The Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals produced quality background noise while fans snoozed through a post-Thanksgiving dinner nap. And while it’s not yet Christmas, the Bengals provided the Pittsburgh Steelers a gift with an 32-14 upset win to finish off the holiday.
On the season, the Ravens are 6-6 while the Bengals move to 4-8 to keep faint playoff hopes alive. With the Ravens loss, the 6-5 Steelers now sit in first place of the division.
Quarterback Joe Burrow returned for his first action since a Week 2 turf toe injury. He finished with 261 yards and two touchdowns while Jackson’s Ravens committed five turnovers for the first time in more than a decade.
Cincinnati’s field goal produced the game’s first points but Baltimore RB Derrick Henry produced its first touchdown. Henry took a toss and exploded upfield to outrun Bengals’ defenders that have struggled to stop much of anything this season. A 28 yard touchdown to go up 7-3. It was his longest touchdown run since September.
On the ensuing Ravens’ possession, QB Lamar Jackson made a rare flub. Strip sacked by a hard-charging DE Joseph Ossai, the Bengals recovered on the Ravens’ 2 yard line. But the offense couldn’t make anything of the chance, gaining zero yards on four tries. Going for it on 4th and goal, Burrow’s throw passed through TE Mike Gesicki’s hands.
The rest of the half saw a flurry of Ravens miscues and missed chances while the Bengals settled for two more Evan McPherson field goals. Tight end Isaiah Likely nearly scored on a long catch-and-run but fumbled inches from the goal line. The ball rolled out of the end zone for a touchback in one of football’s quirkiest, and most controversial, rules.
Cincinnati took a 9-7 lead when McPherson banged home a 24-yard kick with 2:36 left in the half. Both quarterbacks failed to complete half their in the opening two frames, though Burrow quickly re-found chemistry with WR Ja’Marr Chase. By half, he had 80 yards. Baltimore’s wide receivers struggled to find the same airspace, though veteran DeAndre Hopkins reached 1,000 career receptions with a 10 yard snag. Despite his early touchdown, Henry finished the half with just five carries.
Jackson made another key error shortly before the half. Losing control of the football as he attempted to bring it back to his body, the Bengals recovered it on the Ravens’ 19 yard-line with 28 seconds left. It was Baltimore’s third turnover of the first 30 minutes.
Burrow completed just one pass and McPherson was sent out for his fourth field goal of the half. Stealing points but allowing the Ravens hang around with a 12-7 halftime advantage.
Starting CB Nate Wiggins was ruled out at halftime due to a foot injury, hobbling off to the locker room. A situation to watch with Pittsburgh on tape next weekend.
Baltimore went three-and-out to open the third quarter. Cincinnati finally found the end zone in unlikely fashion. Fourth-string TE Tanner Hudson made a spectacular one-handed snare against stud S Kyle Hamilton in the right corner of the end zone for a 14 yard score. The extra point pushed the Bengals ahead 19-7 and put the heat on the Ravens.
Baltimore quickly answered with a touchdown of its own. Backup RB Keaton Mitchell took a toss right side, got a great pancake block from WR Zay Flowers, and raced in for an 18 yard touchdown to make it a 19-14 contest. No longer settling for field goals, Burrow uncorked a 29 yard touchdown down the middle to WR Andrei Iosivas to match touchdown for touchdown, carrying a 26-14 advantage into the fourth.
With a first half that saw just 26 total points, 21 were posted in the third quarter alone.
There wouldn’t be a fourth-straight touchdown. Instead, a fourth Ravens’ turnover. Driving into Bengals’ territory, Jackson’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by rookie LB Demetrius Knight, tearing down the right sideline for a 39 yard runback.
It marked the first time the Ravens turned it over four times in a game since the 2022 season finale, which also came against the Bengals. McPherson hit his fifth field goal of the day, his longest at 52 yards, to go up 29-14 with less than 10 minutes to play. It was the first five field goal game of his five-year NFL career.
Cincinnati’s defense ramped up heat on Jackson throughout the rest of the night to one of the worst games of his career. A Bengals’ defense that entered the game at historically bad levels held the Ravens in check. Jackson completed barely half his passes and went his third-straight game without a touchdown pass. He was sacked three times and turned it over three times.
A late Bengals fumble briefly kept the Ravens’ hopes alive but WR Zay Flowers fumbled for the team’s fifth turnover of the game to clinch it. It was the first time Baltimore committed five turnovers in a regular season game since 2013, a loss to the Buffalo Bills.
McPherson booted his sixth field goal to produce the game’s final score. He’s the league’s first kicker with six makes in a game this season and the first since Pittsburgh’s Chris Boswell in Week 11 of last year – which also came against the Ravens.
After their mini-byes, the Ravens will host the Steelers for the first rivalry meeting of the season. A crucial game that will shape both team’s seasons. The Bengals will travel to Buffalo and take on the Bills.
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