Bengals @ Ravens
Final Score: Ravens 35, Bengals 34
Senior Writer: Benjamin Haller (@benjaminhaller1 on Twitter)
A tasty Thursday Night Football contest initially suffered from both teams showing the other too much respect in terms of throwing deep in the passing game as both Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson were restricted to short passes and reliance on the ground game to make any headway in the first half. A cagey, low-scoring game showed the dominance of both secondaries in limiting chunk plays. Five of the nine meaningful first-half drives ended in punts, with a turnover on downs and three touchdowns making up the rest of the action. Burrow was lucky to escape a red zone interception on review late in the half as Brandon Stephens‘ toe slid out of bounds when picking off a poor throw to the sideline. He bounced back to throw a touchdown with just 30 seconds left to give the Bengals a deserved 14-7 lead at the half. Cincinnati controlled possession two-to-one and mustered over 90 more total yards, winning the first down count 15 to 6.
The second half was insane. And by insane, I mean a sensational half of football.
After the Ravens started the second half with a three-and-out, Burrow unleashed a perfect deep ball for Ja’Marr Chase in the middle of the field, which he took all the way to the house with an electric burst of speed that tore apart the Ravens’ secondary for a 67-yard score. It was a statement play and a sign that the Bengals team means business after a slow start to the year. However, a key fumble from Chase Brown on the Bengals’ next drive handed the Ravens an open door back into the contest, and two touchdown drives made it a one-point game with less than 10 minutes remaining after Justin Tucker missed another kick for an extra point. After the Bengals once again failed to convert on fourth down, Jackson enjoyed another short field to find Mark Andrews for a score, the Ravens signal-caller running in the 2 PT conversion himself to put Baltimore ahead 28-21.
The Bengals response? A 70-yard bomb to Chase from Burrow to tie the game. Unreal! Lamar then saw a dreadful throw over the middle intercepted, but luckily, the ball hit the ground on review, and it was overturned. That allowed the Ravens to eat up the clock and inch their way to the Bengals end zone. Despite a clear, clear hold on the play, there was no flag as Jackson lobbed a throw to Rashod Bateman for a go-ahead touchdown with just 1:49 left on the clock. Burrow, brilliant and tough all night, responded with an incisive drive in which he got clawed by a facemask and roughed up on a dirty, late hit after throwing to Chase for a big gain. He stood tough and completed an astonishing third-down touchdown pass to Chase at the back of the end zone.
But that wasn’t the end of the drama. Zac Taylor decided to go for two! Burrow surveyed and threw to Tanner Hudson, who was being completely manhandled. It was a clear flag, but again, no flag. The officiating in this game was dreadful as on the same play, Mike Gesicki was also held twice on his route, and Burrow was again clawed on the facemask. Harsh on the Bengals, who could be in trouble with their season at 4-6.
Three Up
- Joe Burrow – a phenomenal effort from Burrow, who stood in the pocket and threw fire all game. He was beat up and unfairly mauled at times, but he got up and kept answering the call. His 428 yards passing and four passing touchdowns deserved better.
- Ja’Marr Chase – the player of the game and possibly the performance of the season from Chase, who amassed 55.40 fantasy points (in Yahoo!) to essentially win the majority of this week’s matchups for his fantasy managers.
- Mark Andrews – his resurgence at the tight end position has been a welcome fantasy story, and he backed up his recent form with a solid sic-catch effort for 68 yards and a touchdown. On a quieter night for the receiving corps, Andrews stood out for his team.
Three Down
- Chase Brown – his fantasy stats were just fine despite struggling to run the ball, however, his key third-quarter fumble changed this game, and lost it for his team.
- Zay Flowers – after four 100+ yard games in his last five outings, Flowers hit a wall with a mediocre four catches for 39 yards. Ouch!
- Andrei Iosivas & Jermaine Burton – the Bengals missed Tee Higgins in this game, and the two receivers couldn’t provide the production they needed, especially on third downs.
Cincinnati Bengals
Quarterback
Joe Burrow: 34/56, 428 Yards, 4 TD, 3 Sacks | 2 Carries, 6 Yards
It’s tough to write this paragraph and say he was the losing quarterback on the day, but that is what happened as the Bengals failed to convert a 2PT attempt at the end of the game to come away with what would have been a deserved win. Burrow was the superior quarterback in this game, especially as a passer, and his pocket play was amongst the best I’ve seen this season against a very good Ravens defense. He worked the pocket beautifully, made low-percentage throws look easy, and fed his star man to the tune of 264 yards and three touchdowns. His omnipresent chemistry with Chase is one of his greatest fantasy assets, but this was more about his skills as a passer than Chase as a receiver, and his three touchdown passes were all elite in different ways. Burrow now has nine touchdowns in two games, and anyone who thinks the Bengals season is over is sadly mistaken as long as Burrow is under center.
https://www.twitter.com/NFL/status/1854736436789956834
Notes
- Burrow kept the opening drive of the game alive with two third-down conversions with measured passes under pressure in the pocket, the first to Chase for 26 yards and the second to Iosivas for 19 yards – the Bengals quarterback showing elite pocket awareness and ability to throw on the run with defenders in his face. He did the same on a fourth down play at the goal line that fell incomplete. However, a holding call gave them a fresh set of downs, and Brown punched the ball in for six.
- After surviving a poor throw that was intercepted in the end zone late in the first half on review, Burrow completed a dart over the middle to Jermaine Burton on third down a couple of plays later with just 36 seconds left in the half. On the very next play, he avoided pressure in the pocket and delivered a pinpoint pass to tight end Tanner Hudson for six just prior to halftime to give the Bengals the lead.
Missed opportunities
- The Bengals remained aggressive on fourth down and went for it again on two separate occasions in the first half – the Ravens blew up the defensive interior, and Burrow had to scamper and throw deep on the first attempt. The ball fell incomplete, and the Ravens took over at their 41-yard line; however, Burrow sneaked for a first down on the second attempt, a somewhat risky call from Zac Taylor at their 39-yard line. The Bengals ended up punting on that drive, sadly.
Running Back
Chase Brown: 13 Carries, 42 Yards | 11 Targets, 9 Receptions, 52 Yards
Coming off a heavy workload last weekend against the Eagles, Brown was limited in carries after the Bengals did most of the work in the short passing game in the first half. However, with a 14-point lead midway through the third quarter, Chase coughed up the ball on an inside run, with Marlon Humphrey clawing the ball away as he was going down to the ground after contact. The fumble occurred at the Bengals’ own 30-yard line, a crucial mistake by the promising second-year back, and it ultimately swung the game in favor of the Ravens. Brown chipped in with several checkdowns to pad out his yardage in the second half as the Bengals looked to work downfield to tie the game, but his usage was restricted as a runner, and he didn’t have a huge impact on the game. Still, those extra fantasy points through the air are valuable.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Ja’Marr Chase: 17 Targets, 11 Receptions, 264 Yards, 3 TD
Despite a solid receiving season last year with over 1,200 yards, there were questions about Chase’s big play ability after he tallied just seven touchdowns. Well, we can safely put that worry away in a box and never touch it again. Chase took over this game with his elite route running and devastating speed, which accounted for a 67-yard score on a big-time, game-breaking play in the third quarter to give the Bengals a two-score lead. Chase still had a lot of work to do when he caught the ball over the middle, but his blistering pace saw him breeze past a strong Ravens secondary to run away for a touchdown. Chase was Burrow’s first read on the majority of passing plays, and he converted key third downs on four different scoring drives. A key 17-yard grab on third down after the Ravens had pulled within seven points at the end of the third quarter set the Bengals up in Baltimore territory, and the play was a highlight reel from the moment Chase burst off the blocks, through separation to completing the catch. With the Ravens pulling ahead, Burrow went to his star man on another deep ball, Chase blitzing the defensive backs to run away for a 70-yard score as he passed 200 receiving yards doing so. And with the game on the line at the end of regulation, Burrow found him once again at the back of the endzone for his third score of the game. A mammoth effort from the former LSU star, who has rekindled that magic with Burrow this season and provided the touchdowns to go with it. He is up to 10 touchdowns this season, already three more than 2023.
https://www.twitter.com/NFL/status/1854722076390633921
Tanner Hudson: 7 Targets, 6 Receptions, 42 Yards, TD
With Higgins out, Burrow pivoted not to his other wideouts but to his tight ends, who enjoyed 16 targets between them as the Bengals worked between the numbers in short-to-intermediate routes. Hudson scored his first touchdown of the campaign on a shot at the goal line at the end of the first half to give Cincinnati a vital lead at the break. He was also the target of the failed 2 PT conversion at the end of the game, a play in which he was clearly being impeded and accounted for one of three fouls on the play. It is hard to think Hudson is in for a boost of fantasy production, as before this game, he had just four catches for 32 yards on the season.
Mike Gesicki: 9 Targets, 4 Receptions, 30 Yards
It was a night of what could have been for Gesicki, who caught just four balls despite nine targets. He bobbled a couple of passes that allowed the Ravens to break the ball up as incomplete. He nearly hit pay dirt on the Bengals’ opening drive of the game as he caught a sideline ball from Burrow and got hauled down just short at the Ravens’ 2-yard line. That was about as good as it got for the former Dolphins tight end, who will be a bit disappointed to see Hudson nab a touchdown and a couple of other red zone targets after a two-score showing in Week 9. He still remains a fantasy tight end with upside.
Andrei Iosivas: 4 Targets, 2 Receptions, 29 Yards
Jermaine Burton: 5 Targets, 1 Reception, 11 Yards
Cam Grandy: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 0 Yards
Baltimore Ravens
Quarterback
Lamar Jackson: 25/33, 290 Yards, 4 TD | 7 Carries, 33 Yards
A frustrated Jackson looked exasperated with several poor decisions and sloppy execution throughout the first half, and that was compounded after the Bengals scored to go out to a 21-7 lead early in the third quarter. Controlling the ball after successive punts from Baltimore, Brown then fumbled and handed the ball back to the Ravens at a crucial time. This invigorated Jackson, who took the ball down to the 1-yard line with a cautious, jinking run behind blockers for 10 yards. Henry finished off the drive with a goal-line touchdown, and suddenly, the Ravens were back in business when they should have been out of sight. On the very next drive, Jackson swung a short pass to the sideline for Tylan Wallace on a third down near his own goal line. What should have been a short gain for a first down ended up in the Bengals’ end zone after three missed tackles saw the unheralded wideout run 79 yards after the catch for a score. Talk about bonus fantasy yards for the Ravens quarterback! If Burrow’s four-touchdown game was a masterclass, Lamar’s was more of a pragmatic fluke in that things went his way, and he also did the things he needed to do to keep the Ravens in with a chance. But luck was involved. Saying that, in the red zone in the second half, he took advantage of some poor Bengals defense and punished them with two clinical touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, the best a nice pass to Andrews to put his team ahead and in the driving seat. The fantasy performance was better than the real-life one, but that doesn’t matter now, as the Ravens escaped with a win, and Jackson’s stat line will live in black ink.
https://www.twitter.com/NFL/status/1854735249466437852
Notes
- Taking advantage of the Bengals turning the ball over on downs near midfield, Jackson worked the ball over the middle of the field to Andrews and Flowers to quickly put the Ravens inside the red zone late in the first quarter. After Justice Hill converted on a key third down to put the ball within reach of the goal line, Jackson faked a run play and flipped the ball forward to Nelson Agholor wide open in the end zone for Baltimore’s first score of the game.
- Towards the end of the first half, with the Ravens chasing points, Jackson found Diontae Johnson in space in the middle of the field, but the former Steelers and Panthers wideout couldn’t make the sideline and without any timeouts left (due to a bad John Harbaugh challenge), the clock expired as the Ravens attempted to set the line to spike the ball. A team like Baltimore needed better decision-making and execution on that drive.
Running Back
Derrick Henry: 16 Carries, 68 Yards, TD | 1 Target, 1 Reception, 3 Yards
The dominant running back was held to one of his lowest totals of the season at the half, with just eight rushing attempts. Henry had no room to run, and that continued after the half as the Ravens punted on both their drives after the half. A key mistake from the Bengals, however, changed the flow of the game, and suddenly, Henry had an opportunity to punch the ball in from the 1-yard line, which he, of course, obliged. He had a few more opportunities late in the game but also saw no touches in a couple of key short-yardage situations, which was strange. The game script didn’t help Henry, and in other seasons, he would have posted a fantasy dud, but now that he is with the Ravens, that seems mute, as he is always going to get an opportunity to hit pay dirt. Fantasy gold.
https://www.twitter.com/NFL/status/1854727363877060972
Justice Hill: 2 Carries, -2 Yards | 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 0 Yards
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Tylan Wallace: 3 Targets, 3 Receptions, 115 Yards, TD
Out of nowhere, Wallace made a huge play when the Ravens needed him the most. His touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter owed much to his perseverance, as well as some horrendous missed tackles from three different Cincinnati defenders. He took a swing pass from Jackson to the house for an 84-yard score with 79 yards coming after the catch as he just about kept his feet in bounds as he streaked away down the sideline. Wallace earned himself a few more targets, and he made another excellent catch for 20 yards to kickstart the Andrews touchdown drive.
https://www.twitter.com/Ravens/status/1854730846713839673
Mark Andrews: 7 Targets, 6 Receptions, 68 Yards, TD
The veteran tight end was a non-existent factor in Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken‘s scheme through the first month of the season, but he has now hauled in five touchdowns over the past five games as his use in the red zone as a touchdown option has returned. Andrews was a consistent threat underneath, and he is also benefiting from the absence of Isaiah Likely. His touchdown catch came from a lovely crossing route in which he drew the linebacker towards him before slipping beyond him into the space in front of the defensive back, who could only make contact as he rumbled into the end zone. Andrews is coming good in the fantasy arena at just the right time for fantasy managers,
https://www.twitter.com/NFLFantasy/status/1854735604925481165
Rashod Bateman: 8 Targets, 6 Receptions, 54 Yards, TD
A late fourth-quarter touchdown grab with less than two minutes on the clock salvaged an otherwise unremarkable day for Bateman, who worked his way free in the end zone to present himself to his quarterback for the go-ahead touchdown that proved to be the winning one. Bateman’s six catches were a season-high, and you can decide whether it is a good thing. Three of the catches came on that final drive of the game. What is a promising development for the former first-round pick is that the arrival of Diontae Johnson hasn’t eaten into his share of the offense, not that his share is particularly bountiful. The talented receiver is underused, yes, but he is amongst his best season as a Raven thanks to his polished route running and safe hands.
Zay Flowers: 6 Targets, 4 Receptions, 34 Yards
This is the sad realization of Flowers’ fantasy production this season. Scattered amongst five games of over 90 receiving yards are five games in which he has failed to tally more than 37 yards. It wasn’t that Flowers struggled or wasn’t involved in running routes; he was, but he failed to make any big plays, and his longest catch was a 19-yard grab on the Ravens’ final drive of the game with four minutes remaining. It proved to be vital as it set up his team to run the ball and run the clock down.
Nelson Agholor: 2 Targets, 1 Reception, 6 Yards, TD
Diontae Johnson: 2 Targets, 1 Reception, 6 Yards
Charlie Kolar: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 4 Yards