Detroit Lions vs. Baltimore Ravens: Live score updates, highlights, injury updates

Live updates from the Detroit Lions’ Week 7 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens, including scores, highlights, and injury news.

The Detroit Lions are suddenly a team with pretty darn high expectations for the 2023 season. At 5-1, they sit comfortably atop the NFC North and have a share of the lead in the entire conference. But if they want this season to be truly special—with success deep into January—they’re going to have to take on the elite of the elite.

Enter their Week 7 opponent: the Baltimore Ravens.

The absolute prototype of a stable, healthy franchise, the Ravens enter Sunday’s game at 4-2 with yet another division title run on the horizon. Baltimore has made the playoffs in four of the past five years—although they haven’t made it past the divisional round in 11 years.

Still, these are the type of teams the Lions need to beat if they want people to take them seriously as true Super Bowl contenders. It’s not going to be easy. It’s not going to be a cakewalk. And with David Montgomery, Jonah Jackson and Jerry Jacobs declared out, it certainly won’t be the easiest path to victory against the Ravens.

But Detroit is also getting several players back this week. Rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs and defensive back Brian Branch return to the lineup after missing multiple games, giving Detroit a much-needed boost among a beat-up roster.

Can’t watch the game live? We’ll be providing live updates on this post right here. When the game kicks off at 1 p.m. ET, just refresh this page periodically, and drive-by-drive analysis will appear, along with highlights and injury updates.

See you at 1 p.m. ET!

First quarter

The Ravens won the toss and wanted the ball first. It only took them seven plays to drive the entire field. Lamar Jackson found Zay Flowers wide open for a 46-yard gain against soft zone coverage.

A few plays later, Tracy Walker tackled Jackson for a short gain to set up a fourth-and-1 in the red zone. But Baltimore went for it and dialed up a perfect play action, fooling the entire Lions defense and allowing Jackson to scamper in for an easy 7-yard touchdown run. 7-0 Ravens.

A good kick return set the Lions up on their own 38-yard line, but they quickly went three-and-out after Jared Goff was sacked on third-and-6. A solid Jack Fox punt was negated when Chase Lucas ran into the punt returner, giving the Ravens solid field position.

The Lions appeared to get a three-and-out defensively, but a ticky-tacky illegal touching flag on Walker and an intentional grounding gave Baltimore another at third-and-7, and Jackson found Rashod Bateman for 16 yards. Two plays later, he found Bateman again for 20 down to the Lions’ 30-yard line. On third down, Jackson brilliantly found time, scrambled and connected with Nelson Agholor for a quick 14-0 Ravens lead.

The Lions offense went three-and-out for their second consecutive drive. Goff overthrew tight end Sam LaPorta on third-and-6 after the rookie tight end stumbled out of his break. Fox had another brilliant punt, pinning the Ravens at their own 8-yard line.

Baltimore quickly got out of their own end zone with Jackson finding Odell Beckham Jr. for 20 yards on the first play of the drive. A holding penalty pushed them back and forced a third-and-11 for the Ravens, but Jackson found Flowers wide open again for 22 yards down to their own 49-yard line.

Second quarter

The Lions sent an all-out blitz to start the second quarter and that left fullback Patrick Ricard wide open for a 28-yard gain. Three plays later, Mark Andrew broke open with Jack Campbell in coverage on play action for an 11-yard touchdown and a 21-0 Ravens lead.