The Cincinnati Bengals headed into M&T Stadium on Thanksgiving to face the red-hot Baltimore Ravens, who had won five straight games. This was going to be different for the struggling Bengals, though. Quarterback Joe Burrow was making his return after getting a serious turf toe injury in Week 2. Wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase was also returning after missing the last game due to suspension.
Who would get the turkey leg to cap off a Thanksgiving treat?
The first drive saw Burrow dealing quite a bit. He spread the ball around with some big plays from wide receiver Mitchell Tinsley and tight end Drew Sample. The offense worked it into the RedZone, but it stalled there, and they were forced to settle for a 32-yard Evan McPherson field goal.
The Ravens started out much better. Jackson hit one of his tight ends on the first play for a significant gain. However, it was running back Derrick Henry taking a sweep for a 28-yard touchdown to cap the 7-play drive. Henry also passed running back Jim Brown on the All-Time rushing list with the run, which is just a cool bit of history.
Cincinnati didn’t do much with their next possession, but after pinning Baltimore deep in their own territory, Joseph Ossai was able to force a fumble on Jackson, and it was recovered at the 2-yard line. The Bengals had a few cracks at the end zone, but it all looked a bit off, and they failed on a fourth-down conversion. They passed the ball three of the four plays.
The Ravens followed that by going 3-and-out, which set the ball up at midfield. Burrow connected with Chase for a crucial 3rd-and-11. Then Burrow called his own number on 4th-and-1 with a quarterback sneak to pick it up. He also managed to turn a disastrous third-down play that was meant to be a screen to Chase — which the Ravens’ defense read like a book — into a six-yard pick-up, shoveling it to Samaje Perine out of the backfield. It made it a much more manageable field goal for McPherson to make it 6-7.
Baltimore nearly scored on the next drive. A few Jackson scrambles got the drive going. Then, he hit tight end Isaiah Likely, who had easily beaten Jordan Battle. Battle then made a poor attempt at a tackle, but he stuck with the play. Right before the ball crossed the goal line, Battle came from behind and forced the fumble. It was initially called a touchdown, but on further review, it was ruled that the ball went out of the end zone, giving Cincinnati possession.
Burrow overcame an early holding call in the next drive. Then he hit Chase for a beautiful 41-yard bomb down the sideline. Unfortunately, the offense still could not capitalize with a touchdown. Instead, they settle for yet another McPherson field goal, which this time gave them a 9-7 lead.
You just can not make this up. Jackson hits Likely for a 30-yard gain. Then he throws a beautiful ball to Zay Flowers down the sideline for a 36-yard touchdown. But the play gets called back because Flowers pushed off on DJ Turner when he probably didn’t need to reach back and make any contact with him at all. After that, the defense forced a 3rd-and-long where they finally brought a decent blitz, which allowed Ossai to get a free run to Jackson for a sack that forced them out of field goal range. Yet another mistake that took points off the board.
The Bengals put together a little bit of a drive before punting. Then Jackson, on the next drive, went to throw a pass, but tried holding onto it before it left his grasp. It was recovered by the Bengals and ultimately ruled a fumble. Yet another opportunity deep in Baltimore territory. This time, with only 28 seconds left. They gain four yards. Settling for their fourth field goal of the game.
The Ravens started the second half with a 3-and-out. Then the Bengals embarked on quite a drive. The highlight of which was Burrow making plays with his legs a few times. The first came on a third down, where Burrow stepped up and then ran outside to avoid the rush to throw a ball that drew a defensive pass interference to keep the drive alive. A few plays later, he kept the ball on what he thought would be an RPO, but Chase wasn’t looking. So Burrow scrambled ahead to pick up another first down. He finished the drive, scrambling to his right and finally getting a touchdown. This tim,e it was tight end Tanner Hudson making a one-handed grab over safety Kyle Hamilton. This made it a two-score lead of 19-7.
It did not stay that way for long. The next drive, the Ravens remembered they could run the ball and dominated the defense on the ground. It was running back Keaton Mitchell with an 18-yard run to the outside, where he met pretty much no resistance to cut the lead back to a one-score game.
Burrow wasn’t going to be outdone. After the running backs combined for 15 yards, it seemed the drive was destined to stall after some drops and miscues. However, Burrow ripped one over the middle to Andrei Iosivas for a 28-yard touchdown. An absolute bullet that was lofted perfectly over the linebacker but in front of the safety. Bengals go up 26-14.
After Henry absolutely embarrassed Barrett Carter in the open field for a 44-yard gain, it was one of those drives where it felt inevitable that another touchdown was coming. Murphy stepped in to make sure that did not happen. He was able to get a hand on Jackson’s pass, which flew up like a punt that rookie linebacker Demetrius Knight was ready to intercept and return to midfield. ANOTHER scoring opportunity off the board for the Ravens.
This time, Burrow and company are only able to add a 52-yard field goal to make it a 15-point lead. Still just two scores, but forcing the Ravens into needing to get a 2-point conversion at some point with roughly nine and a half minutes left to play.
Jackson could not keep the next drive going. There was an iffy false start call that could have easily been called a neutral zone infraction, but the defense still stepped up to end the drive. Defensive coordinator Al Golden got aggressive, sending some big blitzes at Jackson two plays in a row, and it paid off as Jackson couldn’t get set for an accurate throw on either play, turning it over on downs.
The game wasn’t over. The Bengals picked up a few first downs deep in the Ravens’ territory and drained the clock, but Perine fumbled it away with five minutes remaining. This took away an opportunity to make it a three-score game and really have the game out of reach.
Defensive back Jalen Davis had a roller coaster of a game, but he forced a fumble on Flowers to get the ball back to the offense in Baltimore territory. Effectively making the stop this team drastically needed.
They drained the clock down to 1:11, and McPherson drilled his sixth field goal to an almost empty stadium in Baltimore to make it 32-14.
This is a really nice win that keeps that slight glimmer of hope alive. Clearly, Burrow was much healthier than anticipated. He was running around and throwing off platform. If you didn’t know he was hurt and just watched the game, you would have never known. Hats off to the offensive line protecting Burrow after throwing the ball 46 times. Defense also created a ton of turnovers to seal this one.
Cincinnati certainly had plenty of things go their way, but they have also been on the other end of that plenty of times. So sometimes you just have to roll with it and make the most of it. Improving to 4-8 while getting the Ravens down to 6-6 is pretty big as they also play again in two weeks. If they win, then that is seven losses for Baltimore. The Steelers enter a very difficult part of their schedule, also sitting at 6-6.
Maybe the season isn’t so dead, especially if the defense can play like this the rest of the way.