Sportsnaut
The NFL’s Thanksgiving Day triple-header wrapped up on Thursday night with Joe Burrow returning to the field for the Cincinnati Bengals in a critical matchup against the Baltimore Ravens. What we got is a game we didn’t quite see coming.
Let’s dive into the winners and losers from the Bengals’ victory over the Ravens in Baltimore.
Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. We certainly wouldn’t classify the Bengals defense as ‘good’ this season, but it had some fortune on Thanksgiving Day, and it certainly took advantage of it. It started with Cedric Johnson recovering a football that popped out of Lamar Jackson’s hands at the 6-yard line. While the Bengals offense couldn’t turn that into points, Jordan Battle saved a touchdown on Baltimore’s next drive with a hit on Isaiah Likely at the 1-yard line that rolled out of the end zone for a touchback. Johnson recovered another fumble two drives later. Then, in the fourth quarter with Baltimore driving to try and make it a one-score game, a deflected pass was picked off by rookie Demetrius Knight Jr. and taken 39 yards back. There might have been a little fortune on Cincinnati’s side tonight, but this defense also deserves credit for the plays it made that won this game.
There’s just no way a toe injury is the only thing hampering Lamar Jackson right now. He’s obviously less willing to run because lower-body injuries (ankle, hamstring, and knee) have sapped much of his athleticism. It’s also clearly impacting him as a passer. He entered tonight with a 57.1 percent completion rate and a 1-2 TD-INT in his last three starts, and that’s the same quarterback a national audience saw on Thursday against one of the league’s worst defenses. Unfortunately, it seems like the Ravens will be stuck with a hobbled Jackson for the remainder of the season.
Joe Burrow wanted this badly. He returned early from turf toe surgery, probably weeks ahead of when doctors would have any real confidence about him returning to football. He desperately sought to compete when Cincinnati’s playoff hopes remained alive, even if it was a faint pulse. Some of the throws he missed and the fact he’s playing with a steel plate in his shoe make it evident that Burrow’s not remotely close to 100 percent. Tonight, though, he got to battle with his teammates again and come out of it with a win in Baltimore.
We knew the Ravens offensive line had taken a step back compared to last season. After all, Baltimore entered Week 13 with the fourth-highest pressure rate allowed (40.2 percent) and the second-highest pressure rate (40.3 percent) when opponents don’t blitz. The assumption was that against the league’s worst pass rush, with Trey Hendrickson sidelined, this unit could at least...
