Baltimore Beatdown
The Baltimore Ravens committed five turnovers on their way to an embarrassing 32-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at home on Thanksgiving.
The Ravens fumbled the ball four times in this game. Three came in the first half: one by Isaiah Likely that turned a touchdown into a Bengals touchback and two by Lamar Jackson that gave Cincinnati the ball deep in the red zone. But Baltimore’s defense allowed just six points as a result of those fumbles and only 12 in the first half, making an early Derrick Henry touchdown enough to keep the Ravens in the game.
That 28-yard rumble was one of Henry’s five first-half carries, an absurdly low number when facing one of the worst rushing defenses in the league. The same is true of Mitchell’s two first-half touches, once again representing Baltimore’s mystifying refusal to run the football early in games. And perhaps such an error would be forgivable had the Ravens been able to move the ball through the air. But Jackson struggled to hit his targets for much of the game, and when he did, they did not come through. Along with the aforementioned Likely fumble, Zay Flowers committed an unnecessary offensive pass interference penalty to wipe out a touchdown and Devontez Walker could not reel in multiple catchable deep balls.
In fact, the only time the offense could get going was in the third quarter when they turned to, you guessed it, the run game. The Ravens opened the second half with a three-and-out and watched the Bengals walk their defense down the field for a touchdown and a 19-7 lead. Desperately needing a response, Todd Monken finally leaned on his talented backfield, calling five runs on seven plays capped off by an 18-yard touchdown by Keaton Mitchell.
Mitchell’s score cut the Bengals’ lead to five points, and for a brief spell, it felt like the Ravens could come all the way back. That brief spell lasted exactly three minutes and 44 seconds, as Cincinnati immediately waltzed down the field for another touchdown of their own. Given how Baltimore played to that point, a 26-14 deficit felt insurmountable.
A 44-yard catch-and-run by Henry on the next drive somehow, some way, kept hope alive. The Ravens were in the red zone and threatening to again close the lead to five points when a third-down pass from Jackson was tipped at the line of scrimmage and fell into the arms of Bengals linebacker Demetrius Knight. A long return was promptly converted into a field goal, followed by a Ravens turnover on downs, and the game felt over at 29-14 with just under eight minutes to play.
But the defense, as they had all night, kept fighting. Defensive tackle Travis Jones impressively forced and recovered a fumble at his own 12-yard line to prevent another Bengals score and give his offense one last chance.
And they promptly fumbled it. Flowers, trying to get upfield after a catch, had the ball ripped from his arms and...
