National Football League

NFL Week 8 top plays: Ravens defeat Bucs on Thursday Night Football

Updated Oct. 27, 2022 11:35 p.m. ET

Week 8 of the NFL season kicked off with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defending their home turf against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday Night Football.

Though Tampa got out to an early 7-3 lead, Baltimore's defense stifled Brady as the matchup wore on, while the Ravens' running game proved profitable. The Ravens are now 5-3 on the season, while the Bucs are in unfamiliar territory at 3-5.

Here are the top plays from Thursday's matchup.

Baltimore Ravens 27, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 22

Mishandled!

Baltimore was forced to punt on its first drive, but the Ravens caught a huge break when Tampa's Dee Delaney muffed the boot, returning possession to the Ravens inside the 20-yard line.

The costly error led to an early FG for Baltimore, giving it a 3-0 lead.

Putting it together

The Bucs looked stellar on their first drive of the game, as if they'd had zero problems on the offensive end heading into the affair. Tom Brady & Co. strung together a tough eight-play, 75-yard drive, mixing both the run and pass together to push their way into the end zone.

Leonard Fournette punched in a short handoff to cap the drive.

No sir

Late in the second quarter, Baltimore got within striking distance of the goal line, but was stopped on third down in the red zone.

Presented with a fourth-and-2, Jackson and John Harbaugh elected to try for six rather than three, but came up unsuccessful after Jamel Dean leaped in front of a Jackson lob pass to thwart the play.

Andrews ruled out

After sustaining a shoulder injury in the first half, Jackson's favorite target Mark Andrews was ruled out for the remainder of the game early in the third quarter.

Get your groove on

Without Andrews in the fold, Jackson began taking matters into his own hands. He hadn't been incredibly effective rushing the football through the past couple of weeks, but busted out with an array of ankle-breakers to key a nine-play, 77-yard scoring drive that tied the game at 10.

LJ8 dialed up a five-yard TD throw to Kenyan Drake for the tying score.

Unlikely Hero

The Ravens needed a playmaker to step up in Andrews' absence, and got a contribution from an unlikely source in rookie Isaiah Likely, who did damage in a big way with a clutch 10-yard TD grab in the back of the end zone. The snag put Baltimore up 17-10 late in the third quarter.

Going up!

Brady and his troupe responded with points of their own, albeit three of them. Brady launched a long throw skyward, and when it landed, it fell right into the lap of one Mike Evans. The huge connection was good for 51 yards, and netted Tampa a chip shot FG to keep it within a possession.

Keep it pushing

The Ravens' offense went back to work on its next drive, relying on a massive push from its offensive line to travel 83 yards in nine plays. Devin Duvernay capped the drive with a speedy 15-yard scamper around the left end.

The score put Baltimore up 27-16, and though Tampa scored a late TD to close the gap to five, the Ravens recovered the ensuing onside kick to secure the victory.