|
Cincinnati
Bengals…
A Monday night
downer for the Bengals
BALTIMORE — The Bengals bid to compete with the elite of the AFC North
blew up badly in front of a Monday Night Football audience at M&T
Bank Stadium when the Ravens went into the fourth quarter scoring two
points for every minute they had the ball.
Bengals-killer Ed Reed completed the bloody deed with a 34-yard
interception return for a touchdown late in the third quarter when he
converted quarterback Andy Dalton's overthrow of wide receiver Brandon
Tate during a 44-13 loss that stands as Cincinnati's worst opener in
head coach Marvin Lewis's 10 seasons.
It also equaled the biggest Bengals defeat in an opener, matching the
31-point loss to Denver in 1991.
Throw in a fumble by Dalton as Ravens nose tackle Haloti Ngata drove
his 330 pounds into his throwing shoulder and the rout was both ugly
and long. Dalton, who came back to play, finished 22-of-37 for 221
yards with no touchdowns.
The Bengals kept the ball away with three drives of at least 12 plays
with the game on the line but they couldn't slow down Baltimore's
offense as the Ravens bolted to a 24-13 lead with 5:18 left in the
third quarter even though they had the ball for only slightly more than
17 minutes.
While the Ravens were scoring touchdowns at will, the Bengals could
only come up with field goals on two of their long drives.
Running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis ran the Bengals back into it when he
carried three Ravens past the goal line on fourth-and-one for a
six-yard touchdown run up the middle with 18 seconds left in the first
half to cut Baltimore's lead to 17-10
And then the Bengals threatened to tie it on the opening drive of the
second half on a 12-play drive, but it stalled at the Ravens 2 and Mike
Nugent's field goal made it 17-13 with 8:59 left in the third quarter.
That drive of 5:01 came on top of Green-Ellis's TD drive of 5:34 as the
Bengals had the ball for 25 of the previous 26 snaps. Dalton hit wide
receiver Andrew Hawkins on screens of 11 and 14 yards as Hawkins
skittered behind big blocks by fellow receivers A.J. Green, Armon Binns
and Brandon Tate, after Green worked a double move against cornerback
Jimmy Smith for 17 yards.
But the Bengals simply couldn't stop the Ravens. Baltimore quarterback
Joe Flacco took just three minutes to jack it back to 24-13 with
frightening ease. Working against an invisible pass rush, Flacco went
through the secondary in the no-huddle in no time. Tight end Dennis
Pitta, racking up a career-high 73 yards, broke loose in a zone on the
first snap of the drive for 23 yards.
Then Flacco got the touchdown when the Bengals brought their
linebackers on a blitz on third-and-eight from the Bengals 10 and he
threw up a jump ball for Pitta working against cornerback Leon Hall
The Bengals had a three-and-out with 5:18 left in the third quarter and
then Flacco went again down the middle to Pitta, suddenly looking like
Rob Gronkowski, for 25 more yards. And then running back Ray Rice,
finishing with 68 yards on just 10 carries, ripped off a 10-yarder to
set up Justin Tucker's 40-yard field goal to make it 27-13 with 1:13
left in the third quarter.
Then came the pick on Dalton's bad throw a minute later and from that
point it was trying to keep Dalton healthy. After Ngata drilled him, he
got Dalton for a sack when he beat right tackle Andre Smith
The Bengals never had an answer for Flacco as he finished 21-of-29 for
299 yards with nary a hand on him, although he did get sacked three
times, twice by Pro Bowl defensive tackle Geno Atkins.
The lone bright spot was Green Ellis. This is why the Bengals signed
him back in March. Goal line. Short yardage. Moments before his
touchdown, BJGE ran behind right Andre Smith and rookiie right guard
Kevin Zeitler on another fourth-and-one from the Ravens 34 for four
yards to keep the 13-play, 81-yard drive alive. On the previous drive
from the 50 he converted a third-and-two behind Smith and Zeitler for
13 yards.
Green-Ellis finished with 91 yards on 18 carries after a season Cedric
Benson went for 51 and 41 yards in the two losses to Baltimore.
And the Bengals desperately needed that TD run.
They were supposed to ride their defense while their injured offense
got into sync in the first few weeks of this season, but the Ravens had
their way in the first 18 minutes of the season to take a 17-3 lead.
The big plays that hounded the Bengals against the Ravens surfaced
right away when Flacco took the season's first snap and hit wide
receiver Torrey Smith for a 52-yard bomb running past Hall inside down
the middle and it kept going for the 17-3 lead when wide receiver
Anquan Boldin sailed past safety Taylor Mays down the middle for a
34-yard touchdown catch with 12:25 left in the first half.
And even when the Ravens didn't get a completion, they got a big play.
With eight minutes left in the half, Mays hit tight end Ed Dickson in
the head after an incompletion and drew the personal foul flag.
But it was on that drive the Bengals forced the Ravens to punt for the
first time all night when cornerback Adam Jones came off the edge to
sack Flacco.
Rice was it again after he hit the Bengals for three runs of least 51
yards last season. He followed Pro Bowl right guard Marshall Yanda's
block on middle linebacker Rey Maualuga and walked in from seven yards
out with 6:03 left in the first quarter to make it 10-0. That came a
few snaps after Rice reached back to make a one-handed grab to convert
a fourth-and-one while working on cornerback Nate Clements in the flat.
SAM backer Manny Lawson then lost Pitta in coverage for a 12-yard gain
to set up Rice's TD.
Earlier in the drive, Flacco barely avoided an interception when WILL
backer Thomas Howard had a ball bounce off his hands over the middle.
After the 52-yard bomb to Smith (he had catches of 49 and 38 yards
against the Bengals last year), Rice chewed up the middle for six yards
on the next snap. But the Bengals held for a 48-yard field goal by
Tucker, courtesy of Atkins when he beat the blitz to a sack on third
down.
Read this and other articles at the Cincinnati Bengals
|
|
|
|
