To quote Coach Harbs: “The defense played lights out!” That was a dominant performance by the defensive coaching staff and players for the entire game.
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Consistent pressure on rookie QB Joe Burrow made him look pedestrian. Seven sacks will intimidate anyone — 5 of these coming from defensive backs. Certainly credit must be given to the excellent coverage by the defensive secondary that caused Joe to hold on to the ball too long on many occasions. Burrow could not even connect on some simple short drop-off routes. He will certainly play better next time around. But the league will also try to copy the approach of the Ravens and blitz him to death until he proves he can handle it better.
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Stopping Joe Mixon in the running game is no small feat. We had good pressure from the edges and good discipline and effort in the middle of the line. The lopsided score worked to the Ravens’ advantage as the Bengals were forced to rely more on the passing game.
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The traditional “Ravens killer” A. J. Green was a non-factor. He left the game early after tweaking his hamstring.
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3 Turnovers is almost what we have come to expect. Marlon got his customary punch-out. (How long before receivers just drop to the ground and stop fighting for extra yardage?) A scoop-and-score for Patrick Queen capped off his bragging rights performance over his college teammate.
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Some players who seemed to disappear earlier in the season showed up big in this game.
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McPhee especially was a standout with his first sack of the season and plays all over the field. Harbs cited his leadership on the defensive side of the ball.
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Ferguson also seemed to get untracked and have a better overall game.
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The 2 neutral zone infraction penalties by Judon were the only low point for the defense. But Judon was a positive force all over the field otherwise.
It is difficult to complain when the Ravens led by two scores for most of the game. But after some initial partial success, the offense played a surprisingly mediocre game — given the way their defense dictated play.
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The offense should have put the Bengals away in the first half. But they let them hang around by not converting on third downs and not taking advantage of some excellent field position.
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Lamar played one of his poorer games as a Raven. Maybe this should have been expected given his minor knee injury and his lack of practice time during the week. Both Lamar and Coach Harbs denied that the gameplan was revised to limit Lamar’s rushing attempts. But he really only had 1 significant run up the middle — and even that time he was quick to get down and avoid contact. Teams are starting to take away Lamar’s runs on the edges. It looked to me like Lamar was intentional about staying away from running the ball himself. If the defense doesn’t have to concern themselves with Lamar taking off and running, the Ravens are a much easier team to stop. Lamar still is not showing any touch on his deep throws. He made a number of poor decisions and was inaccurate with the ball. He is especially vulnerable to making risky throws when he is in the grasp and trying desperately to avoid a sack. The Bengals should have held on to the ball for a couple of more easy interceptions. He needs to learn how to throw the ball away.
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Starting the third quarter with the ball, the Ravens would usually generate some type of effective drive. But in this game they continued to look out of synch and could not make much headway.
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We need to see more of Gus the Bus up the middle. We still relied too much on passing plays in the first half instead of trying to dominate a Bengals team that has been weak against the run.
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J. K. Dobbins made a couple of nice plays that showed extra effort.
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Every chance that Duvernay gets he turns into positive plays. Still want to see more opportunities given to him.
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Ingram was fairly solid but still lacks speed to jump to the outside when there is a chance to make a play.
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Hollywood Brown continues to get open consistently — he just needs Lamar to make some better throws on the long balls.
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Mark Andrews scared me with his somersault – he is one tough hombre. We have to find a way to get passes to Boykin and Snead so that the defense can’t just focus on #89 and #15.
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Our rookie punt receiver James Proche is too passive and has yet to make much of a contribution. At least he has been solid with ball security which is paramount. Sometimes he calls for the fair catch when there is a chance to make some yardage.
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Overall I like the way Harbs has been aggressive the past couple of years with his penchant for trying to convert on fourth downs where the situation warrants it. I thought the decision in this game when the Ravens were up 17-0 and had a 4th and 6 was a little on the cocky side and unnecessary. Don’t give the other team a chance to get a spark of life when they look dead. But despite failing on a pass down the sideline to Andrews, it didn’t really bite us.