Lamar Jackson makes NFL history as masterclass leads Baltimore Ravens past Houston Texans

Lamar Jackson broke the NFL career rushing record for quarterbacks to lead Baltimore to a 31-2 victory over the Houston Texans on Christmas Day, bolstering his case for MVP as the Ravens moved closer to the AFC North title.

Jackson threw for 168 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 87 yards and another score, pushing his career rushing total to 6,110 to move past Michael Vick, who had 6,109 in his 13-year career.

The Ravens (11-5) have already wrapped up their third straight playoff berth and need a victory over Cleveland next week to win the division over Pittsburgh. The Steelers dropped a third straight with a loss to Kansas City earlier on Wednesday.

Jackson threw nine and one-yard touchdown passes and was not touched on a 48-yard scoring scamper that made it 24-2 in the third quarter.

Derrick Henry ran for 147 yards and set the Ravens season record with his 16th touchdown on a two-yard run in the first quarter, eclipsing Ray Rice (2011) and Mark Ingram (2019).

Baltimore Ravens:

Houston Texans:

Baltimore dominated a Houston team reeling after losing dynamic receiver Tank Dell to a season-ending knee injury Saturday.

The AFC South champs struggled to finish drives and got their only points on a safety in the second quarter. C.J. Stroud threw for 185 yards, but was sacked five times and threw an interception while Joe Mixon managed just 26 yards rushing as the Texans (9-7) lost a second straight.

Rookie Kamari Lassiter dropped Henry for a four-yard loss for the safety with about 10 minutes left in the first half to cut the lead to 10-2.

Dameon Pierce then returned the kickoff 45 yards to get the Texans to their 43. But they came away empty when Mixon was stopped on the one after grabbing a short pass on fourth-and-three.

Jackson then orchestrated a 99-yard drive to pad the lead. He scrambled to evade the rush and found Mark Andrews for a 67-yard gain to get the Ravens in the red zone with just more than two minutes left in the first half.

Isaiah Likely's nine-yard touchdown reception two plays later made it 17-2, the first half-time score of its kind in NFL history.

Kyle Hamilton intercepted Stroud's pass on the first drive of the second half. Two plays later, Jackson's long touchdown run made it 24-2.

He set the rushing record on a six-yard run on Baltimore's next drive. Later in the series, he scrambled to escape several defenders before finding Andrews for a one-yard score to leave Baltimore up 31-2.