Baltimore Beatdown
The Ravens snapped a four-game losing streak out of the bye last Sunday, earning a desperately-needed 30-16 victory over the Chicago Bears — who had won four straight contests entering the matchup. Baltimore’s defense held the Bears to just one touchdown while scoring three of their own and winning the turnover battle.
The biggest story for the Ravens was Tyler Huntley performing admirably in his first start of the year. Huntley helped soften the blow of Lamar Jackson (hamstring) missing another game by completing 77% of his passes with 244 total yards and a touchdown. It was the Ravens’ best offensive showing since Week 2 by a wide margin.
Now, they’ll quickly pivot to Thursday night, where they take on a Miami Dolphins squad on the road. Jackson is set to make his much-awaited return after a three-game absence. As the Ravens look to climb back to .500, every game is essentially a near must-win at this point. The Dolphins had been playing dismal football up until last week, where they routed the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 34-10.
In that game, the Dolphins finally found an offensive groove and eliminated their turnover woes, while also tightening up a run defense that had been one of the league’s worst through seven weeks. This is still an area that the Ravens can test and potentially exploit, though, especially with Jackson, Derrick Henry, and Pat Ricard set to take the field together for the first time this year. Look for Keaton Mitchell’s role in the backfield to continue expanding after he totaled 43 rushing yards on four carries last week, too.
The Bengals were one of the NFL’s biggest losers in Week 8. They only lost by one point, but the manner in which it happened was catastrophic. Cincinnati squandered a multiple-touchdown lead and surrendered 23 fourth quarter points at home to the New York Jets, who at the time were the last remaining zero-win team in the league.
The Jets had their way with the Bengals’ defense; they ran for 254 yards on the ground and totaled over 500 combined yards of offense, along with 25 first downs. Squandering a should-be victory was especially costly for the Bengals given their upcoming schedule; of their next six games, four are against teams with winning records currently and the other two are against the Ravens.
That stretch begins this Sunday with a matchup versus the aforementioned Bears, who had a four-game win streak snapped last week. While the Bears are certainly a flawed four-win team and the Ravens exposed some of their shortcomings in Week 8, the Bengals are by no means a favorite in this contest. That’s especially true if Joe Flacco, who is dealing with a shoulder injury, cannot suit up and Jake Browning gets the start at quarterback.
The Bears didn’t force any turnovers last Sunday but had been the NFL’s best takeaway defense through the first seven weeks. Whether its...
