Can Ravens Correct Previous Mistakes Against Bengals?

Baltimore was dominated by Cincinnati in first meeting.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens had one of their worst performances of the season Week 7 against the Bengals.

Baltimore was dominated in all three facets — offense, defense, and special teams — in the 41-17 loss. 

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow avoided several potential sacks and shredded the Ravens secondary for 416 yards with three touchdowns.

Cincinnati wide receiver C.J. Uzomah got behind Baltimore's secondary for two of those scores from 55 and 32 yards. 

The Ravens had no answer for Bengals rookie wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase, who had 8 catches for 201 yards with a long touchdown.

“It’s disciplined football," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "We have to play disciplined football. We have to have our eyes in the right spot. We have to take good angles, and we have to wrap up and get them on the ground. These are good run after the catch players, all of these guys, including Ja’Marr, but not just Ja’Marr. Tyler Boyd is good at it. Tee Higgins is good at it. Uzomah is good at it; one of the most underrated tight ends in the league is Uzomah. 

"So, these guys are all talented guys. We’re going to have to do a great job, and I expect that we will.”

Baltimore could be shorthanded for the rematch because it now has 11 players on the 53-man roster on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. 

Those players consist of safeties Geno Stone and Chuck Clark; defensive tackle Justin Madubuike; linebackers Chris Board, Kristian Welch  Justin Houston and Pernell McPhee; wide receiver Sammy Watkins; cornerbacks Jimmy Smith and Chris Westry; and center Trystan Colon.

“It’s frustrating, but at the same time, we can only control what we can control," safety Brandon Stephens said about the COVID issues. "Whatever happens, happens, but we’re trying to do our best [for] everybody [to] stay safe. [We] socially distance ourselves from one another. But at the same time, we can only control what we can control.”

In the previous game against the Bengals, the Ravens struggled to tackle. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey and Clark whiffed on a tackle that allowed an 82-yard touchdown to Chase. That play gave the Bengals a 27-17 lead and the Ravens never recovered. 

The Bengals then put the game away with a 21-yard touchdown run by Joe Mixon that boosted the lead to 34-17. Cincinnati running back Samaje Perine also had a 46-yard touchdown scamper on the next drive,

Both times, the Ravens missed several tackles, a problem that has resurfaced numerous times.

"Tackling is critical; many of their yards are their catch-and-run yards, [and] many of their rushing yards are yards after contact," Harbaugh said. "Many of their big plays are yards after the catch. So, we have to do a great job of tackling, of course.”

Starting quarterback Lamar Jackson completed 15 of 31 pass attempts for 257 yards with a touchdown and was sacked five times in that first game. Jackson's status for this game is uncertain because of an ankle injury.

“I really don’t have any updates on that," Harbaugh responded when asked about Jackson's status. "That’s ‘wait and see’ for all of those guys. Every single guy you’re about to ask me about are all going to be day-by-day, and we’ll just see where they’re at as we go.”