Ravens studs and duds from Week 16 loss to the Bengals
By Kristen Wong
4. DUD: The Ravens running game
With Jackson or Huntley under center, one can reasonably expect a good amount of rushing yardage given each quarterback’s dual-threat abilities.
With Josh Johnson, however, Baltimore’s rushing offense was completely stunted. Johnson rushed five times for just 10 yards, but the running back room didn’t perform much better.
Devonta Freeman rushed six times for 17 yards and one touchdown and Latavius Murray rushed five times for 12 yards. That’s 39 total rushing yards all game.
The Ravens can’t expect to win games when they’re missing a huge part of their offense. For the rest of the 2021 season, no game is guaranteed.
Cincinnati’s sweep of Baltimore means the Ravens are now knocked down to third place in the AFC North (awaiting the results of the Steelers-Chiefs game) and that the Ravens lose the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Baltimore faces a steeper uphill battle to climb into AFC playoff seeding, and their division titles hopes are slowly fading away in the rearview mirror.
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The Cincinnati Bengals made a huge statement about their own team in their Week 16 win, but it’s not fair to draw conclusions about this Ravens squad given the sheer amount of injured players they have.
Week 17 should provide better answers and more hope for Baltimore’s 2021 season.