriller against Indianapolis in October 2021. Their win probability had dipped to a measly 9% when trailing by 10 with 8½ minutes left – numbers that didn’t factor in Jackson’s flair for the dramatic.

“I’ve never seen anybody throw anything like that in my entire life,” Ravens tight end Mark Andrews marveled about Jackson’s physics-defying touchdown pass. “The play’s never dead. He’s so special.” Henry went even further: “That was like [a] third MVP level for Lamar. It’s a one-of-a-kind game. [He’s] the best player in the league; [he’s] the G.O.A.T for a reason.”

The sweet taste of victory spawned a social media celebration. Former NFL star Shawne Merriman dubbed the pregame heckling grandmother “bonkers,” while Antonio Brown jumped in with his twist: “told her ahh it’s ha fault” – a fitting epitaph for a game that started with trash talk and ended with Baltimore’s third straight win, washing away the bitter memories of their 0-2 start.