Lions run over the Ravens, sack Lamar Jackson 7 times in a 38-30 win over Baltimore

BALTIMORE (AP) — Punishing all night — and tricky when they had to be — the Detroit Lions battered the Baltimore Ravens with a performance that epitomized everything they've become under coach Dan Campbell.

Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery ran for two touchdowns apiece, and the Lions bullied their way to a 38-30 win over Baltimore on Monday night. Detroit sacked Lamar Jackson seven times and outrushed the Ravens 224 yards to 85.

“I just thought it was an outstanding team effort, man. I was proud of the players, I was proud of the coaches,” Campbell said. “It's just a huge win.”

Detroit scored on drives of 98 and 96 yards against a Baltimore front that was without defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike and showed little ability to handle the Lions physically.

Up 31-24 at the two-minute warning, Detroit converted on fourth-and-2 from its own 49 when Jared Goff completed a 20-yard pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown.

“I got a tremendous amount of trust in those guys, and that's been built up now in five years,” Campbell said.

Then Montgomery raced for a 31-yard touchdown with 1:42 to play, capping a 151-yard night on the ground for the running back.

Jackson threw his third touchdown pass of the night, a 27-yarder to Mark Andrews with 29 seconds remaining. A failed 2-point conversion and a failed onside kick later, the Lions could kneel out the clock.

“The biggest problem is we didn’t play good defense,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “There’s nobody in that locker room that thinks that’s good enough. That’s not who we are. It cannot be who we are. It’s not good enough, it’s not acceptable.”

This was quite a statement for a Detroit team that lost offensive coordinator Ben Johnson in the offseason and began the season with a dud at Green Bay. After rebounding in Week 2 against Chicago, the Lions looked very much like Super Bowl contenders against the Ravens.

The hallmarks of Campbell’s tenure were all there. Detroit was aggressive on fourth down, converting all three of its attempts. One of those was a gadget play that went for a touchdown and gave the Lions the lead for good.

And at the line of scrimmage, Detroit was overpowering at times.

“That's what happens when good coverage marries good rush,” pass-rushing star Aidan Hutchinson said. “Today was that.”

Jackson did some damage in the passing game, especially in the first half, but by the end, the Lions had him out of sync. And when he tried to escape the pocket, they kept him under control.

“Those guys were very disciplined,” Campbell said. “We didn't have anybody jumping up in the air, diving — ill-advised diving. They all bottled him up, they were disciplined, and guys made huge plays. And he had nowhere to go.”

It was a jarring sight to see the Ravens (1-2) pushed around on their home field, where they lost for only the fourth time in 26 prime-time games under Harbaugh. When Gibbs and Montgomery weren't running through the Baltimore defense, Goff had plenty of time to pick the Ravens apart as Detroit methodically advanced down the field.

With the score tied at 21, the Lions faced fourth-and-1 from the Baltimore 4 on the first play of the fourth quarter. St. Brown took the ball on what initially looked like a jet sweep, then pitched it back to Gibbs, who scored easily.

After a field goal made it 28-24, the Ravens got a defensive stop, but Derrick Henry lost a fumble in a huge fourth-quarter spot for the second time in three weeks, giving Detroit the ball at the Baltimore 16. Still, the Lions couldn't put the game away, settling for a field goal when that drive was derailed by a facemask penalty on Christian Mahogany.

But the Ravens couldn't move the ball and punted on fourth-and-9. Then Montgomery made it a 14-point game.

This matchup started as advertised, with the Lions — fresh off a 52-point performance against Chicago — breezing down the field for an early 7-0 lead on a 1-yard run by Gibbs. Then the Ravens — who reached 40 points in each of their first two games — quickly tied it on a 28-yard touchdown run by Henry.

The Lions retook the lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by Montgomery, which capped an 18-play, 98-yard drive that took 10:48 off the clock. The Ravens, down two of their top pass rushers with Madubuike (neck) and Kyle Van Noy (hamstring) out, did little to trouble Goff in the pocket.

Baltimore wasted a second-and-goal situation from the 1-yard line later in the second quarter when Henry was stopped twice. On fourth-and-goal from the 2, Jackson fumbled and the ball rolled all the way back to the 20, but when the Lions took over there, Baltimore’s defense held, and Jackson threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman to tie it at 14 with 24 seconds left in the half.

Baltimore took a 21-14 lead when Jackson threaded a 14-yard scoring pass to Mark Andrews in the third quarter, but Goff answered with an 18-yard touchdown strike to St. Brown.

The last time the Lions faced Baltimore, the Ravens won 38-6 in 2023. Baltimore led 28-0 before Detroit even managed a first down that day.

This was Detroit's first win over the Ravens in Baltimore and snapped an overall five-game losing streak in the series.

The Lions were the first team with two touchdown drives of at least 95 yards in a game since New England against Cleveland on Nov. 14, 2021.

Detroit RB Sione Vaki left the game with a groin injury.

Baltimore plays at Kansas City on Sunday in another marquee matchup between Jackson and Patrick Mahomes. Detroit hosts Cleveland.

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Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) is tripped up by Detroit Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes (55) during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson throws a pass against the Detroit Lions during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) is brought down by Detroit Lions linebacker Trevor Nowaske, right, and defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, bottom, during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson reacts after sacking Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5) celebrates his touchdown run with teammates wide receiver Jameson Williams (1), tight end Brock Wright (89), guard Christian Mahogany (73) and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) during the second half of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

DALLAS (AP) — Sen. John Cornyn stood in the shadow of the U.S.-Mexico border wall for a campaign event, but the Texas Republican didn’t offer the kind of diatribe about illegal immigration that stokes his party’s core and fueled Donald Trump’s rise to the White House.

Instead, Cornyn, in his courtly Houston drawl, politely thanked Trump for billions in federal dollars to reimburse Texans for work on the wall, praising “the president of the United States, to whom I am very grateful.”

Cornyn's characteristic calm and measured comments betrayed the urgency of the moment for the four-term senator. He's facing the political fight of his long career against two Republicans who claim closer ties to Trump and his MAGA movement and tend more toward fiery rhetoric. Now, Cornyn could become the first Republican Texas senator to lose renomination in a race that may reflect what GOP primary voters are looking for in their elected officials — and what it takes to survive in Trump’s Republican Party.

Some say the 73-year-old former Texas Supreme Court justice represents a bygone era in the GOP. Still, Cornyn, supporters and the Senate’s Republican leadership are fighting aggressively for an edge in the March 3 primary. They have spent tens of millions of dollars, much of it against his opponents, Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt — both self-styled Trump Republicans.

“We’ve got enough performance artists here in Washington,” Cornyn told The Associated Press, “people who think serving as a representative in the world’s most distinguished representative body — that what qualifies them — is they are loud, they are active on social media and they get a lot of attention.”

Paxton entered the race in April, having emerged from legal troubles that had shadowed his political rise, including beating a 2023 impeachment trial on corruption charges and reaching a deal to end a long-running securities fraud case.

The three-term attorney general has portrayed the investigations against him as persecution by the political establishment, much like Trump has. He contends Cornyn has “completely lost touch with Texas.”

Hunt is still working to raise his profile in Texas. The two-term House member often touts his early endorsement of Trump's 2024 comeback campaign.

Of Cornyn, Hunt recently said, “His moment has passed.”

Hunt's entry in the race last fall made it more likely that no candidate will win at least 50% of the primary vote, sending the top two finishers to a May runoff. The nominee would face the winner of the Democratic primary between Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico.

Mike Fleming, an 80-year-old retired sales manager who attended a recent Hunt campaign event, said Cornyn is a good man but has spent “a lot of his time trying to run for head of the Senate.” Cornyn unsuccessfully ran for Senate majority leader after the 2024 elections.

“If he was the only guy, I would vote for him,” Fleming said.

Cornyn and aligned super PACs have heavily outspent Paxton and Hunt, investing more than $30 million since last summer on television advertising, much of it criticizing his rivals, according to the ad-tracking service AdImpact.

Senate Republican leaders, however, have worried that Paxton, as the nominee, would be costly to defend in the general election. Cornyn's situation is more about a shift in Republican campaign priorities and what candidates need to do to win a GOP primary.

“He plays the part of the distinguished statesman. And that’s what he’s always been,” said Wayne Hamilton, a former executive director of the Texas Republican Party. “But anymore, you have to be very loud about the opposition. And that’s just not him.”

Cornyn also fights a perception among some GOP voters that he’s a moderate.

“He hasn’t been consistent in his conservative representation in his voting,” said Robyn Richardson, 50, from suburban Dallas.

Some Texas conservatives remain angry about Cornyn's work as the GOP’s negotiator on gun restrictions in a 2022 law in the weeks after the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were killed. Democrats narrowly controlled Congress and hoped to enact major changes under President Joe Biden.

The measure didn't go as far as Democrats wanted, but the bipartisan bill was the widest-ranging gun measure passed by Congress in decades. Some Republicans wanted any bill blocked, and a week before its passage, some GOP activists booed Cornyn as he took the stage at a state convention.

Some point to Cornyn being dismissive of Trump during his 2016 campaign and before his 2024 campaign and to his dismissal of Trump's claims of widespread election fraud after he lost to Biden in 2020. Those claims by Trump were debunked.

Cornyn was even skeptical early on about the border wall he took credit for helping finance, calling Trump “naive” in proposing it before he sealed the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Paxton has pointed to that comment, portraying Cornyn as “opposing the border wall.”

The episodes certainly weren't helpful for Cornyn, who has worked to show Texas Republicans where he and Trump agree.

Cornyn aired ads featuring him with Border Patrol agents along the wall, promoting his support to secure $11 billion for Texans' work on it. Another ad promoted Cornyn's 99% support for Trump's agenda, including his three U.S. Supreme Court nominees.

But the disagreements are small compared with the broader shift Cornyn has resisted.

Vinny Minchillo, a veteran Republican consultant in the Dallas area, referred to Cornyn as “an old George W. Bush Republican, which is now a bad thing” since Trump’s rise.

Cornyn was elected attorney general in 1998, winning when a new national conservative figure was rising out of Texas, the newly reelected Gov. George W. Bush, who was elected president two years later.

The Bush name, once a three-generation fixture in Texas politics, quietly disappeared when then-Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, grandson and nephew of two presidents, lost his challenge of Paxton for attorney general in 2022.

“I think there is certainly some level of John Cornyn fatigue,” Minchillo said. “He’s been on the ballot in Texas for a long, long time.”

As of last week, Trump had endorsed dozens of Republican lawmakers in Texas. But he is not expected to endorse ahead of the Senate primary, according to people familiar with the White House thinking but who were not authorized to speak publicly.

That would leave Cornyn among only three incumbent Republican senators seeking reelection who have not received Trump's public backing, with Maine's Susan Collins and Louisiana's Bill Cassidy.

Cornyn acknowledged he's “not somebody who cries out for attention at every opportunity.”

Instead, in the final weeks of the primary campaign, he's hoping voters consider which candidate would be the most effective at getting things done — because he believes they'll support him if they do.

“Sometimes people make the distinction between a workhorse and a show horse,” he said. “And I’m happy to be a workhorse.”

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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Hanna reported from Topeka, Kan. Maya Sweedler contributed from Washington.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, walks through the Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

FILE - Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduces Brooke Rollins during a Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee hearing on her nomination for Secretary of Agriculture, Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)