The Baltimore Ravens visited the Cincinnati Bengals in an AFC North showdown. The Bengals were able to pull off a last minute 27-24 victory in a game where Joe Flacco struggled mightily. Flacco was only able to complete 17 of his 34 attempts for 195 yards. He also threw two interceptions on the day. The Bengals had him under constant duress once again.
The Ravens were able to muster up 24 points thanks in large part to a couple of turnovers forced by the defense. Haloti Ngata was able to break into the backfield and poke the ball away from Andy Dalton and Daryl Smith returned the fumble to the Bengals 10 yard line. The other turnover came courtesy of an interception by C. J. Mosley that was caused by Matt Elam as he separated Mohamed Sanu from the ball. The defense held the Bengals to 350 total yards.
The Ravens only generated 294 yards and came up short in the end. A questionable offensive pass interference call on Steve Smith Sr. was the final straw for the Ravens. Smith Sr. was called for a push off during a play in which he out muscled Bengals safety George Ioka for the ball and made another defender miss en route to a long touchdown reception. The next play resulted in Flacco being pressured and forced to roll out before he threw the ball away in disgust.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first half as they only scored a combined 13 points before halftime. The Ravens and Bengals both missed key players in the passing game as A.J. Green was out for Cincinnati and Owen Daniels was out for Baltimore. Brandon Tate and Greg Little were surprise contributors while Mohamed Sanu continued to step up in the absence of Green and Marvin Jones. Andy Dalton was able to punch in on two short yard touchdown runs for the Bengals.
Random Notes:
- Three Ravens linemen missed time due injury but returned: Eugene Monroe (knee) Kelechi Osemele (eye) and Marshall Yanda (knee)
- Rookie Michael Campanaro had two big catches for first downs before pulling up with a hamstring injury after a punt return.
- Torrey Smith was evaluated for a concussion but was cleared and played in the fourth quarter
- Jimmy Smith was taken to the locker room for x-rays on his foot. He did not return due to what was said to be a sprained foot.
- Daryl Smith and C.J. Mosley led the Ravens with 13 tackles each. Mosley had eight solo tackles and an interception.
- The Ravens only converted on 5 of 13 third downs (38% efficiency) and 1 of three fourth downs (33% efficiency)
- Ravens got one sack (Terrell Suggs) vs the Bengals
- Ravens offense was able to score on two of their four visits to the red zone and two out of three visits inside the ten yard line.
Notable Quotes:
Terrell Suggs on Smith offensive pass interference call: “That’s a pretty ballsy call considering the situation, but we’re over it.”
Steve Smith Sr: “You hope you don’t allow plays like that to dictate, to determine the wins or losses. It happened. I’m not disappointed. I’m not upset. I’m not frustrated. Just looking forward to next week.”
Joe Flacco on the pass interference call and the Torrey Smith collision: “I couldn’t tell, I couldn’t see anything. Looked like two guys were backpedaling. I really don’t know. I couldn’t tell if Torrey ran into someone but next thing I know PacMan had the ball in his chest.”
John Harbaugh: “We were jammed up a bit without Owen but we did what we could. Our guys fought. You try to find a way to score as many points and gold them as low as you can. That’s all you can do. If this is who we are as a football team, I’m fine with that.”
The loss to the Bengals means that the Ravens have been swept on the season against Cincinnati. The Ravens will travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers in another AFC North showdown. The Ravens vs Steelers game will be on Sunday Night Football. The Steelers are coming off of a game in which they exploded for 51 points against the Indianapolis Colts. The two teams met in Baltimore for the second game of the season and the Ravens won that contest by a score of 26 – 6.
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