BALTIMORE — Throughout the week, the comparisons were made to last October when the Ravens finally hit their stride after an uneven 2-2 start.
With John Harbaugh’s team a game better than that through the first quarter of the new season, we’ve waited for the Baltimore offense to look more like it did a year ago. But that didn’t happen against Cincinnati on Sunday as Lamar Jackson instead looked like a quarterback who’d missed the bulk of the practice week with a sore knee and a stomach bug. The Ravens again lacked an offensive identity, passing the ball inefficiently and again looking reluctant to unleash the running game even after building a 17-0 lead one play into the second quarter.
Questions about the offense will persist for at least another week, but it was the Ravens defense resembling its 2019 self in the 27-3 win over the Bengals, registering a season-high seven sacks and making first overall pick Joe Burrow look like an overmatched rookie quarterback playing behind a poor offensive line. While Jackson and the record-setting offense received the fanfare last year, it was also around this time last year that Wink Martindale’s unit took off to become one of the NFL’s very best defenses in the second half of the season.
The Ravens needed that kind of dominant showing on Sunday.
“It was just us running the way we run and just executing,” said safety Chuck Clark about the best defensive performance of the season to date. “The past couple of games, we’ve executed here and there, but we didn’t execute like we did today.”
No one would confuse the Bengals for the Kansas City Chiefs, of course, but the struggles in pass coverage against running backs that had carried over to the Washington game were nowhere to be found Sunday as Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard — both very capable as receivers out of the backfield — combined to catch seven passes for just 39 yards. The Ravens forced three turnovers, surrendered 2.5 yards per carry, and allowed Cincinnati to cross midfield on just three drives and only once in the second half.
Baltimore confused and overwhelmed a quarterback who’d thrown for more than 300 yards in each of the previous three games. Five of the Ravens’ seven sacks were collected by defensive backs, tying an NFL record dating back to 1982 when sacks became an official stat. Finding few receivers open downfield and facing blitzes from every direction, Burrow finished the day with just 183 passing yards and an interception on 30 attempts.
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According to Pro Football Focus, the Ravens blitzed the Cincinnati quarterback 59 percent of the time and pressured him on a whopping 47 percent of his dropbacks.
“It’s kind of how we piece it together. It won’t be that way every week,” said Harbaugh about the deception and frequent blitzing from the secondary. “It’ll change from week to week, but that’s something I’m really pleased with. I’m very happy. We’re capable of doing it, and I think we have the guys to do it too. Our guys bring it now. They’re good blitzers, and they can tackle.”
Sunday’s effort is how the Ravens defense likes to play in the absence of a four-man rush, so seeing those 2019-like results brought relief as the offense continues to look more disjointed than dominant when held to the standard set last season. Baltimore has now allowed 17 or fewer points in four of five games, even more impressive with scoring being up around the league so far this season.
On a day when Jackson and the offense stalled after the first quarter, a dominant pass rush, a standout performance by rookie inside linebacker Patrick Queen, and turnovers created by Pro Bowl cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters were more than enough. And that should allow for more time and patience for offensive coordinator Greg Roman to figure it out as the Ravens continue winning games at a high rate, starting 4-1 for the sixth time in team history.
Per #Ravens PR, Patrick Queen became the second Ravens rookie to record a sack, force a fumble, and recover a fumble in a game. Terrell Suggs did that three different times in his 2003 Defensive Rookie of the Year campaign.
— Luke Jones (@BaltimoreLuke) October 12, 2020
“In the first half, we were kind of flying around, doing our jobs, and I was happy with what we did,” said tight end Mark Andrews, who caught his fifth touchdown of the season in the first quarter. “We have a lot to get better at. We’ll look at the film, get better, and be a better offense.
“I know our defense balled the heck out, man.”
As the Ravens continue to seek their offensive identity, the defense reaffirmed its own in a big way on Sunday.
