Ravens Beat Bengals on TNF, 34-20

The Baltimore Ravens defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, 34-20, in Week 11 on Thursday Night Football. RSR staff react to the win here…

Derek Arnold

What a weird game. You had Cincy LB Logan Wilson on a one-man mission to injure as many Ravens as possible, some mystery pilot flying drones over the stadium every hour, a referee I’ve never seen before…and of course, importantly, Joe Burrow‘s hand mysteriously swelling up like a balloon around the time he threw a TD pass to give his team their only short-lived lead of the evening.

It was a great opening drive by the offense, which then stalled for the next several. On that drive, they also lost Mark Andrews, c/o Wilson, to an ankle injury. Hopefully not season-ending…

Meanwhile, the defense was again showing signs of being pushed around, as Joe Mixon was finding tons of room on early downs. The D looks like they REALLY need this mini-bye. Fingers crossed that’s all it is, fatigue. Because the gaps opposing OLs have been blowing in the front seven are…disturbing. As are the holes in the middle of the zones.

Lamar’s ankle was also busted up a bit – thanks to Wilson. As was OBJ’s shoulder after a long fourth-quarter catch – THANKS TO DAMN WILSON. We’ll wait with bated breath for news on Andrews & Odell.

As for the Bengals and Burrow…that’s their problem. They got to play against Tyler Huntley in a playoff game. Crap happens. And crap usually happens right before teams are scheduled to play the Steelers, but I digress…

P.S. Huge shoutout to the crowd at M&T Bank Stadium. The place is LOUD again. The noise caused several problems for Cincy’s offense when Burrow was still in the game.

Brennan Stewart

Ah, how relieving it is to go into a fourth quarter with a 14-point lead and not completely blow it.

A lot to be happy about in this one, and a lot to be upset about, too. Fingers crossed that Mark Andrews is only dealing with a high ankle sprain— he would likely be able to return in four weeks at the earliest, and that’s with a bye week mixed in. As for Lamar Jackson’s ankle issues, I would’ve liked to see him run less after limping so much, but hopefully the extra rush attempts don’t hinder his chances of playing against the Chargers. Keep an eye out for him on the next injury report.

With that said, Logan Wilson should be public enemy number one in Baltimore.

Ronald Darby didn’t get enough praise tonight, accounting for three crucial pass breakups that kept the Bengals out of the red zone. Pat Queen was the star of the linebacker corps, notching nine solo tackles.

Overall, it’s hard to feel unsatisfied with such a wide win margin.

Kevin McNelis

This one looked painful to start, and there were bumps and bruises throughout. Lamar seems like he’ll be fine, but time will tell on Mark Andrews and OBJ. This was a game they had to have, though, and the offense paid dividends as the defense took over in the second half.

Sure, Baltimore faced a back-up QB for a good portion of the game, so the kitty cat fans will want to put an asterisk next to this one, but if we didn’t get a pass for Tyler Huntley losing in a start against them, they don’t get a pass either. Tough break, kids.

Among the things that did the heart good tonight were Gus continuing to roll and Justin Madubuike continuing to hunt every QB under the sun. My favorite, though, was seeing a sour expression on Ja’Marr Chase’s face for most of the evening.

Chad Racine

No fourth quarter collapse tonight. The Ravens can feel good going into the mini bye at a good time.

OBJ had a great game after showing flashes in recent weeks. I predicted a touchdown but not the prolific receiving stats tonight. What was impressive was his speed and elusivenes after the catch. Let’s hope the injury isn’t severe because he’s rounding into peak form.

Keaton Mitchell is again as advertised. When he gets a little space he makes good things happen.

Andrews going out for the game was the worst thing to happen tonight with another scare with Lamar. This mini bye is much needed with the actual bye not far behind.

Darin McCann

The Flock will be waiting on pins and needles to get an update on the health of Mark Andrews, and that is definitely something that can impact them going forward.

But this was a big win. The Joe Burrow injury certainly affected how the game played out, at least to some extent, but the Ravens’ offense heated up with that final drive of the first half, and it was very encouraging to see the run game salt things away in the fourth quarter. How about that Beckham fella? He showed a little something tonight, didn’t he?

Lamar Jackson was good, and played extremely gutsy after injuring his own ankle. The good news is the Ravens have a mini-bye week now for Jackson to try to heal, and he did continue to run after hurting it.

Big win.

Rob Shields

Needed the win and got the win. That’s obviously important.

Of course, the talk of this game is all about the injuries. Andrews hurt early, Lamar tweaks an ankle and of course, Burrow has the injury that takes him out of the game and made this game far easier.

We now wait and see what happens to Andrews and hopefully OBJ doesn’t have a bad shoulder injury.

The Ravens have just one game in the next 23 days. Get some much needed rest and healing time.

Jared Pinder

The Ravens avoid a fourth-quarter collapse and sweep the Bengals. This game would have been much closer if Burrow was in obviously but you can’t use injuries as an excuse when we several Ravens got hurt as well tonight. The Ravens now sit atop the AFC North and have a mini-bye to prepare for the Chargers in L.A.

Overall a solid game but the problems on this team are starting to show with the offensive line having another down day and the defense looked really bad when Joe was in. They really need this mini bye and their real bye coming up after this Chargers game to regroup and get healthy.

Nick Polinsky

Tonight was much less stressful than this past Sunday. Of course, Joe Burrow going out early with a throwing hand injury made it much easier, but nonetheless it was a cleaner operation.

Tackling woes came up early, but they improved over the course of the game. The biggest question mark out of this game was once again the linebacker pass defense. Queen looked suspect in man coverage, and a few too many passes were completed over the middle of the field against zone coverages for anyone’s liking. It’s hard to make any major conclusions due to Burrow’s injury, but the defense continued to show they’re an elite unit.

The offense has finally begun to take their shots, which is something we’ve all been yearning for. The top four wide receivers all made contributions for Baltimore, including Odell Beckham Jr. with over 100 yards. Most importantly, Lamar Jackson played turnover free football and when that happens, it usually leads to very, very good things.

The Ravens did exactly what they needed to against a tough divisional opponent, defend the home turf and lower the eyebrows that may have been raised after last week.

Chris Schisler

This was a very good win for the Ravens. When the Bengals lost Joe Burrow, it took the style points away from the victory. While you hope Burrow is ultimately okay, it’s irrelevant. The Ravens got to bury the Bengals a bit farther and now they just need the Browns and Steelers to drop off a bit, for some AFC North comfort.

Injuries put a damper on the game in general. The Mark Andrews injury was the last thing Baltimore wanted to see. The Ravens also got lucky a couple of times in this game. They had a touchdown pass mercifully bounce into Nelson Agholor’s hands off the ricochet by a defender. The Ravens were granted a seemingly phantom pass interference penalty that continued a touchdown drive. In general this game was just odd. The officiating was poor for both sides.

Odell Beckham Jr. is having a great stretch. Kyle Hamilton quietly had an incredible game. His top highlight was dislodging the football from Ja’Marr Chase one-on-one. Justin Madubuike and Odafe Oweh were fantastic. Jadeveon Clowney was impressive off the edge.

The run game for the Ravens got the job done. Especially in the second half. Gus Edwards is so dependable. Keaton Mitchell still needs more carries, he was good again.  Overall it’s a win in the AFC North. Those are never easy to get, so the Ravens had a powerful evening.

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