Ravens: Top 5 keys to victory in Week 7 against the Bengals

2. The Ravens must neutralize Joe Mixon and the Bengals rushing attack

While the Bengals offense is engineered by quarterback Joe Burrow, running back Joe Mixon is the oil to the Bengals’ offensive machine. This season, Mixon has appeared in all six contests thus far, matching his total game participation in 2020.

Moreover, Cincinnati has won each game that he has averaged over four yards per rushing attempt. That is to say, when the former Oklahoma Sooner is healthy and producing, he changes the entire makeup of the Bengal offense.

The Ravens are coming off a week where they held both Los Angeles Chargers running backs to just 14 yards rushing. This week, they will need to duplicate that effort to make their opponents’ offense one-dimensional and less efficient.

3. The Ravens must make the Bengals offense one-dimensional

It is no secret that the Bengals’ biggest weakness of their team is their offensive line. While they have done a relatively respectable job masking their weakness this season, they allowed a combined total of eight sacks in their two losses against the Chicago Bears and Packers.

Again, in those losses, Mixon was held to under four yards per carry which ultimately made the offense one-dimensional and forced the offensive line to pass block more.

Naturally, this is where Baltimore thrives. The Ravens have the personnel up front to generate pressure with only four consistently.

Players like rookie sensation Odafe Oweh and veteran Justin Houston should enter a nice rhythm on Sunday should the Ravens achieve these two defensive points, which will make for a long afternoon for Joe Burrow.