1 winner and 5 losers from Ravens' pathetic Week 7 loss to Bengals

The Baltimore Ravens are now on a two-game losing streak, and it’s a frustrating one. After a strong start in Week 7, the Cincinnati Bengals eventually dismantled them, 35-13.

It got super ugly. The offense started hot and fizzled out once the defense adjusted, but the most maddening performance came from the defense. They locked everything down in the first half just to drop everything and get flat-out embarrassed in the second half. There honestly wasn’t much to be inspired by.

Here is one winner and five losers from Sunday’s loss.

1 winner and 5 losers from Baltimore Ravens’ ugly loss to Cincinnati Bengals

Winner: Zay Flowers

Let’s get the lone winner out of the way. Zay Flowers was exceptional on Sunday. He always is.

The 26-year-old finished with 8 catches for 137 yards and 1 touchdown, including a 48-yard touchdown on the first drive to set the tone. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much help.

Other receivers made timely plays and moved the chains, but Flowers was Baltimore’s only true game-changer. And unlike almost everyone else, he kept his foot on the gas for all four quarters.

With that performance, he’s up to 40 receptions, 608 yards, and 3 touchdowns. To make it sweeter, he ranks fourth in receiving yards, and he’s missed a game and a half due to injury.

Loser: Jesse Minter

Now for the losers, starting with Jesse Minter. I still believe in Minter; however, Week 7 was one of his worst days thus far.

It started incredibly. His unit held Cincinnati to just 59 yards of offense. Things took a bad turn in the second half, though.

The Bengals scored 35 straight points and found the end zone on five of their six second-half drives. Minter’s defense folded entirely. Sure, the players should take most of the blame, but Minter has to adjust and stop the bleeding. That never happened.

Loser: Derrick Henry

Derrick Henry hasn’t found much success without Lamar Jackson. Week 5 was good, but Week 6 and Week 7 were atrocious. In fact, his outing against Cincinnati was one of his worst games.

Henry took 17 carries for an extremely lackluster 45 yards. While the offensive line didn’t give him much to work with, he left yards on the table on several runs. He struggled to break that first tackle consistently and finished with 2.6 yards per carry.

The veteran running back isn’t the main problem; Baltimore just needs more from him. When Jackson is out, the offense revolves around Henry. He didn’t make many plays, as his longest run of the day went for 9 yards.

Simply put, the rushing attack wasn’t effective whatsoever. And over the past two games, Henry is posting a horrendous stat line: 34 carries, 104 yards, 3.1 yards per carry, 0 touchdowns, and 1 fumble.

Loser: Baltimore’s mentality

From the comments leading up to the game, to the team throughout Sunday’s matchup, to the postgame vibes, Baltimore’s mentality seems completely shot. If one thing goes badly, 99 other problems are bound to follow.

On Thursday, Marlon Humphrey joked he wished he didn’t have to face Ja’Marr Chase so much. Joke or not, you can’t say that to the public; cornerbacks need to be excited for those challenges. Of course, Chase embarrassed him again.

During the matchup, it took one Bengals score and an offensive three-and-out for the Ravens to start questioning everything. They surrendered a 13-point lead way too quickly, and not long later, they were down by multiple scores.

After the game, they sounded defeated. They’ve blown leads before, but this time around, it felt like they accepted their mental flaws.

Despite being 4-3, they have a loser mentality. Whenever they go up, it looks like they play scared of blowing it. You have to play to finish and embarrass your opponent. You can't be soft.

Loser: Nate Wiggins and Marlon Humphrey

Baltimore desperately needed Nate Wiggins and Marlon Humphrey to show up. They did…for two quarters.

Once that second half hit, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins turned it up a notch. The typical Cincinnati offense that usually shows up against Baltimore was unstoppable the rest of the way, and Wiggins and Humphrey couldn’t stop it.

Chase made Humphrey look foolish after the catch and torched Wiggins on a two-yard touchdown grab.

Higgins made plays against both corners, too, getting the best of Humphrey on a broken play, and getting a step on Wiggins on a 43-yard deep shot from Joe Burrow.

Yes, they each made some plays and weren’t the root of the problem, but when the defense had to make a stop, they couldn’t win their battles.

Loser: Any former Ravens defender who watched that game

Playing defense used to mean something in Charm City. Years ago, whenever an offense squared off against a Ravens defense, they were in for a long day. The units usually struck fear into their opponents.

Not anymore. Missed tackles, folding when sacks are there for the taking, soft coverage. That's the unfortunate trifecta of Baltimore defenses nowadays. It’s pathetic to watch.

After the game, former Ravens were loud about the disappointing performance.

Ed Reed was vocal about the questionable coaching decisions.

Terrell Suggs called out the team for allowing 35 unanswered points. (Warning: explicit language)

The players know what it means to play for a franchise built on stout defenses for years — Roquan Smith spoke about it in his postgame interview. They don’t play like it, though. They keep saying these blown leads are a disgrace to what the Ravens are known for, but they haven’t fixed it.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow