Aaaaaaaand the jets …….. are cooling.
The Baltimore Ravens took a leg up over division rival Cincinnati (and by “leg up”, think about when a dog does it) with a 20-0 shutout at Paul Brown Stadium. The story of the game was Cincinnati Bengals’ QB Andy Dalton. He committed five turnovers, including two in the red zone. Cincinnati was held to a paltry 221 yards of total offense. It was about as disappointing as you could get, especially with all the off-season hype. The team motto for this year is “Run On Your Own Gas”. Today, it already looked like Cincy was running on fumes.
How Things Went
The Ravens broke the game open with two 2nd-quarter touchdowns in 24 seconds. After they went 76 yards in seven plays (capped by a 48-yard scoring pass from Joe Flacco to Jeremy Maclin), Cincinnati started the ensuing drive at their own 13-yard line. Dalton bounced a ball off of Terrell Suggs’ facemask (and yes, we know how that sounds … pervs) that Ladarius Webb picked off and returned to the 2-yard line. Terrance West took it in on the next play. For all intents and purposes – ball game.
Cincinnati Bengals Player of the Game
This game doesn’t really justify this section, so we’ll do a drive-by: AJ Green had 74 yards on five catches.
What This Means Going Forward
Turnovers cost the Cincinnati Bengals this game, plain and simple. What worries us is who was responsible for said turnovers. Dalton is normally reliable with the pigskin. But today, he threw half as many interceptions (four) as he did all of last season. We hope this isn’t a sign of things to come in 2017. In the meantime, the Bengals can only hope to split with the Ravens this year and hope that the two teams aren’t contending for the same playoff spot.
Now Cincinnati has a short week before a Thursday-night game against the Houston Texans. Fortunately, Houston looked shabby in a 29-7 loss to the Jaguars. That makes us hopeful. And after today, we could use some hope.
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