Knee-Jerk Reactions: Ravens Win Another Thriller Over Cincy 35-34

The Ravens won another classic against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday Night Football, 35-34.

RSR staff react to the win here.

Rob Shields

The Ravens escaped tonight. The Bengals made the right decision going for two at the end and the Ravens got bailed out by the refs as they committed two penalties on that play but the refs didn’t call them.

Lamar continued his MVP campaign. He started off slow but ended up with excellent numbers despite Derrick Henry having a meh game.

The defense came up with the biggest play of the game and the offense didn’t do them any favors early, so the amount of time on the field and the amount of plays they have faced had to wear them down, especially considering the Bengals only had seven points prior to Kyle Hamilton going out with an ankle injury.

But the defense ended up collapsing again and they still continue to give you the belief that the Ravens can’t win in January with a pass defense this bad.  The defense actually got pretty good pressure tonight but what appeared to be more communication issues plagued them again..that and some more unawareness by Stephens and others.

Still, you found a way to get a win and now you have a mini bye heading into the Steelers game. Let’s hope for good news on Hamilton’s ankle and let’s hope we don’t see this Bengals team in the playoffs.

Darin McCann

The Ravens have lost a couple games they had no business losing this season, and probably just won one they had no business winning.

But win, they did.

After a case of Deja vu when the Ravens missed out on a big play by a literal toe when Brandon Stephens’ end zone interception was overturned, and some remarkable play by Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, the Ravens gutted out a dramatic 35-34 win thanks to their MVP quarterback, a memorable play by Tylan Wallace and a fruit punch from Marlon Humphrey.

Of course, the Kyle Hamilton injury causes a ton of concern right now, but let’s enjoy this win. It was a big one, after facing a pile of adversity. Great win.

Derek Arnold

Sheesh, do they all have to be this damn hard? I don’t know what Todd Monken was doing early on – we saw the return of the tunnel screens to Zay Flowers that go nowhere, and the entire O just seemed out of of sync. Of course, this had a lot to do with the usual bugaboo of penalties. Guys, two false starts at HOME?! It looked like Lamar just didn’t like what he was seeing when he looked down the field either.

Eventually, the offense got it cranked up in a big way. Shoutout to Tylan Wallace with a catch-and-run TD for 82 yards that looked a lot like his walk-off punt return last year.

Down 21-7, sputtering on offense, and missing Kyle Hamilton, Marlon Humphrey saved the game with a forced fumble.

A lotta talk about the officiating at the end of the game…miss me with that. The Bengals’ first TD was only scored because they got a BS defensive holding on fourth-and-goal. On their final drive, the 4th-and-10 catch should have been overturned (as being incomplete, not just short of the sticks). Tyler Linderbaum was flagged for being ineligible downfield when the ball was thrown immediately…TWICE!

Now, are the Ravens incredibly undisciplined on both sides of the ball? God yes. No excuses there.

The offense can take this team to a championship. The defense? Yeah, I don’t even know what to say at this point. Cincy was missing Tee Higgins and this secondary STILL let Ja’Marr Chase run wild. The middle of the field was open for check downs all night long. Ten weeks in and nothing looks any better for the back end, even in a game where the front got substantial pressure (though didn’t finish nearly as much as they should have). Another shoutout to Nnamdi Madubuike.

Lamar Jackson in the second half…what can you even say? The fadeaway jumper TD to Bateman, the perfectly layered TD to Mark Andrews, the insane play where he ran backwards 20 yards then forward 30 to the one.

MV3.

Nikhil Mehta

Lamar Jackson has reached the level where opposing teams are afraid to give the ball back to him. He put together one of the most singularly-impressive halves in recent memory, hitting trick shots and making miraculous gains on the ground, willing the Ravens to victory despite an all-time performance from Ja’Marr Chase. Everyone on the offense got involved, especially Tylan Wallace, and Todd Monken pulled the right levers after a sputtering first half against Lou Anarumo’s defense. The Ravens defense mixed some exceptional plays with some spectacular lapses, managing to get pressure on Joe Burrow on several occasions but breaking down in coverage far too often.

Despite Jackson’s inevitability, all is not well in Baltimore; the defense is sloppy and undisciplined, and Justin Tucker missed an extra point. A win is a win in the regular season, but trying to scrape by like this in the playoffs has been the downfall of this team in recent years. Jackson has to be perfect for the Ravens to win, but luckily, tonight he was.

Tanner George

For the majority of the game, the Ravens didn’t play well enough to win. They moved to 7-3 anyway.

All credit is due to Marlon Humphrey. His forced fumble flipped the entire game on its head, and I’m fully convinced that Baltimore would not have won without that one play.

Let’s start with the offense. Lamar Jackson once again lit up the stat sheet, but his throws appeared to be a bit off for a lot of the night. He got lucky with Cam Taylor-Britt’s dropped interception, yet he made up for it by cruising down the field to score the go-ahead touchdown. The offensive line struggled. Badly. Jackson was running for his life all evening, and that unit must be happy that their issues were masked by some incredible scrambles by QB1.

Baltimore’s wide receiver room continues to perplex me. Zay Flowers was silent for much of the game, but Rashod Bateman had a solid bounce-back game with grabs in key situations. And who had a massive touchdown by Tylan Wallace on their bingo card? That must have been massively rewarding for a guy who’s role on the roster had been questioned in recent weeks. I’m starting to wonder what Diontae Johnson’s role will be after barely seeing the field and not necessarily producing when he did. Perhaps we’ll see an uptick in his usage against Pittsburgh.

Defensively, things were… not as good. The secondary once again struggled mightily, giving up two huge touchdowns to Ja’Marr Chase, who’s seemed to have Baltimore’s number in recent years. Marcus Williams had a bit of an up-and-down game, and Brandon Stephens once had some problems in coverage. On the other hand, Marlon Humphrey played lights-out ball and Nate Wiggins had a solid game. You hate to see Kyle Hamilton go down (we’ll all be bracing to hear the injury news on him), but Ar’Darius Washington stepped up nicely to fill the void. The pass rush must’ve read all the tweets around the NFL and they showed growth in a big way. Nmadi Madubuike had a monster game, tallying three sacks. Joe Burrow was under duress on nearly every snap, and this game represents a significant step forward for the guys up front. Linebackers again had issues against the pass, as the middle of the field was left open way too often. That’s something that needs to be fixed… and fast. Despite all of that, major props to Zach Orr’s group for stopping Cincinnati on a critical two-point attempt.

A rare extra point miss from Justin Tucker and a couple of bad punts by Jordan Stout represent a down game for special teams, but they did recover the late-game onside kick. John Harbaugh committed some serious coaching blunders in the first quarter that very well could’ve cost his team had things shaken out differently. I questioned Todd Monken’s gameplan in the early going, but he did a nice job of adjusting to the Bengals’ defense as the night progressed.

Despite the negatives, getting a divisional win–especially on a Thursday—is massive. And, much to Baltimore’s relief, this is probably the last time we’ll see Burrow and Chase until next season.

Nick Polinsky

I would really really REALLY love it if we stopped going punch counterpunch infinitely many times every time we played Cincinnati. These games are not good for the heart or the mind.

This offense is one of the best ever, and no, that’s not hyperbole. Lamar Jackson cannot be stopped no matter what you try. He led the Ravens on four straight scoring drives to close out the game and added to his already impressive MVP resume.

Outside of Lamar Jackson who is obviously the savior of every close Ravens game, Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins saved this poor defensive effort. Both played very well with Marlo forcing a turnover and both of the two forcing a ton of tight window throws from Joe Burrow late in the game. The pass rush strengthened as the game went on, and Nnamdi Madubuike finally had that big game we were all waiting for.

Brandon Stephens and Marcus Williams on the other hand still looked shaky. Burrow went Stephens’ way at every opportunity, and Williams took some coverage, and tackling routes that were tragic, and simply disastrous

I really don’t know how to solve the problems this defense is still running into week after week. You have the offensive firepower, but how far can this team really go if they’re going to struggle against every high tier quarterback and receiver? Fortunately at this moment you have the offense to match the high scoring efforts, but it doesn’t seem like a plan that can live forever.

With all that being said, 7-3 with a season sweep over the Bengals feels good

Chad Racine

Well that was about as stressful as the last Bengals game. Chase cooks the Ravens far more than A.J. Green ever did. I lost significant faith in the defense once Kyle Hamilton went out. With this mini bye week hopefully some players can get healthier and fix some of the defensive woes.

Jared Pinder

I have nothing to add about this Ravens Offense. It is special. We know it’s special and it is the reason why they are in every game. Currently, the Raven’s Offense is a A+ student in a classroom full of F students. The defense is a disgrace, and on a night when Ray frecking Lewis is in the building, they show their whole butt on Amazon. The Zach Orr honeymoon phase is over, and they need to do something: release a veteran, demote Orr, something man. This offense is beyond special and it is being ruined by this horrible defense. Harbaugh isn’t balmeless either with his awful first half. This team is really good, but I think their ceiling is caped by this defense.

Chris Schisler

How much do you think Zac Taylor hates playing the Ravens? His quarterback and star receiver put up two unbelievable games against the Ravens and they got swept anyway. Who else thought they’d get the two point conversion?

This game confirmed two things. First, Marlon Humphrey is the heart and soul of the defense. He was the defensive hero, the one who made the big play that changed the game. If Humphrey doesn’t have that forced fumble, none of the pandemonium later occurs. The Bengals had John Harbaugh’s team dead to rights and then it all changed.

The second thing we learned is that this offense can turn it on at any moment. The offensive performance in the first half was dreadful. What a difference a half makes. Halfway into the third quarter, Jackson found the groove and Baltimore marched to an impressive victory. Jackson made magic with his legs – one play in particular got the team to the one yard line when it looked like he’d lose 20 yards on the play. Give him the MVP award right now, especially after a game where Derrick Henry was mostly bottled up.

Let’s go back to the defense. The Kyle Hamilton injury obviously looms over this game. Marcus Williams had a questionable break of assignment that helped Ja’Marr Chase score on a bomb down the field. That said if you take away two plays by Chase the defense played solidly. The thesis may be shaky but the body paragraphs were well supported with the best pressure on the passer this season. If the Ravens generate this kind of pressure against quarterbacks less elite than Joe Burrow there’s hope for this defense. The big plays continue to haunt the Ravens – but there’s a nuanced appreciation to be had for the defensive effort.

Good teams find a way. The Ravens found a way twice against the Bengals. Zac Taylor made the right call going for two. If Lamar Jackson gets the ball in overtime, he’s winning that thing. Taylor can’t catch a break against Jackson, he’s the opposing force that makes the Bengals coach wrong no matter what.

The post Knee-Jerk Reactions: Ravens Win Another Thriller Over Cincy 35-34 appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/11/08/knee-jerk-reactions/knee-jerk-reactions-ravens-win-another-thriller-over-cincy-35-34/