EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The idea came to Broderick Washington last Sunday. The veteran defensive lineman was in the Ravens’ locker room, contemplating his four-plus seasons in Baltimore, enjoying the final hours of a long-awaited bye, when a speech started to come to mind.

As a captain for the Ravens’ game Sunday against the New York Giants, Washington would have a captive audience at Wednesday’s practice. Soft-spoken and thoughtful, Washington was an unlikely candidate for a rah-rah speech. But, as he started to address his teammates, a few friends cheered him on. Washington would later call it a “perfect opportunity” for his sermon.

“I’ve been here for five years, and every year I feel like no team has actually beat us,” Washington recalled saying Sunday. “It’s always us beating ourselves. My message was, just, let’s make sure we’re on top of all of the little things, so we don’t beat ourselves.”

Message received. The Ravens, with few notable exceptions, did not beat themselves Sunday. They saved most of their whoopings inside MetLife Stadium for the New York Giants. In a 35-14 win over one of the NFL’s least talented, most injury-depleted teams, the Ravens finished with nearly double their total yardage (445-236) and more touchdowns (five) than incompletions (four).

Ahead of the biggest game of their season, the Ravens were content to take care of business and let the Eagles take care of theirs. With Philadelphia’s win Sunday over the AFC North-leading Pittsburgh Steelers, the Ravens are one game back in the division. With a win, Pittsburgh would claim the AFC North title in Baltimore. A Ravens win would make them nearly favorites (about 48%) to repeat as division champions, according to The New York Times’ playoff simulator, and earn a top-four playoff seed in the AFC.

With a shortened workweek in a compressed schedule — the Ravens play on Saturday before heading to Houston for a Christmas Day game against the Texans — coach John Harbaugh’s 24-hour rule did not apply. The Ravens did not have that kind of time for reflection. They were already preparing for Pittsburgh, or at least preparing to prepare.

“We’ve already talked about it,” Harbaugh said. “We’ll be working [on the] game plan tonight, tomorrow and into the short week.”

The Ravens will face a different kind of challenge Saturday against Pittsburgh, which has won four straight meetings and eight of the past nine. The Steelers offer graduate-level tests of toughness and talent. The Giants’ are far more remedial.

With Week 1 starter Daniel Jones released and backup Drew Lock hurt, the Giants started Tommy DeVito at quarterback, only to turn to Tim Boyle after a concussed DeVito was knocked out of the game. They were missing their All-Pro left tackle, Andrew Thomas. They were missing their All-Pro defensive lineman, Dexter Lawrence.

Five other Giants defenders who’ve started at least nine games this season were sidelined. The few brave Giants fans who arrived at the stadium early — in truth, not many came at all — would’ve seen a plane flying a banner over the stadium that read: “We won’t stop until you fire everyone.”

Quarterback Lamar Jackson didn’t do much for their job security. He nearly finished with his second perfect passer rating of the season and the fifth of his career, going 21-for-25 for 290 yards and five touchdowns and adding six carries for 65 yards.

In a stretch spanning the end of the first quarter and the start of the fourth quarter, the Ravens reached the end zone on five consecutive drives. Wide receiver Rashod Bateman had three catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns. Tight end Mark Andrews had two catches for 24 yards and a score that set the Ravens’ career touchdown record (48). Rookie wide receiver Devontez Walker’s first career catch went for a 21-yard touchdown. Running back Justice Hill’s 27-yard touchdown catch-and-run gave the Ravens a 35-7 lead early in the fourth quarter, a big enough cushion for Jackson and several other starters to make way for seldom-used backups.

“I love for those guys to get those reps out there and get those live-action reps, because they work their ass off at practice going against our ones every single day,” left tackle Ronnie Stanley said. “So, for our guys to get out there, it was a big thing. We came out here, and we did what we should do. We handled business, and it doesn’t mean that we’re just overlooking people, but we played the way we should play, and we’ll always be happy with the results.”

Said Jackson, who quickly atoned for a first-drive fumble: “We just had to lock in and play Raven football, and that’s what we did.”

The Ravens ticked off nearly every item on their Week 15 checklist.

Stay healthy? Check. The Ravens didn’t appear to lose anyone to injury during Sunday’s game, and afterward inside linebacker Roquan Smith said he feels “really, really good” thanks to a bye week that was like a “breath of fresh air.”

Get Jackson back on track? Check. After an inaccurate stretch entering the bye, Jackson completed 84% of his passes — 12.6 percentage points higher than expected, based on the types of passes attempted, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

Get the reserves some playing time? Check. Offensive linemen Andrew Vorhees, Ben Cleveland and Josh Jones, running back Rasheen Ali, quarterback Josh Johnson and Walker all got over 10 snaps on offense. Practice squad cornerback Desmond King got 13 snaps on defense and showed juice as a returner. Outside linebacker David Ojabo (18 defensive snaps) had a sack. Defensive lineman Michael Pierce helped anchor another dominant day for the run defense in his first action since late October.

Cut down on flags? Well, not quite. The penalty-prone Ravens had 12 for 112 yards, with most of the damage coming on defense. According to TruMedia, their defensive penalties Sunday cost the Ravens 12.25 “expected” points, by far the most that any defense has been hurt in a game this season.

“The biggest thing was the pass interference calls,” Harbaugh said. The Ravens were called for four. “They called it tight. Those are tight, tight-called plays there in terms of pass interference, so we have to adjust. [For] roughing the passer [against defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike], you have to find a way to get off to the side. You have to find a way to do it, so we’ll be drilling it. We’ll be working on those. Those are kind of technique things that we just have to do a good job of working on because that’s really ... their drives were penalty inspired. If it wasn’t for the penalties, those drives wouldn’t have happened, so it’s obviously something that’s very important.”

Every detail matters this week. That’s why Washington expected to turn his focus to Pittsburgh “as soon as we’re off the train” back from New Jersey. That’s why Smith planned to dig into the film Monday. That’s why Stanley called the game at M&T Bank Stadium, and every other late-season matchup the Ravens get, a “playoff game in our heads.”

The Ravens believe what Washington preached: that only they can beat themselves. On Saturday, they can show just how seriously they should be taken.

“This is the time of year where it’s all ball, all the time, and it should be,” Andrews said. “This is where we want to go. This is what we want to do. We’re in a position to put ourselves in a great position if we do our thing. So we’re going to continue to focus. And this is a great win.”

But, he added: “We’re on to the next one.”