CINCINNATI — Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey could feel it in his bones, or at least he felt something. Players aren’t typically sore after Friday practices, which tend to be glorified walk-throughs as the team looks to stay as fresh as possible ahead of Sunday’s game.

But this wasn’t a typical week of practice for the Ravens. As Humphrey boarded the team charter Saturday, the 29-year-old couldn’t help but think that if they truly played like they practiced, the Ravens would smother the Cincinnati Bengals.

“Honestly, it was crazy how we practiced,” Humphrey said. “I was actually sore on Saturday because we went so hard on Friday. The message, ‘Hey, we’ve got to practice well.’ I feel like guys really took it to heart. It kind of did get a little contagious. You walk in the locker room and people are talking about, ‘You had game reps in practice.’ Bodies were in a lot of places this week during practice.”

To a man, the Ravens attributed their had-to-have 24-0 victory over the Bengals Sunday at frigid Paycor Stadium to what happened in the four days before the game. Players were pissed after losing back-to-back games to divisional foes. They got after each other at practice. The defense, in particular, was challenged, first by Hall of Fame safety Ed Reed, who attended Friday’s practice, and then by defensive coordinator Zach Orr during a Saturday night meeting.

Orr told the defense to “let it loose” and play together, pointing out that the Ravens rarely lose when the defense is on the same page. What followed was the team’s best all-around performance of the season at a time when the Ravens couldn’t afford a loss.

The victory gets the Ravens back to 7-7 and keeps the pressure on the Pittsburgh Steelers (7-6), who need to beat the Miami Dolphins Monday night to stay in sole possession of first place in the AFC North. Beyond that, it was the way the Ravens played that sent a clear message: They’re not done yet. In fact, if the Ravens win their final three games, they’ll take the division.

This is a team that, at times, has looked frustrated and flat. This is a team that has lost the physical battle on too many Sundays and hasn’t pushed back nearly enough or imposed its will. This is a team that has buried itself in a series of weekly mistakes.

Not Sunday. Not against a Bengals team that beat the Ravens 32-14 on Thanksgiving night in Baltimore. Not against a quarterback who has done an awful lot of shredding the Baltimore defense in past meetings.

Registering their first shutout since they beat the Tennessee Titans 21-0 in October 2018, holding a Joe Burrow-led offense without points for the first time in his NFL career, and officially eliminating the Bengals (4-10) from playoff contention were the rewards from the Ravens’ finest three hours of the season, at least to this point.

“I’m really proud of the effort, the way they stuck together and the way they played together,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “It was our best football game of the year, complementary football in all three phases, coming off our best week of practice — and we’ve had good weeks of practice. We’ve had really good weeks of practice, very intentional weeks of practice, and this was another level.

“At this point in time, to see that is really what is impressive about these guys. I told them I’m so proud of them for that reason.”

In many ways, this was a vintage Ravens performance. Playing in the coldest game in franchise history — game time temperature was 10 degrees with a minus-1 windchill — the Ravens defense warmed to the task early and never let the Bengals up. They sacked Burrow three times, hit him 10 times and let the quarterback and his offensive line know about it, too.

“You know how it goes. Their feelings get hurt, or they get to chirping because something happened — because I touched their quarterback, so they get all chippy and stuff like that,” said Ravens outside linebacker Dre’Mont Jones, who had five hits on Burrow. “But, I’m not worried about that. They’re going to talk — everybody is going to talk — but it’s about, can you finish the game and play the right way with your teammates?”

Asked when he felt like the Ravens had the Bengals rattled, Jones said, “I felt like play 1, they weren’t ready to play. It was too cold for them.”

The tough talk started in the pregame when Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton, speaking outside the locker room, challenged the defensive backs “to send these boys to Cancun. If we beat them their season is (expletive) over with,” a moment captured by an ESPN reporter. It continued during the game as several Ravens verbally sparred with longtime tormentor, Ja’Marr Chase. Jones, at one point, did the crying gesture to the Bengals after Cincinnati’s offensive linemen were upset that he wasn’t flagged for a hit on Burrow.

“It’s always about us. It’s never been about them, but as competitors, I think we’re pissed off we lost to them the first time, I’m not going to lie,” said Ravens safety Alohi Gilman. “That’s kind of where it came from, but at the end of the day, it’s about us. It’s about our defense. It’s about our team. But it was good to go out there and just put that on tape and let everyone know that we’re ready to roll.”

Gilman and outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy combined to provide the exclamation point to a defensive performance that featured two forced turnovers, two fourth-down stops and the Bengals managing just 298 yards despite running 71 offensive plays.

With the Ravens leading 17-0, an onrushing Tavius Robinson forced a quick Burrow throw that went right to Van Noy. He handed it to the fleeter Gilman, who raced 84 yards down the sideline for a touchdown. In this wild and unpredictable season for the Ravens, the defense — which has been maligned for much of the year — outsourcing the Bengals’ high-powered offense is the latest chapter.

Never seen a hand-off on a pick-6 this smooth

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“I feel like we’ve been playing really good defense for many number of weeks,” Harbaugh said. “We played good defense last week. We played good defense the week before, but coming up with those plays is the difference maker. When you come up with those plays, that’s what creates a performance like this, and the guys did that.”

One of the defense’s biggest contributions was holding the Bengals down early and giving the offense a chance to find its footing. The Ravens’ first three offensive possessions included two punts and a Lamar Jackson throw that Zay Flowers bobbled into an interception. But when Jackson and company got the ball midway through the second quarter, the game was still scoreless.

Jackson changed that by connecting with running back Rasheen Ali for a 30-yard touchdown after the quarterback made a check to catch the Bengals in a blitz. It was Ali’s first career touchdown. The Ravens got the ball right back, and Jackson ended a nifty two-minute drive by hitting Flowers in the back of the end zone for a 28-yard score. It was Flowers’ first touchdown since Week 1.

“I believe all of us on offense had good rhythm,” said Jackson, who finished 8-of-12 for 150 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, and rushed two times for 26 yards. “It felt like us, and we just have to keep pushing the envelope. Just keep getting first downs, stay out of ‘Get-back-on-track (situations),’ because it’s hard to convert in the NFL trying to get back on track. So, we stayed out of those situations, but got positive yards and stayed ahead of the sticks.”

The Ravens didn’t have to do a whole lot more in the second half beyond running the ball, eating clock and avoiding costly turnovers.

“The defense was playing lights out,” Jackson said.

It wasn’t all positive. Starting weak-side linebacker Teddye Buchanan, who was having a solid rookie season, is believed to have sustained a season-ending knee injury while covering a punt in the first quarter. Cornerback Chidobe Awuzie hurt his foot in the fourth quarter, further attacking Baltimore’s defensive depth.

Those, however, are worries for another day. The Ravens, who will play the AFC East-leading New England Patriots next Sunday night, badly needed a win to stay in the playoff mix. Led by their defense, they delivered in a much more convincing fashion than many expected.

The Ravens, though, insisted that they felt it coming. A week of intense, physical and detail-oriented practices set the tone.

“We haven’t practiced bad all week, but there’s a lot of plays where it’s like, ‘In a game, I would make that.’ I felt like this week, there were kind of some situations where it was like, ‘I’m going to make this play at all costs. I’m not going to say I’ll make that in the game,’” Humphrey said. “This week in practice, that seemed to happen a little more. Even when somebody catches the ball, you kind of give them an aggressive punch, things that you don’t always want to do, but this week, from my eyes, from what I saw, there was a lot of physicality, finishing at the ball, no matter what the circumstance.”

And Humphrey said those habits will carry over.

“The message has been clear. It’s kind of win or die trying,” Humphrey said. “Back against the wall, some people look at it as a bad thing. We’re kind of looking at it as a good thing. You just got to do it or you don’t. There’s no more talking. We did well. We have to enjoy this one a little bit and keep the momentum going.”