The Ravens are now 4-2 after beating the Cincinnati Bengals. Here is a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the Ravens in this one:
The Baltimore Ravens won in a large part because of Lamar Jackson. Jackson was incredible in this game. He threw for 236 yards and rushed for 152 yards as well. Setting an NFL record is a phenomenal accomplishment for Jackson. He’s the only quarterback to have 200 passing yards and 150 rushing yards in the same game. Jackson made the right decisions for the most part in this game. When the Bengals gave him a chance in the passing game he took it. When the defense was just asking for him to have a big run, Jackson took off. Jackson protected the football and was an absolute beacon of efficiency. He completed 64 percent of his passes, rushed for eight yards per carry and had the offense convert on 60 percent of their third down attempts.
One positive for the offense was that so many receiving options got involved in the offense. Nine players caught at least one pass from Jackson. One of the biggest concerns for the offense was that Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown were being leaned on too much. With no Marquise Brown in this game everybody pitched in to help the passing game. The Ravens had a very good running back by committee approach in this game. Mark Ingram averaged four yards per pop. Gus Edwards picked up 5.7 yards per attempt and Justice Hill had 6.2 yards per attempt. The word of the day is efficiency. The Ravens were incredibly efficient.
Defensively the Ravens clamped down on the Bengals most of this game. The defense didn’t give up any points in the first and third quarters. They gave up a field goal in the second quarter and a touchdown near the end of the game. If the Ravens hadn’t let the Bengals score on the opening kickoff and everything else played out the same this would have been a 23-10 game. The Ravens secondary played their best game since facing the Miami Dolphins in the season opener.
The Bengals couldn’t run the ball and were one dimensional; Dalton ended up with just 235 yards in the air and a completion percentage of 53 percent. Auden Tate had some ridiculous plays in this game where there wasn’t much the defense could do. The officials extended the last drive in ridiculous fashion. The defense played mostly well in this game.