luckadjusted

Week 3 2025 · September 22, 2025

Lions at Ravens, Week 3 2025: who deserved to win?

The Lions beat the Ravens 38–30 and were the better team on the day: replayed with the same form, they win 6 of 10. The Ravens had the bounces: judgment calls alone were worth 5.5 points to the Ravens.

Before kickoff the Ravens were 63% favorites. The biggest swing (Q4, 15:00 left): the Lions converted 4th & 1, worth 16 points of win probability to the Lions.

Final

Detroit Lions 38
Baltimore Ravens 30

September 22, 2025 · M&T Bank Stadium · Closing line: Ravens −4.5

Luck index +37 Lions lucky · −37 Ravens

Each team’s own plays from this game, resampled into new drives 4,000 times: with the way both teams actually played, how often does this performance win? How the replay works

Ten replays. Lions win 6, Ravens win 4.

  1. 1 DET 33 BAL 7
  2. 2 DET 37 BAL 20
  3. 3 DET 38 BAL 24
  4. 4 DET 40 BAL 31
  5. 5 DET 40 BAL 34
  6. 6 DET 30 BAL 28
  7. 7 DET 28 BAL 30
  8. 8 DET 25 BAL 31
  9. 9 DET 14 BAL 26
  10. 10 DET 19 BAL 41

Three other ways to ask

Each answers a different question, so none of them replaces the replay above.

The closing betting line, turned into a probability. What everyone knew before the game.

The line plus what this game showed, weighted by how much one game can tell. It stays close to the line because one game says little.

Every kick, fumble bounce, drop, conversion and judgment call redrawn; everything else fixed. The narrowest view of luck.

How 4,000 replays ended

Lions win 63% of them, Ravens 37%, counting the 2% still level after regulation as half each. The line is what actually happened: Lions by 8.

Show as a table
Final margin in the replaysShare of replays
Lions by 17+19.3%
Lions by 9–1618.4%
Lions by 1–825.3%
Level after regulation2.4%
Ravens by 1–817.5%
Ravens by 9–1610.8%
Ravens by 17+6.5%

Where the luck was

Take the luck out

The final margin was Lions by 8. Remove the luck, one kind at a time, and it becomes Lions by 10.6.

Each row takes one kind of luck out of the margin. Color shows which team it helped. Luck shares are the fitted ones (how much of each component is luck).

The kicks

How likely each kicker was to make that kick (his own record, the distance and the weather), and what happened.

  • J. Bates, 67 yds missed · 48% expected
  • T. Loop, 41 yds made · 86% expected
  • J. Bates, 45 yds made · 79% expected
Bar: expected chance of a make. Filled dot: made. Open dot: missed or blocked.

When it happened

Ravens’ chance of winning

As low as 0% and as high as 76%. Numbers mark the biggest luck moments, listed below.

nflfastR’s in-game win probability. It ignores the betting line, so it starts near even. Shaded above the middle while the Ravens were ahead in it, below while the Lions were.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability forNext drive
1 Q1 10:27 The Lions converted 4th & 33rd & 4th downs · 55% expected +8% DET DET: Touchdown
2 Q1 5:47 The Ravens converted 3rd & 13rd & 4th downs · 75% expected +9% BAL BAL: Touchdown
3 Q2 0:02 J. Bates missed 67-yard field goalKicks · 48% expected for him, 9 of 13 from 45+ before +13% BAL DET: Touchdown
4 Q3 8:55 The Ravens converted 3rd & 143rd & 4th downs · 24% expected +13% BAL BAL: Touchdown
5 Q4 15:00 The Lions converted 4th & 13rd & 4th downs · 70% expected +16% DET DET: Touchdown
6 Q4 8:48 The Lions were stopped on 3rd & 53rd & 4th downs · 45% expected +7% BAL DET: Punt
7 Q4 8:31 The Ravens fumbled and the Lions recoveredFumble bounces · loose balls are close to 50/50 +9% DET BAL: Punt
8 Q4 7:48 Face Mask on the Lions, 15 yards, wiping out the playJudgment calls +8% BAL BAL: Punt

Missing players

Key players (usually on the field for half the snaps or more) who missed this game or part of it, valued by position and quality. The same players are missing in every replay, so this counts as luck in points only.

  • Isaiah Likely (BAL TE), out · 0.7 pts
  • Nnamdi Madubuike (BAL DL), out · 0.6 pts
  • Nnamdi Madubuike (BAL DT), out · 0.5 pts
  • Ar'Darius Washington (BAL FS), out (IR) · 0.4 pts
  • Kyle Van Noy (BAL LB), out · 0.2 pts
  • Levi Onwuzurike (DET DE), out (IR) · 0.3 pts
  • Marcus Davenport (DET DE), out (IR) · 0.3 pts

Adjust the assumptions

Disagree with how much of a fumble bounce or a pass interference call is luck? Change it and the coin-flip replay reruns in your browser.

Only coin-flips re-rolled

Lions 98% · Ravens 2%

Final margin
Lions by 8
Luck in points
2.6 for the Ravens
Luck-adjusted margin
Lions by 10.6
Replay with same day's form
Lions 63% · Ravens 37% unchanged: why
How much of each is luck?

0% treats it as skill, 100% as pure luck. The tick is our fit.

What counts

We tested momentum on 19,000 lucky breaks and found none, so it's off by default. Why

Flip a play

Force the other outcome, in this game and in every replay: a made kick becomes a miss, a stop becomes a conversion, a flag goes the other way.

About these numbers

Play-by-play and win probability from nflfastR via nflverse; kicks valued against each kicker’s own record; drops and interception-worthy throws from FTN charting; injuries from snap counts and injury reports.

Methodology and validation · All Week 3 2025 games · Lions · Ravens

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