The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Bengals vs. Ravens Recap

The Bengals made a statement on Sunday afternoon with their 41-17 win in Baltimore against the then-leading AFC North Ravens. The Bengals have now taken sole ownership of first place in the division and continue to impress with their hot streak on a 5-2 season.

This was their most complete game versus one of their best opponents all season. The offense dominated, and the defense contained the potent Baltimore offense in what turned out to be a Bengals beatdown.

Let's look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from yesterday's matchup.

The Good

With no other way to put it, the whole Bengals team deserves "the good" because they demolished the Ravens on both sides of the ball. The Ravens defense did a good job of stopping the run for most of the game, but Joe Burrow had great success through the air going for 416 yards with three touchdowns.

Ja'Marr Chase added eight receptions for 201 yards and one touchdown, which included an 82-yard reception where Chase was able to make multiple tacklers miss with a spin move to take it all the way to the house.

The Ravens are not easy to contain, with Lamar Jackson having dual-threat potential, but the Bengals confused the Ravens offense, which only scored 17 points. The Bengals had five sacks and eight tackles for a loss. Jackson was only able to throw for one touchdown, and the Bengals limited the Ravens to 115 yards total on the ground.

The Bad

Lamar Jackson did not have a great game, and it showed in the stat book. He completed less than 50% of his passes, going 15 of 31 through the air. He had one touchdown but finished with a QBR of 46.8 compared to Burrow, who finished with a QBR of 79.7.

Lamar Jackson had some success on the ground going for 88 yards on 12 carries, but you would expect that out of a dual-threat quarterback. His passing game and execution had Ravens fans wanting more, but the Bengals' defense did too much to disrupt his rhythm.

The Ugly

The Ravens defense gave up 416 yards through the air and 111 on the ground. Very few teams will win a game where they give up over 500 yards total. Burrow was able to complete passes with little worry, with receivers open all over. He was able to get in a rhythm and never look back when the game got into the third quarter.

The tackling of the Ravens was atrocious, as well, where there were multiple times where the Bengals receivers were bouncing off of the tacklers. The biggest included Ja'Marr Chase's big touchdown catch and run, where he went 76 yards after the catch and made multiple tacklers miss.

Next Matchup

The Bengals will continue their road trip against the 1-5 New York Jets next Sunday at 1 pm EST on CBS. The Ravens will get a bye week next week before taking on the 3-3 Minnesota Vikings at home at 1 p.m. EST on FOX.