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If there was ever a time for the Baltimore Ravens to have an early-season statement game at home, that time is Sunday night when they take on their AFC North division rivals, the Cincinnati Bengals, at M&T Bank Stadium.
In last week’s 23-20 defeat to the Bills, the offense was held scoreless in the second half, squandering a 20-3 first-half lead.
In the excruciating 42-38 loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 2, the Ravens watched a 21-point advantage dissipate faster than Uncle Willie running away from the cops in the “Alligator Man” episode of “Atlanta”.
Overall, the Ravens have been outscored 43-9 during the fourth quarter so far this season. Once upon a time, the franchise was defined by a vicious, intimidating defense that would choke opponents into submission.
From 2008 through 2021, Baltimore won 61 straight games when leading by at least 17 points. But this year in the normally comforting confines of M&T Bank Stadium, they can’t seem to stop an ornery, bowlegged toddler from running away with the darn TV remote.
Adding insult to current injury, the Ravens are facing a division rival that scored a combined 82 points on them last season.
In the first of those disappointing losses to the Bengals, a 41-17 smackdown in Baltimore, Cincy scored 28 points in a 19-minute span, in what was eerily reminiscent of what we’ve been seeing this year.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had a then-career high 416 passing yards while the sensational rookie receiver Ja’Marr Chase, with his eight receptions for 201 yards, ran through the porous Ravens defense with ease.
The second matchup was equally as disturbing, with the Bengals dropping the Ravens like 20-year-old Mike Tyson knocking out Trevor Berbick in 1986 to become the youngest heavyweight champion ever.
Burrow passed for 525 yards and four touchdowns in that second massacre, while Chase caught seven passes for 125 yards. The Bengals’ Tee Higgins had 12 receptions for 194 yards and two scores.
You can’t tell me that every Ravens holdover from last year’s roster has not been bouncing around the training facility all week screaming, “I want revenge!” like Jimmy in “Hollywood Shuffle.”
The good news is that the Ravens come into this game as one of the NFL’s highest-scoring teams, with an average of 29.8 points per game.
Despite last week’s sub-par performance by quarterback Lamar Jackson, who threw two interceptions and passed for only 144 yards in some nasty weather that included a swirling wind that made the occasional heavy downpours look as if they were coming in sideways, his early-season work has still been MVP worthy.
He’s completed 76 of his 116 passing attempts for 893 yards and 11 touchdowns. He’s also averaging 8.5 yards per carry while rushing for 316 yards and two more scores.
But the man can’t continue to carry this team on his back like Gladys Knight carried the Pips. Lamar has been responsible for more than 80% of the team’s offensive production this year, and that’s simply not sustainable over a full season.
The Bills neutralized his most dependable target last week, tight end Mark Andrews, as the passing game struggled. Andrews only caught two passes for 15 yards against Buffalo.
But on a positive note, running back J.K. Dobbins is starting to look like he’s getting closer to being the force of nature that he was while dominating back at Ohio State.
The Achilles heel right now is the secondary, which has been shaky at best. That’s far from ideal when you’re talking about Burrow, who’s fresh off a surprising Super Bowl run.
The composed Bengals QB comes into Sunday night’s game with the fresh memories of scorching the Baltimore defense for 941 yards and seven touchdowns last season.
This year, he’s passed for 1,099 yards and eight touchdowns behind an offensive line that’s been more woeful than Adam Sandler in “Jack and Jill,” allowing 16 sacks, the second-most in the NFL.
The Ravens have been unable to generate a consistent, dependable pass rush this year, but they have as good a chance as they’ll ever have to get that jump-started on Sunday night before a national audience.
The defense must also not allow Cincy’s Pro Bowl running back, Joe Mixon, to get back on track. Mixon has been struggling to find some decent holes to run through, and so far has only 224 yards on 82 carries through the first four games.
“We need to get our first victory at home,” Jackson said this week. “We took two ‘Ls’ at home, that’s something that rarely happens here, but I know the stadium is going to be rocking.”
With both teams at 2-2, this is as close to a must-win game as it gets for both teams.
The spotlight is shining on the defense in this one. Linebacker Odafe Oweh had an exceptional game last week with a team-high seven tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, and two quarterback hits while Jason Pierre-Paul made a definite impact in his Ravens debut.
Although the secondary has been a convenient scapegoat this season, they did an excellent job of limiting All-Pro receiver Stefon Diggs to only four catches for 62 yards.
We still haven’t seen the Ravens at full strength due to lingering injuries. Hopefully they’re moving in that direction, because a third-straight home loss to begin the season is not what teams that have Super Bowl aspirations do.
alejandro.danois@thebaltimorebanner.com
Read more:
Dear Orioles, thank you for a thrilling 2022 season
The Ravens can’t hold on to lead again in 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills
‘Lamarvelous’ dazzles once again as the Ravens knock off the Patriots, 37-26
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Alejandro Danois was a sports writer for The Banner. He specializes in long-form storytelling, looking at society through the prism of sports and its larger connections with the greater cultural milieu. The author of The Boys of Dunbar, A Story of Love, Hope and Basketball, he is also a film producer and cultural critic.
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