What a happy Monday it is to be a Ravens fan. Christmas is right around the corner and so is a big battle with the Houston Texans. The Ravens just beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 34-17 in a thrilling Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium.

I think it’s safe to assume all ravens fans have watched this clip a minimum of 50 times since it happened. pic.twitter.com/wQDNfGbuP5

— 𝐅𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐬 (@EDCburner) December 22, 2024

Marlon Humphrey had the play of the purple weekend. After Lamar Jackson had a nerve inducing interception, Humphrey’s pick six prevented momentum from resting on the Steelers’ sideline. This has to rank as a top 10 play in the storied rivalry between the Ravens and Steelers.

Speaking of this rivalry, Zay Flowers is a real Raven now! There’s a handful of other players who joined him in the “real Raven” ranks, Derrick Henry being the most notable of them.

Zay expected this but he’s a real raven now 😈 pic.twitter.com/s7OnU3Nk1w

— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) December 22, 2024

It was such a good weekend for the Ravens that USA Today’s Nate Davis thinks the Ravens became a Super Bowl contender In fact Davis had six reasons. One very interesting reason is that the defense is back: 

A unit that appeared to be Baltimore’s Achilles earlier in the campaign may be reverting into the strength it’s typically been for this organization.

In addition to Humphrey’s game-sealing pick-six, safety Ar’Darius Washington dislodged the ball from Wilson at the end of a 19-yard breakaway in the second quarter when it appeared the quarterback was headed for the end zone – but, at minimum, was going to set the Steelers up inside the Ravens’ 5-yard line.

In terms of results, the Ravens defense is officially back. I’d argue that the Ravens were fortunate Washington’s hit dislodged the ball from Russell Wilson‘s grips. I’d argue that the defensive strategy could use some fine tuning and to become a little more aggressive and a little less Dean-Pees-like. That said, the Ravens defense is doing enough to win football games now. That’s a dramatic improvement. The Ravens only need one or two extra possessions to put the game away with Lamar Jackson at quarterback. While I don’t think this is a championship defense, it’s a defense the Ravens can win with. Holding the Steelers to 17 points and forcing turnovers while doing it is a good day in the office if you ask me.

Charles McDonald of Yahoo Sports agrees with this line of thinking. 

The defense dominated the Steelers in general in the second half, holding them to a success rate of just 31.8%, according to TruMedia. They were able to really put the clamps on when Pittsburgh was trying to get back into the game, especially when it needed to throw the ball. All Wilson and his teammates could manage was 6.1 net yards per attempt in the second half, which just wasn’t enough with the Ravens offense taking over the game.

This is why the defensive improvement is so crucial for this Baltimore team — the offense is capable of winning a Super Bowl. Lamar Jackson threw three more touchdowns to give him 37 passing touchdowns for the season to just four interceptions, and Derrick Henry was able to run over the Steelers to close out the game. In the second half, Henry had 87 yards on just 11 carries and averaged an obscene 5.4 yards before contact. When the game becomes one-dimensional and all the Ravens need to do is lean on the run game to close things out, they become one of the most dominating teams in the league. They finally might have found the perfect running mate for Jackson to actually win the elusive Super Bowl that they are capable of winning.

McDonald’s point brings it all together. If the defense is going to play like this and Jackson is good for three to five touchdowns a game, the Ravens are in business. It’s a winning formula. I think the biggest thing that McDonald highlighted though was how good the Ravens were in the second half. Second half stinginess on defense wins games.

The Ravens just clinched a spot in the playoffs. Realistically, the Ravens know they are a five-game winning streak away from being world champions. Being able to clamp down in the fourth quarter is a mark of a championship caliber squad.

Here are some key stats to look at from USA Today’s Data Skrive. 

• “The Ravens’ scoring average at home, 31.0 points per game, is better than their average on the road, 29.4.
• On defense, Baltimore is giving up 20.6 points per game at home, better than its 25.6 average on the road.
• The Ravens are putting up 30.0 points per game in divisional matchups, which is a little lower than their 30.2 average versus the rest of the league.
• Baltimore has given up 27.2 points per game in the division, which is worse than its mark in non-division games of 21.3.
• With an average of 29.3 points per game on offense and 18.3 points surrendered on defense over the last three games, the Ravens rank eighth and sixth, respectively, during that timeframe.”

The good news is that it’s a tale of two stretches for the Ravens. You can see in the data that the Ravens had a defensive renaissance a little past halfway through the year. The bad news is that the Ravens are a little better at home than they are on the road and it’s a roughly constructed short week against a good Houston Texans team. Putting up an average of roughly 30 points per game is a good way to win games and if the upward defensive trend continues that mark is more than enough to win games on. The Texans defense is a tough test but the Ravens seem to be pointing upward.

4 of the Ravens 10 wins this year have been double digit wins against teams over .500 pic.twitter.com/31KT21vvM9

— Matt King (@yappmatt) December 22, 2024

The Texans may be a tough team, but that’s how the Ravens like it. The Ravens have been mostly dominant against good teams this season. Other than the games against the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, the Ravens have been a buzzsaw against good teams. The most impressive performance has to be the game against the Buffalo Bills, but their showdown with the Buccaneers shows they can do it on the road just fine.

It’s a big Christmas for Baltimore. Happy Holidays, good will to all and here’s hoping the Ravens have a better Christmas than the Houston Texans.