Baltimore Beatdown
If it is possible to win on your bye week, the division-leading Pittsburgh Steelers certainly did as they watched the three other AFC North teams bumble around to losses on Sunday.
Another day without starting quarterback Joe Burrow, another interception (or three) for Bengals backup signal-caller Jake Browning.
Cincinnati dropped their third straight game without Burrow at the helm, losing 37-24 to the Detroit Lions in Week 5. The team at least showed some fight, unlike a certain division rival that we will get to next, by clawing their way back from a 28-3 deficit to make the game somewhat interesting by pulling within 11 points at one point in the fourth quarter. Browning’s miserable three-interception performance was at least accompanied by three touchdowns and 251 yards on 26 completions, finally connecting with superstar wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. Chase exploded in the fourth quarter with two touchdowns, including a 64-yard score to make it a two-possession game with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Browning has now thrown eight interceptions to six touchdowns since taking over for the injured Burrow in the Bengals’ Week 2 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor seemed to open the door for a potential change at the position on the horizon while still expressing belief in Browning.
“After a game like that we’re going to look at all personnel to make sure we’re doing the right thing,” Taylor said. “I won’t shy away from that because it’s a very fair question after the amount of turnovers we had. To say Jake can’t win games for us, I believe Jake can win games for us. I do. We’ll just continue to look at everything we can personnel-wise.”
During the writing of this article, the Bengals indeed made a move to potentially replace Browning.
According to NFL insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero, Cincinnati has acquired veteran quarterback Joe Flacco from the Cleveland Browns.
The 40-year-old Super Bowl MVP has bounced around the league since his days with the Baltimore Ravens, and though he struggled this season before being benched in favor of rookie Dillon Gabriel, Flacco could provide a boost to Cincinnati’s offense if he can distribute the ball to the team’s pair of star receivers more effectively than Browning.
The season from hell continued for the Ravens in Week 5 as the Houston Texans unleashed a 44-10 thrashing upon them.
To pretend that Baltimore is not largely where they are due to an insurmountable number of injuries to key players would be naive, but there is more to the story than just that. In the past, even when fielding severely undermanned teams, head coach John Harbaugh has demonstrated the ability to prepare his guys for a fight. The optics around the Ravens at the moment suggest something else, as the team has laid over and taken their beating multiple weeks in a row now.
Veteran outside linebacker...
