Baltimore Ravens vs Cincinnati Bengals: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

After a devastating 32-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Thanksgiving, the talk around the Baltimore Ravens has been, rightfully, very negative. So, for this rendition of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, I’m going to turn it around to be positive. After the Pittsburgh Steelers lost on Sunday, the Ravens remained in first place of the AFC North. With a ten-day break following their Thursday game, the Ravens have one more mini-bye to fix the last of their issues and make a run towards the postseason with five games remaining. It’s all in their control.

The Good

Lamar Jackson’s health: We’ll get into his play later, but for now, I’d like to talk about the biggest reason I could see the season turning around. On Thursday, despite the poor play, we saw Jackson move the best he has since his injury, maybe since Week 1. Multiple times, he ran the ball decisively and without hesitation, something that’s been lacking recently. At one point, he audibled out of a play on third down and changed it to a read call, calling his own number to pick up the first down. These are positive signs for his health. Now with a break after a Thursday game, we can only hope that Jackson will continue to get healthier and more comfortable, eventually settling back into his MVP play.

Derrick Henry: Another strong showing with 6.0 yards per carry. Henry continues to show the Ravens can lean on him if they want. Even more importantly, he seems to be becoming a fixture in Jackson’s pass game, someone he can rely on. Unfortunately, Henry only received 10 carries in this one, with all three backs totaling fewer than 20 carries in this game combined. The Ravens continue to abandon the run in their biggest games for no reason.

Keaton Mitchell: After two long years, Mitchell finally found the end zone for the first time since his spectacular 2023 season. It’s not hard to see that his speed is in full effect. He can delete tackling angles like few can. With Justice Hill on IR, Mitchell needs to see a larger workload, along with Henry, to help kickstart this struggling offense. Even when plays break down, Mitchell is able to turn negative plays into positive or neutral gains because of his speed.

Rasheen Ali: Hill’s injury will also put Rasheen Ali in a bigger role. It seems as though he’s taken over Hill’s role as a pass-down back, with most of his snaps coming on passing plays. He received an 81.1 pass blocking grade from Pro Football Focus. That being said, even with his limited carries, Ali still out-snapped both Henry and Mitchell, something that can’t happen going forward.

The tight ends: Outside of his fumble, it was great to see Isaiah Likely finally get involved for the first time this season with five catches for 95 yards on six targets. After losing training camp and the beginning of the season to his foot injury and surgery, Likely started slowly once he came back in week four. Now, with a pivotal stretch of play coming up, Likely finally seems to be coming back to form. The vital part is that his and Jackson’s connection on broken plays during the scramble drill seems to remain.

Mark Andrews also had a pretty big game, four catches for 47 yards. He is now the triple-crown franchise leading receiver: receptions, yards, and touchdowns. Charlie Kolar added 17 yards on a single target. With Jackson struggling and the Ravens needing to lean on the run game, being able to put all three of those guys on the field in the Ravens’ bigger packages and still being able to throw out of that will be crucial.

First-half defense: After Zach Orr’s defense got torched in both games last year, the Ravens’ ability to defend the Bengals’ offense was rightfully in question. Even with Burrow coming off an injury and Tee Higgins out, there was little confidence coming into this game. The Ravens defense did a great job in the first half, holding the Bengals to 12 points, all on field goals, despite three red zone trips and two turnovers by the offense inside of their own 20-yard line. The biggest stop came early, after a Ravens fumble set up the Bengals two yards from the end zone. The defense gave up nothing in four plays, forcing a turnover on bounds. In the first half overall, they the Bengals to three of 12 on third down conversions, on which Burrow completed five of his 10 passes for 46 yards. The second half, though, was a different story.

The Bad

Second-half defense: After halftime, Nate Wiggins was ruled out for the rest of the game. Coincidentally, the Bengals’ next two drives ended in touchdowns before the Ravens started forcing punts and field goals again. For most of the second half, the defense couldn’t get off the field. The Bengals were seven of 10 on third down, five of which Burrow converted through the air for 71 yards and two touchdowns. Orr still managed to adjust and give the Ravens offense a chance. It was 26-14 going into the fourth quarter, and the Ravens’ defense only allowed two more field goals the rest of the game. The Ravens offense, meanwhile, squandered the opportunities, giving the ball away via an interception, a fumble, and a turnover on downs. If Wiggins is back on the field soon and the defense can stay healthy, they should be good enough to play complementary football in January.

Pass rush: Against what is considered a bottom-tier offensive line and a returning Joe Burrow, who hadn’t played in weeks, the thought going into this game was that the Ravens’ newly revived pass rush had a chance to feast. Instead, the Ravens only had 12 pressures on Burrow’s 46 pass attempts and his scrambles, per PFF. Burrow certainly didn’t look limited, so that part of the equation is less potent, but the Ravens’ pass rush still needed to do more. In particular, the newly formed edge duo of Mike Green and Dre’Mont Jones, which many are hoping can be the future, only had four combined pressures. The Ravens are going to need more down the line.

Devontez Walker: Walker had two massive targets on Thursday and couldn’t manage to haul either one in. Both would have been massive deep shots, nearing 100 total yards, and a possible touchdown. Walker had a lively summer and seemingly earned himself a role by producing when given targets. He was given the game day nod over Tylan Wallace in Week 13, but couldn’t make it count. It will be curious to see if he gets another chance next week. The Ravens should still look to keep Walker involved downfield, but opportunities in the league are rare, and Walker might have squandered his in Harbaugh’s eyes.

Officiating: I’m not usually one to complain about the refs. It happens for all teams; everybody gets bad calls. There’s not much you can do about it. But it needs to be said: the offensive pass interference call on Zay Flowers’ touchdown catch was egregious as it gets. It was one of the softest calls of the season in an era of football where most receivers can generally get away with almost anything. Meanwhile, Ja’Marr Chase was throwing elbows into corners all night, uncalled. Flowers’ deep touchdown was a massive play for the Ravens, and getting that stolen fundamentally altered the game. The Ravens had plenty of opportunities afterwards, which they squandered; there’s no denying that. But momentum is a fickle mistress, and changing it like that can’t go ignored.

The Ugly

Lamar Jackson: We’ve established that I think Jackson is getting healthier and therefore could find his form and get the Ravens back up and moving. But we can’t deny that Thursday was one of the worst showings we’ve ever seen. Even without the turnovers, which are bad but not something I would count on sticking around for Jackson, he just missed basic throws. He went 17-for-32 through the air, just over a 50% completion rate once again. He fumbled twice and had an interception. He’s not playing at his MVP level, and they need him to. It’s that simple. The season rides on Lamar Jackson finding his form, and it’s scary because we really don’t know if he will or won’t. This is uncharted territory. We’ve never had to see Lamar Jackson bounce back from this bad a stretch of play before.

The fumbles: The Ravens put the ball on the ground four times on Thursday. You can’t win any games doing that. Jackson had two fumbles, one on a strip sack and the other on a throw he tried to pull back on, where the ball simply slipped out of his hand. Isaiah Likely had the biggest one, fumbling on what should have been a game-changing 44-yard touchdown that would have given the Ravens an eight-point lead in the first half. Instead, the Ravens gave the ball back to the Bengals, who took a 9-7 lead. The Ravens never had a lead again. Flowers had a fumble late in the game as well, when the game was beyond a comeback, but it’s still inexcusable.

The Ravens had gone on a five-game win streak recently. They did it by not turning the ball over and not making mistakes, while the defense dominated. They’ll need to get back to that to continue a run for the playoffs until Jackson returns to form.