BALTIMORE — The Commanders arrived for the Battle of the Beltway on Sunday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium as the highest-scoring team in the league. They left it with a defense that couldn’t get off the field.

For a Baltimore team with difficulty holding onto leads and a struggling pass defense, it figured out the best defense was an offense that simply kept the ball out of Washington star quarterback Jayden Daniels’ hands.

The Ravens put together scoring drives of 93 and 94 yards, quarterback Lamar Jackson completed 20-of-26 passes for 323 yards and wide receiver Zay Flowers had a career-high 132 yards on nine catches to spark a 30-23 victory. Baltimore ran for more than 150 yards for the sixth consecutive game, an NFL record. Derrick Henry led the rushing attack with 132 yards and a pair of touchdown runs, helping Baltimore keep the ball for 36 of the game’s 60 minutes.

The victory is the fourth in a row for the Ravens (4-2), while the Commanders (4-2) saw their four-game winning streak end. It also improved Jackson’s career record against the NFC to 22-1.

Early on though, it looked like this one might be a struggle.

On the Ravens’ fourth play of the game and two plays after Flowers went for 44 yards on a short pass, Jackson threw too far out in front of tight end Mark Andrews, the ball deflected off his fingertips and into the waiting arms of cornerback Mike Sainristil, who returned the interception 38 yards to the Ravens’ 49.

Baltimore’s defense stiffened, though, and on third-and-7 from the Ravens’ 13, the coverage tightened and Travis Jones eventually burst in for a sack. Washington had to settle for a 42-yard field goal for the game’s first points.

The lead didn’t last.

After Justin Tucker tied the score with a 45-yard kick of his own, the Ravens offense hit its stride.

Starting with the ball on their own 7, Jackson connected with Rashod Bateman on a comeback for 13 yards to convert a third-and-5. Then he hit a wide open Bateman in the middle of the Commanders’ zone for 22 more, with Henry following with a 16-yard run up the middle.

Flowers then hauled in a pass for 23 more yards before Jackson ran around the right side for 14 more yards to the Commanders’ 14.

Flowers followed that by drawing a pass interference flag on Washington cornerback Benjamin St-Juste in the end zone, which set up an easy Henry 3-yard run around the right side for Baltimore’s first touchdown to give the Ravens a 10-3 lead with 7:59 remaining in the half.

Washington responded with Daniels connecting on 7-of-8 passes for 75 yards, including a 7-yarder in the back of the end zone on a perfect leading throw to wide receiver Terry McLaurin, who beat safety Marcus Williams across the back of the end zone and leaped to haul in the pass and got both feet down to tie the game at 10 with 4:21 remaining in the first half.

But the Ravens offense kept rolling, with Jackson hitting Andrews for his first touchdown of the season wide open in the back of the end zone to cap a 10-play, 78-yard drive.

Washington attempted a 52-yard field goal with five seconds left in the second quarter, but Ravens offensive lineman Ben Cleveland got a piece of the ball and the kick missed.

It was more of the same in the third quarter.

After a 32-yard Tucker field goal on the Ravens’ first possession of the second half, they were pinned at their own 6 following a Commanders punt, but it didn’t matter.

Two straight Henry runs got the Ravens out of trouble, followed by a play action pass to Andrews across the field. Bateman drew a pass interference after being dragged down on third-and-5 from Baltimore’s own 39 before Jackson hit a wide open Andrews for 38 yards.

Faced with a third-and-5 from Washington’s 30, Jackson hit Flowers on a crossing route then ended the drive by going to his old reliable, finding an open Andrews in the back of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown to complete the 94-yard march.

That tied Andrews with Todd Heap for the franchise record for receiving touchdowns at 41 and gave the Ravens a 27-13 lead.

Washington answered again with Daniels hitting McLaurin for a 6-yard touchdown and both teams traded a pair of field goals to round out the scoring.

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