The Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals handily 34-13. The Ravens did get the benefit of not playing Joe Burrow, but they did see Burrow for the first half, and they still made sure they put this Bengals team away late.
We saw the best game from some of these Ravens, which could be a good sign moving forward.
3. Odell Beckham had the best game of his career for the Baltimore Ravens
Odell Beckham had his best game with the Ravens by a good bit. The Ravens wideout was averaging 32.3 yards per game coming into the night and finished with 116 yards on four catches in this game.
What is so nice about the catches Beckham made was the impact that they had. While he did not score a touchdown, he was a presence on three of the four Ravens' touchdown drives. They scored on their first drive with Mark Andrews healthy.
After Andrews went down, it became time for Beckham to step up. Beckham had a 29-yard catch on the Ravens' second touchdown drive. He had a 15-yard catch followed by a 21-yard catch on the drive before halftime that gave them a 21-10 lead at the half.
Then, late in the game, he put things away with a 51-yard catch that gave the Ravens their final touchdown and put the game away for good. He got called for a weak holding call on what could have been a huge touchdown catch for Zay Flowers. The play did not count, but we should recognize that Beckham should not have had the foul.
Beckham had ice on his shoulder after the game, which has to be monitored because his presence was impactful.
This is everything that the Ravens expected and wanted from Beckham when they signed him.
2. Brandon Stephens was shut down for the Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens were going to be without Marlon Humphrey in this game. So, they had options to replace him, but none were great with Ja’Marr Chase coming to town.
They decided to start Ronald Darby and played until the third quarter. Rock Ya-Sin committed a bad pass interference and did not see the field after that. The Ravens turned to Jalyn Armour-Davis late in the game, which was a surprise.
With the Ravens rotating on one-side, they decided to ask Brandon Stephens to follow Ja’Marr Chase for most of the night. When the Bengals got Chase in the slot, he did not follow, but the Ravens would play sides based on where Chase was.
Chase scored a touchdown in garbage time, and you can say that the Burrow injury changed things, but if you watched the game from the Next Gent Stats angle on Prime Vision, you know that Stephens was locking Chase down.
The Ravens have done much better on Chase with Mike MacDonald than Wink Martindale. It is performances like this one from Stephens that have made that happen, as he has now had two straight solid performances against Cincinnati.
1. Odafe Oweh is having a career year for the Baltimore Ravens
Odafe Oweh is going to have a career-year. What is impressive is that he hardly played in week two then missed weeks three through six. Still, he already beat his sack total from 2022, and he is coming for his rookie year number. He may beat that next week.
Oweh had a sack against the Bengals. That gives him a sack in three straight games, and it gives him four sacks in the past five weeks. Considering he has eight sacks in 32 games, and five sacks was the most he had in a single season, this is one heck of a development.
Even better is seeing who he has done this against. He has sacks against Charles Cross, Taylor Decker, and now Orlando Brown. His fourth sack came against Geron Christian, but nonetheless, Oweh is succeeding, and he is doing it against strong competition.
The Baltimore Ravens also got sacks from Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy. All of a sudden, it seems crazy that the Ravens would need to trade for a pass rusher after that was all fans talked about a few weeks ago.