The Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals. What take home points can we takeaway from this game?
The Baltimore Ravens moved to 4-2 on the season with a 23-17 home win over the Cincinnati Bengals, extending their division lead to two games over the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers. Again, the Ravens were led by their multi-dimensional young star at quarterback, Lamar Jackson.
It was a dominant performance by the Ravens on the whole, as they compiled 497 yards of offense to the Bengals 250, and held control of the clock to the tune of a 39:42 to 20:18 advantage. The score, and ultimately the fate of the game, was much tighter than it should have been, but the Ravens have to feel good about winning two straight divisional games before heading into the toughest part of their schedule.
There was a lot to digest from this game, and most of it was pretty good. Let’s start with Jackson, because the offense largely flowed through him.
• Jackson was remarkable, as noted above, posting 236 yards through the air without the services of his top receiver, Marquise Brown. Jackson also added 152 yards on the ground, largely of the electric variety. His 388 yards of total offense dwarfed the Bengals’ team total of 250 yards, and the Ravens were 60 percent on third-down conversions. That’s how you keep control of a game.
• Marlon Humphrey is clearly showing that him, Jackson and offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley should be the cornerstone figures of this team going into the future. Humphrey picked off a deflected pass, and held Bengals stud receiver Tyler Boyd to 10 yards on three catches. He appears to get better every game, both in coverage and tackling, and is a no-brainer to build the secondary around going forward.