1. Vikings beaten by “Lamar Lite”

The Vikings were beaten by a three-win Ravens team that didn’t need Lamar Jackson to play like Lamar Jackson, two-time NFL MVP and the greatest athlete ever to play quarterback. Call what we saw in Sunday’s 27-19 Baltimore win “Lamar Lite.” Clearly, coach John Harbaugh and his medical staff were protecting Jackson’s legs in his second game back from a hamstring injury.

Jackson left the pocket to pass only four times, completing two passes, one for a 2-yard touchdown and the other for a two-point conversion. He scrambled out of the pocket only two times for 13 yards and one first down on second-and-7. He had five designed runs for 22 yards, including a 7-yard sweep on third-and-2 from the Vikings’ 9 and a 3-yard gain on a toss sweep from tight end Mark Andrews on third-and-1 at the Vikings’ 14. Harbaugh also kicked a 28-yard field goal rather than turn Jackson loose on a fourth-and-2 from the Vikings’ 10-yard line while down 10-3. But a meh game by Jackson’s standards was good enough.

2. McCarthy’s inaccuracy was alarming

J.J. McCarthy led major college football in completion percentage (72.3) two years ago. That seemed very hard to believe on Sunday while watching him toss 22 incompletions in 42 tries. The Ravens pressured him 20 times, but 10 came in the final 10 minutes when running the ball wasn’t an option. And besides, McCarthy’s worst throws came when there was no pressure. The Ravens’ horrendous pass rush entered the game with only 11 sacks, second-worst in the league. Yet McCarthy looked rushed when he shouldn’t have been. Two of the eight failed targets to Justin Jefferson stood out as unforced, “what the heck!?” misfires on fourth-and-3 from the Ravens’ 14 and third-and-10 from the Ravens’ 35. He also had three balls batted down at the line of scrimmage, two by Kyle Hamilton, the All-Pro who proved yet again that he’s no Lewis Cine.

McCarthy sometimes looked like a guy who needed a paper bag to breathe into. Yet, the first 10 times he was pressured in the first three quarters, he completed 4 of 9 passes, including third-down conversions to Jefferson (10 yards) and Jalen Nailor (18 yards). Bottom line: He’s good, but not good enough to beat the typical NFL learning curve. Buckle up. It’s going to be a bumpy ride for a while.

Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton (14) tips a pass thrown by Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) in the third quarter on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

3. Loss or not, Redmond was a force

The Vikings wasted one of the best days by a defensive tackle since Hall of Fame-worthy Kevin Williams was spanking opponents as an All-Decade player in the 2000s. Jalen Redmond, the second-year NFL surprise via the UFL, was outstanding, beating the man across from him and making sound tackles throughout the game. Despite the loss, Redmond should save the footage of this game to show his grandkids how he played against Derrick Henry and Jackson when those two guys have busts in Canton, Ohio.

Redmond had eight tackles, second-most in the game behind teammate Blake Cashman (11). Redmond’s five solo tackles were a team high. He stuffed Henry three times for no gain, once for a 1-yard gain and once for a 2-yard gain. One of the stops for no gain was on first-and-goal from the 4 and led to a field goal. Jackson’s first designed run was stopped for 2 yards by Redmond. That led to a three-and-out. Redmond also had a sack of Jackson nullified by one of the Vikings’ 13 penalties for 102 yards.

Watch the postgame “Access Vikings”:

4. Missing Jefferson, Addison 16 times? Yikes

It’s doggone hard to throw 23 balls at Jefferson and Jordan Addison and not connect 16 times, eight apiece, for a .304 completion percentage to the team’s top two receivers. How hard? Well, Jefferson, who had four catches for 37 yards, has played 87 games, including playoffs. Eight misfires to him ties his career high. It also happened in wins over the Steelers in 2021, when he caught seven balls for 79 yards and a touchdown, and the Jets last year, when he caught six balls for 29 yards.

As for Addison, who had three catches for 35 yards, the eight misfires to him was his career high by three. His previous high was five when he caught three of eight targets for 36 yards in last year’s victory over the Jets.

Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) makes a 10-yard gain in their opening drive against the Ravens He had only four catches on 12 targets. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

5. Turner latest victim of unrealistic rule

The greatest play of Dallas Turner’s two-year NFL career never happened. And that’s because he became the latest in a long line of defenders robbed of a game-changing sack because he was too dominant while destroying the guy in front of him en route to a quarterback. Turner’s sack looked like the textbook tackle you’ll find on posters in high school locker rooms around the country (or at least the ones that were around in the early 1980s). Turner tackled Jackson with his head up, facemask to the chest. He wrapped up, took him to the ground and, sorry, landed on Jackson with his full body weight. A 10-yard sack would have forced the Ravens to kick a 53-yard field goal with 5 seconds left in the first half. They missed a 56-yarder later. Instead, they made a 30-yarder.

“Unfortunately, that’s the way it is now,” said 14-year safety Harrison Smith. “That’s the rule. You have to somehow not land on him. It’s hard, but that’s the rule.”

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Sometimes, it’s not hard. It’s impossible. And it’s crossing a line beyond how the game should be played.