The Ravens defense is as good as advertised.

Baltimore entered Sunday’s game against Detroit with the NFL’s No. 2 overall defense but had not played an offense as complete as the Lions’. Then the Ravens shut them down. Actually, it was a beatdown, 38-6.

There will be a lot of talk about Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and the offense after they scored five touchdowns and a field goal on 10 possessions and piled up 503 yards of total offense, but the story of this win was the Ravens defense.

This group has been consistent all season, and it has to be that way because the offense is erratic. On Sunday, the Ravens shut out Detroit for three quarters and allowed only 337 yards of total offense, 97 of which came in the first half when the game was still somewhat competitive.

If the Lions are one of the best offenses in the NFL, then what does that say about the Ravens defense? Baltimore crushed Detroit until the last quarter, when it was garbage time.

“If I recall, I think earlier in the week, I said I’m from the ‘show me’ business,” Ravens middle linebacker Roquan Smith said. “A lot of things happened here and there, but you have to show me once we’re on the field.

“I don’t believe in all the things you hear and say. Like I said, that team hadn’t been tested just yet, so that’s what it was.”

The same could have been said about the Ravens. In the second half of the 2022 season, they had perhaps the best defense in the NFL after the San Francisco 49ers. But in 2023, they hadn’t been tested by a good quarterback because both the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow and Pittsburgh Steelers’ Kenny Pickett played injured and Deshaun Watson missed the Ravens’ 28-3 victory against Cleveland on Oct. 1 because of a shoulder injury.

Then came the Lions. They were without injured starting running back David Montgomery, but the Ravens were also missing their top back J.K. Dobbins.

Let’s call that a draw. The game wasn’t.

The Ravens sacked Lions quarterback Jared Goff five times. In previous years, there were always questions about the Ravens’ pass rush, but they entered Sunday leading the league in sacks. It will be interesting to see if outside linebackers Kyle Van Noy, 32, and Jadeveon Clowney, 30, hold up at the end of the season, but so far they’ve played well.

Van Noy had five tackles Sunday, including two sacks. By the end of the third quarter, Goff’s body language was easy to read: “Can’t we go home now?”

“[Defensive coordinator] Mike [Macdonald] reiterated all the time throughout the week that if you startle Goff early, he starts to get panicky,” Ravens defensive end Justin Madubuike said. “That’s exactly what happened.”

The Ravens also stuffed the Lions’ running game, which finished with 84 yards, 21 of which came on a touchdown run by rookie Jahmyr Gibbs with 14:05 left in the fourth quarter.

No team has been able to run the ball against the Ravens, which is why they entered Sunday ranked 10th in the league allowing 97.7 rushing yards per game.

A major key to winning in the NFL is to shut down the run and the play-action passing game, making the opponent one-dimensional. That’s what the Ravens did to the Lions.

“You know, the run game always helps us,” Detroit coach Dan Campbell said. “That’s something that we always want to hang our hat on. It’s kind of where everything starts for us. I’ll be the first to say, when you go three-and-out your first two series, and then they gain 14 points in their first two series, that’s a hard recipe there early in the game. You feel like you get put in a pretty tough spot in both areas.

“I thought we would be able to overcome it and get some momentum back. We thought, but we couldn’t get it turned over. We couldn’t quite get going.”

Maybe the most surprising development has been the play of the Ravens secondary. All week there was concern about the Lions’ passing game with receivers Josh Reynolds and Amon-Ra St. Brown and rookie tight end Sam LaPorta. Detroit had the NFL’s fourth-ranked passing game (averaging 259.5 yards per game), and the Ravens were concerned about yards after the catch, especially since Detroit entered with 32 plays of more than 20 yards.

But the Lions averaged only 8.6 yards per catch Sunday. St. Brown had 13 catches for 102 yards but wasn’t much of a factor. The receivers couldn’t shake free of cornerback Marlon Humphrey and safety Kyle Hamilton.

The Ravens also got strong games from reserve safety Geno Stone — who added his league-leading fourth interception — and cornerback Arthur Maulet. They also started cornerback Brandon Stephens, a converted safety. Maulet had eight tackles and a sack, and Hamilton added seven tackles.

Where do the Ravens find these guys?

“You have to be steeled to play back there,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “You have to have a certain mindset, and we want tough guys. We want guys that will do their job, but guys that will have their eyes where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there, tackle and play hard.”

That’s the brand of football Baltimore fans are used to seeing.

The game has changed since the Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV with one of the best defenses ever, but this year’s unit, built around linebackers Smith and Patrick Queen, is good, too. It sounds familiar to the one in 2000 with linebackers Peter Boulware, Jamie Sharper and Ray Lewis.

Only time will tell if the 2023 Ravens can be mentioned in the same breath as that legendary group. But for right now, the calling card of this team is still defense, which has to carry the Ravens until the offense becomes more consistent.

The offense is a work in progress. The defense is already a finished product.

They proved it again Sunday.

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The time may have come for Matt Poitras to find some permanent digs in Boston.

The 19-year-old rookie has been trying to prove that he belongs in the National Hockey League instead of back with the US junior team in Guelph, and he made the best case possible on Sunday night in Anaheim.

Poitras scored his first two career goals in the third period to lift the B’s to a 3-1 come-from-behind win over the Ducks in Anaheim.

Before Poitras struck, it appeared the game was getting away form the B’s.

The Ducks had broken a scoreless tie at 5:05 of the third period off the rush. Kevin Shattenkirk got caught trying to pinch and the Ducks were off to the races. Eventually, Mason MacTavish cleaned a up a Ryan Strome pass on a 2-on-1.

But the B’s tied it up just 1:24 later on a momentous goal. Poitras had been the B’s most creative player from the second period on .But at 6:29, he was the recipient of a sweet feed. Off the rush, Morgan Geekie took the puck in deep on his off wing and made a pretty backhand pass to Poitras, who deposited his first NHL goal into a wide open net.

The kid wasn’t done.

Poitras gave the B’s the lead at 10:20. This time he parked himself at the right side of the net from where he was able to lift a rebound of a Jake DeBrusk shot over goalie John Gibson for the 2-1 lead.

Brad Marchand then gave the B’s a two-goal cushion with an empty net goal with 2:34 left in regulation.

The B’s had some decent chances in the first period and nearly took the lead right off the bat. On an early penalty kill, Jake DeBrusk had a clean breakaway and had Gibson beaten but the shot clanged off the post.

The B’s also had three power-play chances and their attack got more potent with each chance, but Gibson (23 saves) was solid in net.

In the second period, the Ducks started to wrest control of the flow as the B’s got too loose, allowing Anaheim to gain the zone with speed, but Linus Ullmark made all the required stops.

The B’s, outshot in the second period 11-5, finally got a couple of chances late in the period. Poitras stole the puck behind the Anaheim net and set up Shattenkirk for a great scoring chance that Gibson gobbled up. David Pastrnak also set up Pavel Zacha for a good chance but Gibson didn’t give him any room on the shortside.

*Jake DeBrusk was back in the lineup against the Ducks after being scratched for Saturday’s game in Los Angeles because he was late for a team meeting. Coach Jim Montgomery said DeBrusk “handled it like a pro” and that the matter is behind them.

“There’s just a standard we believe in here and and when that standard isn’t met, there’s repercussions. But yesterday’s over with. It’s a new day and we’re moving forward,” Montgomery told reporters in Anaheim before the game.

*A couple of B’s veterans were nicked up and had to sit on Sunday. Milan Lucic, who picked up the primary assist on Morgan Geekie’s goal against the Kings when he took Derek Forbort’s shot off his right foot, had to take the night off, as did Forbort, who has been battling a groin injury.

*Matt Grzelcyk had to leave the game briefly in the first period when he took a huge hit from Sam Carrick in the offensive slot but he was able to return.

*Trent Frederic ran into a big Radko Gudas check late in the second period and had to go to the room but he returned to start the third period.

Jaylon Johnson jumped in front of Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams to grab the interception, raced 39 yards for a touchdown and then made a beeline for the FOX broadcast camera.

As Johnson’s teammates gathered around to celebrate his second career interception — and his first of two picks Sunday — Johnson smirked at the camera and swiped one hand up over the other, raining imaginary money over the Soldier Field end zone.

Was he sending a message with that celebration in the Bears’ joy-filled 30-12 victory over the Raiders, you ask?

“You damn right,” Johnson said. “100%.”

Johnson’s two interceptions — one off veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer and one off rookie Aidan O’Connell — were part of a banner day for the Bears defense against a Raiders team missing starter Jimmy Garoppolo. Tremaine Edmunds also intercepted Hoyer. The Bears let the Raiders in the end zone just once, held them to 39 yards rushing and allowed only 2 of 9 third-down conversions as they halted a 10-game home losing streak.

Johnson’s picks came in the fourth quarter, the first with the Bears already holding a 24-6 lead, but they were notable for a number of reasons.

Johnson, a 2020 Bears second-round draft pick, is in the final year of his rookie contract and will be looking to sign a new deal in the months ahead — either with the Bears or another NFL team. Johnson said Sunday he has “been wanting to get to the table” to work out such a contract, thus the money celebration.

“I know who I am, and I know I can play this game at a high level,” Johnson said. “And I feel like I deserve to be paid like that. I’m taking that attitude for any team, for any and everybody in the NFL. So I mean if it’s with the Bears, then I’ll do that.”

Entering Sunday, Johnson had started 43 games in his Bears career and had 32 passes defended. He prides himself on being game to lock down the best receivers in the league. But prior to Sunday he had just one interception — on Sept. 19, 2021, against Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. Twenty-eight games followed without a pick.

Johnson has spoken this season about wanting to add to that total. But he stopped short of saying the streak without one weighed on him because he also prides himself on being reliable.

“It’s only so much you can do when you don’t get too many opportunities,” he said. “And you don’t want to force it and get too happy and start jumping routes and you get beat over the top. I’m definitely a sound player and want to do what I need to do to be in position to make plays on the ball. And if they give me an opportunity to catch the ball, I’m going to do it every time.”

That his first interception Sunday came while defending Adams was fitting given that Johnson has been asked multiple times about wanting to defend the former Green Bay Packers All-Pro receiver.

Johnson said he could see Hoyer eyeing Adams and knew the football was coming his way, so he broke before Adams did. After Johnson grabbed the ball, Kyler Gordon stepped in front of Adams to block, and Johnson knew he was getting to the end zone. The pick-six came one drive after Johnson was called for a 46-yard pass interference penalty against Tre Tucker that he said was a good call and “not acceptable” on his part.

Later in the fourth quarter, Johnson jumped in front of O’Connell’s pass to Jakobi Meyers for the other pick. Afterward, Johnson kneeled on the sideline because “God has done so much for me, and I was just taking the time to give him the glory.”

“It meant the world to him,” cornerback Tyrique Stevenson said. “After the second pick, I walked up to him and gave him a hug. You could feel the emotion. It’s something he’s been wanting, something we’ve been praying about, something we’ve talking about. Just for him to go out there and be a leader of the defense and take away two, it just added to the confidence of this defense.”

The Bears defensive effort obviously was much more than just Johnson. Stevenson, often defending Adams, had three passes defended. Defensive lineman Justin Jones had a sack. Edmunds grabbed an interception of Hoyer in the second quarter when it bounced off the hand of running back Josh Jacobs, and the takeaway led to the Bears’ second touchdown six plays later.

Edmunds and fellow linebacker T.J. Edwards, both new to the Bears this year, talked about the confidence building in the defense as they grow more comfortable with one another. And they talked about the good vibe that develops as they make more game-changing plays.

“We have a lot of playmakers out there that can make those big-time plays,” said Edmunds, who has two takeaways in two weeks. “Defense in general strives off that, just energy. What one person do, we all feel.”

In back-to-back home games, the Bears have held the Minnesota Vikings and Raiders offenses to just 12 points. The Vikings were without star wide receiver Justin Jefferson and the Raiders were without Garoppolo.

But that doesn’t diminish the confidence growing in the unit. Or the satisfaction Johnson was sure he would feel when he went home Sunday night.

“I get to go home and watch TV with a smile on my face and not want to turn the TV on,” Johnson said. “Honestly, just going out here and getting the dub for the home crowd, for all of the city, I know it’s been a long time coming. It’s really just about giving them what they want. They come out and show up each and every game and give us energy, and it’s only right to give them a W.”

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