A tale of two halves. That was the theme of Sunday's Week 7 contest between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens. Out of the gate, it looked as if Snoop Huntley and the Ravens were going to cruise to victory after piling up a 13-0 lead heading into the locker room at halftime. Then, the switch was flipped. Cincinnati came firing over the final two quarters, erupting for 35 unanswered points to walk away with the 35-13 victory at M&T Bank Stadium.
It was a flat showing for Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense in the first half, punting on their first three possessions and mustering just 59 yards of total offense in the first 30 minutes. Meanwhile, Huntley and the Ravens offense were largely finding success, particularly when it came to getting the ball in the hands of Zay Flowers. The Baltimore receiver opened up the scoring with a 48-yard touchdown catch-and-run and went over 100 yards receiving in the opening half.
Again, at the halftime mark, Baltimore appeared to have this game in a chokehold. That was until the second half kicked off, when Cincinnati flexed its championship potential. Burrow's first of four passing touchdowns in the half went to tight end Mike Gesicki on that drive, connecting on a six-yard pass to conclude a 66-yard drive. He then found Tee Higgins, Ja'Marr Chase and Drew Sample on three other touchdowns as part of a 35-0 run to secure the victory.
Burrow completed 22-of-30 for 292 yards and four touchdowns in the winning effort. His top target on the day was Higgins, who finished with six receptions for 148 yards and a touchdown. As for the Ravens, Huntley concluded his day completing 23-of-34 for 298 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Flowers caught eight of his 11 targets for 137 yards and a touchdown.
From here, the Bengals will head back to Cincinnati to prepare for a Week 8 matchup with the Tennessee Titans. Meanwhile, Baltimore will travel to Buffalo to face the Bills in a game where they are expected to get back starting quarterback Lamar Jackson.
The momentum started to shift in favor of the Bengals almost immediately at the start of the second half. Of course, the offense started to wake up and ripped off back-to-back touchdown drives sandwiched in between a Baltimore three-and-out in the third quarter. However, the biggest momentum shift in the game came in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter.
After allowing Cincinnati to take a 14-13 lead, the Ravens offense was driving and moved down to the Bengals' 12-yard line just as the clock hit zero on the third quarter. As the fourth quarter commenced, Jesse Minter faced a decision -- should he keep his offense on the field on fourth-and-2 and try to move the chains in hopes of an eventual touchdown? Or does he simply opt for the field goal to take a 16-14 lead? He chose to leave his offense on the field.
That wasn't the curious part of Minter's decision, however. Instead, it was not handing the ball off to Derrick Henry to try and pick up the two yards. Rather, Tyler Huntley dropped back and threw an incomplete pass to tight end Josh Cuevas and turned the ball over on downs.
Baltimore did not cross midfield at any point after that, and the Bengals continued to pour it on with two more touchdown drives.
Burrow and the entire Bengals offense sleepwalked through the first half as the quarterback completed just 6-of-12 for 43 yards over the first two quarters. Then, in the second half, Burrow was surgical, completing 16-of-18 for 249 yards and four touchdowns.
What was the big difference? In my eyes, it was Cincinnati finding better success on first down over the course of the second half.
In the first half, the Bengals averaged 4.6 yards per play on first down. That put Burrow in a lot of second-and-8, third-and-long situations that set up obvious passing downs. In turn, Baltimore pinned its ears back and pressured Burrow on third down, and they punted on their first three possessions. In the second half, the Bengals offense averaged 9.4 yards per play on first down, which helped keep the Ravens on their heels.
While Burrow's four passing touchdowns and the 35 points scored naturally garner a lot of the attention, don't overlook Cincinnati's defense. The unit was the unsung hero of the game, keeping the club in it as the offense was slow to get going in the first half. While they did let up a 48-yard touchdown pass to Zay Flowers on the opening possession, the Bengals defense stood tall in the red zone, holding the Ravens to field goals on both trips in the first half. Instead of a possible 21-0 deficit at halftime, the strong play by the defense helped make it a more manageable 13-point hole to dig out of.
Then, in the second half, they pitched a shutout, forcing two turnovers on downs and an interception.
Cincinnati moves to 4-2 on the season with a dominating second-half effort to beat the Ravens, 35-13. Joe Burrow tossed four touchdown passes in the win, each to a different receiver. His go-to target, however, was Te Higgins, who finished his day with six catches for 148 yards and a touchdown. Meanwhile, Baltimore drops to 4-3 on the year and 0-2 in the AFC North.
Cincinnati is running away with this game and just forced a turnover on downs on Tyler Huntley sneak at midfield. After that stop, Joe Flacco came in to relieve Joe Burrow to run out the rest of the game.
Dagger. After the turnover, Joe Burrow connects with Drew Sample for a walk-in 16-yard touchdown. It's a 35-13 lead for the Bengals.
Huntley's pass was knocked up into the air, and Demetrius Knight Jr. was able to pick it off. It has gone totally off the rails for Baltimore.
Burrow has three passing touchdowns on the day, this time connecting with Ja'Marr Chase. This drive was all about chunk plays. Chase got things started with a 30-yard gain, and then Tee Higgins hauled in a 43-yard pass to help set up the score. It's a 28-13 lead for Cincinnati, who has outscored Baltimore 28-0 in the second half.
Cincinnati's pass rush has started to get home and took Snoopy Huntley down on a third-and-2 play. However, safety Bryan Cook was injured on the play and is being looked at by the medical staff.
Really great job by Higgins to catch a wobbler by Burrow and carry a defender on his back for a 44-yard gain.
Wow! Tyler Huntley's pass on fourth down falls incomplete, and the Ravens turn the ball over on downs! I can understand going for it in this spot, but you HAVE to give it to Derrick Henry.
Fascinating decision for Baltimore to begin the fourth quarter. Jesse Minter's offense is looking at a fourth-and-2 situation from the Cincinnati 12-yard line. Do you opt for the field goal to make it a 16-14 lead? Or do you go for it with hopes of a touchdown?
After a lackluster first half, the Bengals have come alive. The offense has scored back-to-back touchdowns to begin the third quarter, giving them a 14-13 lead over the Ravens. The latest scoring drive took just six plays to travel 47 yards when Burrow connected with Tee Higgins for a 13-yard touchdown.
This game could turn on a dime after the Bengals defense just forced a three-and-out of the Ravens. Now, Joe Burrow and the offense get the ball back with a chance to take the lead.
The Bengals have woken up. On the first possession of the third quarter, Joe Burrow orchestrated a nine-play, 66-yard touchdown drive that ended by connecting with Gesicki for a toe-tapping touchdown.
In one word: Dominant. Baltimore was largely in total control of that first half as they shut out the Bengals. The Ravens defense held Cincy to just 2-of-6 on third down, which has helped them own an extremely lopsided time-of-possession advantage (22:20 vs. 7:40). Zay Flowers has been the key cog of the Ravens' offense, catching six of his seven targets so far for 120 yards and a touchdown.
For as dull as Cincinnati has been today, the defense has helped keep them in this game, particularly thanks to standing tall in the red zone. Baltimore is 0-for-2 in the red zone so far, settling for two field goals.
Flowers continues to be the key difference-maker through the first quarter. He just helped Tyler Huntley convert a third-and-13 with a 20-yard gain. As J.J. Watt noted on the broadcast, Flowers coming back to the ball was vital in that completion.
Cincinnati hasn't put together an inspiring start offensively. They moved just 21 yards on the opening possession before punting the ball away. Then, on the second possession of the afternoon, they went three-and-out after holding onto the ball for 59 seconds.
Mafe recorded his fourth sack of the season in a dominating effort on third down. The Bengals pass rusher blew past the line and was able to get a hold of Huntley, leading to a Baltimore punt.
Cincinnati punted the ball away after a failed third-and-1 attempt that was blown up by Kyle Hamilton. Samaje Perine took a shotgun handoff from Burrow -2 yards. Always a curious decision to go in the shotgun on third-and-1. It feels like it would've been a much higher percentage to convert with a simple QB sneak.
On a very similar screen to that we saw completed to Cuevas, Huntley connected with Zay Flowers on a third-and-9 pass. The star wideout then ripped off a 48-yard sprint for a touchdown. That's Huntley's longest career completion, but Flowers did most of the work on the scoring play.
After scoring a touchdown last week and seeing a season-high five targets, Snoop Huntley looks early for Josh Cuevas. The rookie right end ripped off a 16-yard completion on the first play of the game.
As Kyle Long noted, the AFC North is WIDE open. Baltimore and Cincinnati could go a long way in getting an edge with a win today. More importantly, neither of these teams wants to drop to 0-2 in the division today, as they each enter 0-1 in the AFC North.
