BALTIMORE — Ravens tight end Mark Andrews had a rough start against the Washington Commanders on Sunday.
His first target from quarterback Lamar Jackson bounced off his hands and was intercepted by Washington cornerback Mike Sainristil. The Ravens managed to hold Washinton to a 42-yard field goal by Austin Seibert.
“Obviously, starting like that isn’t good,” Andrews said. “That’s not the way you want to start with the first pass thrown to you, but we have guys here who continue to work, work, work, so we don’t get caught up in the little things, especially early on in the game. Lamar had an incredible game throwing the ball [and] running the ball. All we have to do is just keep our heads down, work, and be tough on the defense.”
Andrews did exactly that and caught three passes for a season-high 66 yards. He also recorded the 41st receiving touchdown of his career, tying former tight end Todd Heap for the most in Ravens history.
Andrews, a three-time Pro Bowler, also helped the Ravens win their fourth consecutive game with a 30-23 victory over the Washington Commanders.
“It feels great,” Andrews said about the touchdown. “When you get something like that you should credit your teammates. I’m blessed and fortunate to have a quarterback like that and teammates that surround me. We just want to continue to keep things going, to be patient, and good things will happen. This was a team win, and everyone played really, really well.
“It usually doesn’t take me six games to get in there. Yes, that was a fun one. Lamar threw a great ball.”
Andrews now has 5,043 receiving yards over 93 career games and is the third – and fastest player to reach 5,000 receiving yards in a Ravens career, joining wide receiver Derrick Mason (5,777) and Heap (5,492).
While Andrews has not played a huge role in the passing offense over the first six games, he has been lauded for his blocking skills, especially with the NFL’s top-ranked running game. However, his performance against Washington could be the catalyst for bigger plays in the coming weeks.
Andrews missed six games last season with an ankle injury and was also involved in a car accident during the last week of training camp. He said he was healthy when he got off to a slow start, and Jackson was happy he finally found the end zone.
“I told Mark last week he was supposed to score. I threw a bad ball.” Jackson said. “He was open to the left side at Cincinnati. I told him – I’m like bro, ‘I got to get you in the end zone next week.’ I was ticked off at myself. He was mad at me, too, but he didn’t say [anything] about it. He [was] like, ‘We good.’ He told me, he was like, ‘I was mad at you at first.’ I’m like, ‘I was mad at my damn self – you [aren’t] going to be madder than me.’ It was dope to get him in the end zone.
“He hasn’t been there since Week 10 of last year or something. It was dope, and [there’s] many more to come.”