Bengals Ravens Football
Bengals Ravens Football
The Cincinnati Bengals must have received quite the halftime speech.
After their worst first half of the season put them in a 13-point deficit, they rallied to score 35 unanswered points and beat the Baltimore Ravens 35-13 on Sunday at M&T Bank. Cincinnati, which was coming off its bye, improved to 4-2 to keep pace in the AFC North with Pittsburgh (5-2) and Cleveland (5-2) also winning, while the Ravens fell to 4-3.
Joe Burrow completed 6 of 12 passes for 43 yards in a scoreless first half for the Bengals, but the seventh-year quarterback found a rhythm in the second half with the help of a monster performance for Tee Higgins. Higgins finished with 148 yards and a touchdown on six catches – all in the second half.
Burrow had just two other first-half performances that were worse than Sunday, and Cincinnati had lost the seven prior games with his lowest first-half output.
Higgins caught a 19-yard pass to spark Cincinnati on the opening drive of the second half, then converted a third down with a 10-yard catch to reach the red zone. Mike Gesicki capped the drive with a 6-yard touchdown grab to cut Baltimore’s lead to 13-7 with the PAT.
The defense, which had struggled to get off the field on third downs in the first half, followed suit to force a three-and-out, helped by a Jordan Battle tackle for loss on Derrick Henry and a third-down sack by Cashius Howell. Cincinnati kept the momentum with efficiency on first and second downs and took a 14-13 lead on Higgins’ 13-yard touchdown catch with 4:29 left in the third quarter.
Baltimore made it to the Cincinnati 12-yard line on the next drive, but Huntley’s pass on fourth-and-2 fell incomplete. Higgins caught a 44-yard pass to get the Bengals out of their own territory, and Samaje Perine finished off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 21-13.
The Bengals just kept rolling. Mafe and Bryan Cook combined on a third-down sack to force a Ravens punt, and Higgins and Chase came up with big plays to set up another touchdown, this time for Chase.
Demetrius Knight’s interception midway through the fourth quarter sealed it, putting the Bengals on the Baltimore 24-yard line to set up an 8-yard touchdown catch for Drew Sample. Fellow tight end Erick All Jr. had exited with a knee injury the previous drive and was ruled out for the game.
Joe Flacco played the final drive for Cincinnati’s offense, as Burrow finished with 292 yards and four touchdowns while completing 16 of 18 passes in the second half. Baltimore’s 35 points allowed in the second half matched a franchise record, and the Bengals notably did not give up any runs longer than nine yards.
The Bengals were fortunate not to be trailing by more than 13 going into halftime, after the Ravens settled for field goals on two long drives in the second quarter.
While Cincinnati’s offense managed just three first downs in the first half, Baltimore converted on eight of 11 third downs to extend drives and chew up the clock. That limited the Bengals’ possessions, but they weren’t doing much with the ones they had.
Baltimore needed just four plays to get on the board, thanks to Zay Flowers turning a short pass from Tyler Huntley into a 48-yard touchdown on third-and-9.
After the Bengals went three-and-out on their second drive, the defense had the Ravens backed up into a second-and-21 from their own 8-yard line, then gave up a 20-yard pass from Huntley to Flowers on third-and-13. Baltimore converted two more third downs and chewed up 11 minutes off the clock before Tyler Loop kicked a 34-yard field goal to make it a 10-0 lead with 9:42 left in the second quarter.
Dohnte Meyers then dropped a pass on third-and-3 to force another Bengals punt, but Cincinnati made a stop on a third-and-1 the next drive only to have Boye Mafe called for a low block after Derrick Henry tripped him up, causing him to commit the penalty.
The Ravens would convert a third-and-16 and a third-and-6 before Cincinnati bottled them up in the red zone to limit them to another Loop field goal for a 13-0 advantage they carried into halftime. The red zone defense would end up being a big key for Cincinnati.