Tylan Wallace becomes Ravens’ unlikely hero with punt return TD in win over Rams

10-12 minutes 12/11/2023
BALTIMORE — Tylan Wallace sat on the Baltimore Ravens’ bench as the delirium had finally dissipated around him. The first order of business was catching his breath. He had just sprinted 76 yards after breaking three tackles, regaining his balance and keeping his feet when it looked like he was going to the ground, then he front-flipped into the end zone to culminate a wet and wild day of football.
Next came the beating he took from his celebratory teammates and coaches who delivered hugs and head slaps, turning the back of the west end zone at M&T Bank Stadium into a mosh pit.
But Wallace wanted to make sure he took it all in, too, including getting one more look at the scoreboard. Ravens 37, Los Angeles Rams 31.
The 24-year-old wide receiver hadn’t had a moment that came anywhere close to matching this in his three-year NFL career. He understands how elusive these moments can be. Since the Ravens selected him in the fourth round of the 2021 draft, Wallace has essentially been a back-end roster guy, mostly playing special teams while getting limited opportunities to do anything with the football. Wallace has six receptions in 33 career games, and none this year.
When training camp started in July, Wallace was viewed as being on the proverbial bubble, a potential roster casualty resulting from the team’s offseason makeover at wide receiver. On cutdown day in the summer, Wallace waited in his car outside the team facility, phone in hand, just hoping it wouldn’t ring with bad news. It didn’t.
Wallace made the 53-man roster after a strong preseason. But before he settled under an Ethan Evans punt with around eight minutes left in overtime Sunday, Wallace’s most notable play of the regular season came when he lined up offside on a Rams punt in the second quarter, prolonging a drive that the visitors turned into a touchdown.
He needed redemption, and the Ravens badly needed a win.
“A once-in-a-lifetime moment,” Wallace said.
Wallace had never returned a punt in a regular-season game in his career. However, when Devin Duvernay went down with a back injury in the second quarter on the same play Wallace lined up offside, Baltimore opted to give the third-year receiver the opportunity. The reward came a few hours later.
With his 76-yard punt return touchdown after both the Rams’ and Ravens’ defenses had gotten stops in overtime, Wallace wrote a new chapter in a Baltimore season that has already featured some gratifying highs and extreme lows. It would be tough to top Sunday’s victory regarding the former.
“You’re talking about amazing events. That’s the beauty of football,” said Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who sprinted to the end zone to celebrate with his players before realizing he still had to shake Rams coach Sean McVay’s hand. Harbaugh ran back toward midfield, almost falling in the process. “That’s the amazing thing about football. It is the ultimate team game. The guys were so happy for Tylan in the locker room. You’ll see the celebration in the locker room after the game with all the water and everything and the guys going crazy. When you see it, you’re going to know exactly what I’m talking about. That celebration right there is what it means.”
Thanks to Wallace’s heroics, the Ravens are 10-3. They maintained their two-game lead in the AFC North with four to play, and they moved back into the top spot in the conference, although the Miami Dolphins (9-3) can overtake them with a victory over the Tennessee Titans on Monday night.
Yet, for significant chunks of Sunday’s game, their matchup with the Rams was taking on the look of a major missed opportunity that would especially sting with Baltimore having to play division leaders (Jacksonville, San Francisco and Miami) over the next three weeks.
Coming off a bye, Baltimore’s mistakes were mounting. Lamar Jackson threw a second-quarter interception that turned into a Rams field goal. Then he and his center, Tyler Linderbaum, had a miscommunication late in the third quarter that resulted in a snap skirting past the quarterback through the end zone and the Rams getting a tiebreaking safety.
Jackson, who accounted for 386 yards of total offense and threw touchdowns to Isaiah Likely, Odell Beckham Jr. and Zay Flowers, more than made up for it, leading the Ravens on a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive after they fell behind 28-23 with just under five minutes to play. On a third-and-17, Jackson made one of his best passes of the season, throwing over a rushing Aaron Donald and hitting Flowers for a 21-yard touchdown.
Lamar zips it to Zay Flowers and the @Ravens take the lead with 1:16 to go!
Wide receiver Nelson Agholor “was telling me if we do that play, he’s going to run to the safety and run him out of the window, (then) Zay should be wide open, and that’s exactly what happened,” Jackson said. “We had the coverage, the safety jumped Nelly and Zay did the rest.”
Jackson also hit Flowers for the two-point conversion to give the Ravens a 31-28 lead with 1:16 remaining.
Defensively, Baltimore struggled for much of the wet afternoon as McVay and Matthew Stafford seemed a step ahead of Mike Macdonald and his defense. The Ravens couldn’t stop the run early and started losing track of the Rams’ wide receivers later. It didn’t help that standout safety Kyle Hamilton went out with a knee injury and the team’s most accomplished cornerback, Marlon Humphrey, was struggling to keep up in his return from a calf injury.
Baltimore’s second-ranked defense did stabilize somewhat in the second half, forcing punts on four straight Rams possessions. But the Ravens allowed the go-ahead score to former teammate DeMarcus Robinson at the 4:41 mark of the fourth quarter. And then after Jackson and Flowers helped the Ravens retake the lead, the defense allowed the Rams to march right down and tie the game on Lucas Havrisik’s 36-yard field goal.
The defense got its redemption by forcing a three-and-out on the Rams’ lone possession of overtime.
“We know exactly who we are,” Ravens middle linebacker Roquan Smith said. “We don’t shy away from that at all. Whether it’s going to be a four-quarter game or five-quarter game, we’re going to be here at the end of the day, and that’s our mindset. We just have to keep going and get better from the mistakes that we (made) throughout the game, because we know certain plays throughout the game weren’t us.”
Then, there was Wallace. The Ravens already picked a receiver in the first round of the 2021 draft, selecting Rashod Bateman No. 27. They didn’t plan to take another one, but they just thought that Wallace, who had a prolific career at Oklahoma State, was too good to pass up. Wallace, though, has had to earn his stripes on special teams.
He was involved in an animated conversation with coaches on the sideline after the offside penalty. That Stafford turned the second chance into a 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Davis Allen and a 17-14 lead only made the error worse. It wasn’t long after when Wallace was told he’d be returning punts for the rest of the game because of Duvernay’s injury.
“I hadn’t had too many in-game punt returns, so, the main thing for me, especially with the weather, I was just like, ‘I need to catch it first before anything,’” Wallace said. “On that play, we had the return set up, and I was like, ‘This is a perfect opportunity to put the game away.’ Shoutout to the guys blocking for me. It was wide open, so I appreciate them helping me out. I just saw the crease, and I just took it outside. It just feels great to be able to make a difference in the game and help the team win.”
Wallace caught Evans’ punt at the Ravens’ 24. To Wallace’s right, Jalyn Armour-Davis had pushed Rams defensive back Shaun Jolly upfield. To his left, toward the sideline, Wallace saw space because Trenton Simpson had sealed off Ben Skowronek and Charlie Kolar had taken out Jake Hummel with a shove that easily could have been flagged for a block in the back. Kolar certainly had that concern as he rolled over and scanned to see whether a flag was thrown.
“It was close,” Kolar acknowledged. “That guy I was going against, Jake, is like my best friend. He was my roommate in college for five years. I train with him every offseason. He’s fast as hell. I knew that I had to get out (there). He had a step on me, so I just dove for it. It was close. Thank God they didn’t call it.”
Ravens defensive backs Daryl Worley and Ronald Darby did a nice job with their double-team along the sideline on the Rams’ Tre Tomlinson, creating a hole. Del’Shawn Phillips drove Troy Reeder out of the play. Josh Ross prevented Keir Thomas from getting an angle on Wallace. The Ravens returner first had to make a man miss. He spun out of a tackle attempt by Royce Freeman at Baltimore’s 30. He eluded a diving attempt by Christian Rozeboom at the 35 and got past long snapper Alex Ward’s tackle effort on the 40.
There was only one Ram in front of him, but Justice Hill had a body on Evans. Wallace’s biggest threat came from behind as Jolly dove at his legs at the Rams’ 42. Wallace stumbled, nearly going to the ground at the Rams’ 38.
“I was about to go down, (but) I can’t go down right here,” Wallace said. “I made it this far, I’m like, ‘I have to keep going. I have to stay up.’”
Wallace never went down until his front flip carried him into the end zone. The game was over. The celebration had begun.
The Ravens’ 2023 season had found a new hero, and Wallace might have been one of the most unlikely ones of them all.
“He deserves that one because he comes to practice every day, works, (he’s) quiet, and he just does everything we need him to do,” Flowers said. “His number was called, and he made a play.”