‘It’s a different team’: 5 takeaways from Bengals’ statement win over Ravens

Both teams are now 5-2 overall, but the Bengals move into first in the AFC North because of the head-to-head win. Cincinnati is 2-0 in the division with both victories being on the road and this one marks the team’s first against Lamar Jackson, who had beaten the Bengals in five previous starts.

Here are five takeaways from the game:

1. Chase’s big play changes game

Ja’Marr Chase continued to do Ja’Marr Chase things even with Marlon Humphrey tracking him most of the game.

His connection with quarterback Joe Burrow proved to be a difference in the game. After the Ravens took their first lead of the game on the opening drive of the third quarter, Chase had two big catches on the ensuing drive to set up the second of two C.J. Uzomah touchdowns, and then on the next possession, he spun out of a three-man tackle attempt by Baltimore to record his own big score – stretching a short pass from Burrow into an 82-yard touchdown.

Chase’s incredible touchdown gave the Bengals a 27-17 lead and was just the kind of game-changing play the Ravens always seemed to get against the Bengals in the past. Cincinnati finished the game with two more touchdowns on big runs by Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine.

Chase finished with 201 yards and one touchdown on eight catches and now has more yards (754) in his first seven games in the NFL than any other player in league history. He is the 11th rookie in NFL history to top 200 yards in a game, the last to do it being Mike Evans in 2014.

2. Pressure on Jackson

The Bengals defense stepped up to make things difficult for the Raves, sacking Jackson five times to push their sack total to 18 this season – one more than the Bengals defense recorded all of last season.

Larry Ogunjobi recorded the first sack on Baltimore’s first drive in a third-and-15. With the game tied at 3 in the second quarter, the Bengals got back-to-back sacks on first and second down with Ogunjobi and Sam Hubbard splitting one and Hubbard getting the next one himself. A holding call then made for a third-and-23 situation and the Ravens ended up punting. The Bengals offense took advantage on a two-play drive capped by Uzomah’s 55-yard touchdown catch.

Trey Hendrickson got to Jackson on third down to halt a drive after the Bengals had taken the 20-17 lead in the third quarter, giving him 6.5 sacks for the season, and Hubbard added another one on the next drive that ended with a punt two plays later. Those two especially were key as the offense was starting to really pick up speed and allowed the Bengals to keep the momentum at an important time.

Baltimore never recovered, as Jackson couldn’t convert fourth down passes on the next two drives and after the Bengals took the 41-17 lead with seven minutes left, the Ravens replaced Jackson with Tyler Huntley.

Five sacks is the most the Ravens have given up in a game all season. It didn’t help them that right tackle Patrick Mekari was injured and ruled out for the game on the Ogunjobi and Hubbard combination sack.

“I thought our defensive coaching staff came together with a great plan, and our guys executed it to a tee,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said in a postgame press conference shown live on Twitter. “We have smart pass rushers, and [Lamar Jackson] is so dangerous. Every time he extends a play, he’s capable of running for an explosive play or passing for one. He’s just such a tremendous player, and I’m really proud of how our defense handled him today. That was a really big step for us.”

3. Staying locked in and disciplined

The Bengals showed discipline on both sides of the ball, and that made a big difference from past games against the Ravens.

Cincinnati only had one penalty, late in the game, and the offensive line allowed just one sack on Burrow. Burrow took some big hits in the first half, as the Ravens brought several blitzes, but he better managed that pressure this time, compared to when he took seven sacks and 15 other hits in his one matchup against Baltimore last year.

Defensively, the Bengals couldn’t keep the Ravens from topping 100 yards rushing, as they finished with 115 yards on 24 carries, but 88 of those came from Jackson, who was forced into using his legs to make plays. None of the running backs had more than 14 yards rushing.

Jackson finished with 257 yards passing, completing just 48.4 percent of his throws, and one touchdown to Marquise Brown. The Bengals secondary had as much to do with his struggles as the front four pressure.

4. Burrow enjoys career day

Burrow wasn’t happy he threw a third-quarter interception in the end zone, but it didn’t prevent him from having a career day. He finished with a career-best 416 yards passing, which was the sixth best passing performance in Bengals history and eighth most put up by any player in the league against the Ravens.

The second-year quarterback threw three touchdown passes, including two to Uzomah on “National Tight Ends Day.” Uzomah caught a 55-yarder for a 10-3 lead in the second quarter and a 32-yarder to give the Bengals the lead back for good in the third quarter, up 20-17. Uzomah finished with 91 yards on three catches.

The 41 points scored were the most in Taylor’s 39 games as head coach, and the Bengals are just the second team to score 40-plus points and gain 400-plus passing yards against the Ravens.

“I’m never going to be upset about a thrashing like that,” Burrow said in his postgame press conference.

Credit: Gail Burton

Credit: Gail Burton

5. Earning national respect

The Bengals felt like they were worthy of respect after they beat the Steelers in Week 3 on the road in dominant fashion as well, but there were still questions about their legitimacy after failing to get a win at home against the Packers with chances to do so in regulation and overtime.

They showed they could compete with the best, but on Sunday, they showed they could also beat the best and even the national media are finally buying in it seems.

“The #Bengals are absolutely for real,” ESPN’s Mike Greenberg wrote on Twitter. “Defense is excellent. Quarterback is elite. Chase and Mixon are stars. This is their biggest win in years, and it’s only the beginning.”

Taylor also said it’s just the beginning.

“It’s a different team,” Taylor said in his postgame press conference. “We’re allowed to build and improve, and we just have a different mentality right now. We’ve done a lot of different things to get to this position, and I’ve given out a lot of tough speeches over time about great things to come and [to] keep working. And you hope and pray that the team believes in that. That’s the foundation of what we’re building, and this is the result. This is their moment. Everything we’ve talked about, we’ve earned. We’re starting to earn respect, but we still have a long way to go. Just winning one road game against a divisional opponent, that’s what you have to do if you want to compete in this league. We have a long way to go, but I’m really proud of the collective team effort. This was a complete game today by all three phases, and that’s what we need to come on the road to Baltimore with and beat them.”