The Ravens defense gave up points on each of the first three Bengals possessions on their way to a 17-7 loss.
Said Ravens coach John Harbaugh, “It’s got to be an emphasis. We did it last
week, we came out strong. We want to come out aggressive and making
plays, but we didn’t do it. We’ve got to find a way to start the game
better. We’ll look at it and try to figure it out.”
Mike Preston of the Baltimore Sun wonders if Ravens S Ed Reed is playing with a more serious injury than anyone has revealed.
Rookie CB Lardarius Webb came in after Fabian Washington went down with an injury and played well for the Ravens.
Ravens QB Joe Flacco struggled for most of Sunday’s 18 of 32, 195-yard, two interception performance.
Bengals players gave a lot of credit for their winning record to the camaraderie inside their locker room.
Bengals RB Cedric Benson ran for 117 yards and answered Ravens LB Ray Lewis’s challenge to prove his strong play in the first meeting wasn’t a fluke.
The Bengals’ biggest injury was WR Chris Henry’s broken forearm, but they also lost G Evan Mathis and LB Keith Rivers over the course of the game.
Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer called more blitzes than in the first meeting, which helped contribute to five different players being in on sacks.
Said Bengals S Chris Crocker, “We’re legit. The tape doesn’t lie. That’s
our whole thing is to earn our respect. We don’t care if we’re
underdogs at the end of the day our job is to make you or whoever is
out there a believer. We’re just going out there and playing.”
For more on the Ravens and Bengals, Mike Florio has the full Morning Aftermath right here.
Only the rest of the season will prove whether Carson’s comments about being better than the ’05 Bengals are true or not. They seem to be mature, but if you don’t care about being underdogs, why talk about earning respect. Why not just play the games and let whether or not you hold the Lombardi in February speak for how much respect you deserve.
Also, without Chris Henry, I can only hope that Jerome Simpson, last year’s second rounder, steps up and can provide a deep threat. I don’t know anything about him or his speed, but he doesn’t seem to be a Chris Henry type of talent. That is a big loss, especially next week against Pittsburgh and their smaller cornerbacks.
To all the Ravens fans who are going to whine about the calls. I will admit that there were some bad calls in this game, as there are in every game. Get over it. The Bengals came out and dominated both sides of the ball, and deserve this win. That being said I hope you guys destroy Pittsburg, as bad as we are going to in less than a week.
I see the Baltimore media is already making excuses for their crappy D, with the “Ed Reed must be really hurt” article.
Time marches on. Ravens are old and slow.
Bengals are a good team. Better than the Ravens. Doesn’t matter what Ray or Ed or anyone else says.
You are what your record says you are.
The loss of Rivers is WAAAAAYYYY worse than the loss of Henry. DOn’t get me wrong, Henry is important, but Rivers is much more of an impact player at his position than Henry is at his, he was the fourth option in a deep WR corp, a damn good fourth option but fourth all the same. Livings is not that big a drop off from Mathis (Mathis began starting after filling in adminrably for Livings in the third? game) so no worries there, and I really like Brandon Johnson so if Keith is out for a game or two we can survive anyway.
Shin snake, I wager my pride that Purify gets the roster spot and not Simpson, purify is big and while not a burner, has the better pedigree (Nebraska) of the two kids and I like him a lot, thought if it wasn’t for Cosby he would have been on the 45 man roster every week.
so can we settle this…
palmer > flacco…
sheeeesh.
As a Ravens fan there are no excuses. Cincy has beaten us solidly both times this year. I agree there were some bad calls or non calls. However, as I watch other games I think officiating all over the league it terrible.
The bottom line is this, its up to the players or the field to determine the game. You have a good young D and I am envious of your cornerbacks. Here’s a fact Ravens fan – if you reach out and hold the mans hand and or jersey your going to get called for it EVERY TIME. If we had a decent size corner who would fight for the ball (like Cincy and other teams) you don’t always get flagged for that since it’s attacking the ball.
Hopefully we can split one with the stealers.
Curse,
You’re right about Purify, honestly, I had forgotten all about him. In one of the news items on Bengals.com, they mentioned Purify without even mentioning Simpson. I think it was a quote from Palmer, so that might tell you who he’s more comfortable with. I do remember some good things from Purify in preseason, so maybe that’s the best option.
The other option is of course a Chase Coffman TE move in place of Henry and have him be the third TE/fourth WR, in a role sort of like Dallas Clark.
I can see both sides of the argument. Henry’s the bigger loss because we don’t know who can fill his role, while Brandon Johnson can fill Rivers role somewhat. Or Rivers is the bigger loss because it involves a starting position while Henry is the fourth WR. Tough call, but if Rivers is okay next week, then I think we’ll come out okay in the end. Hopefully no more injuries pile up.
Still not seeing any Steelers trolls, guess they’re waiting to see if they win tonight, I’ll be watching and rooting like I was a lifetime Broncos fan, if I had any gear I’d wear it. My guess? Steelers 24 Broncos 17, I just don’t think Kyle Orton and that o have what it takes to avoid two straight losses to the AFC North, hope I’m wrong and we get a wounded Steeler team on a short week.
Chris Crocker and the Bengals: This Ravens fan respects you.
sometimes I like when the team we are about to play wins. Has a long hard fought battle but wins, or just kills the person a la Ravens vs Denver. Because I dont want to play a desperate team, Id rather play an overconfident one, and/or an emotionally drained team.Although its getting late enough in the season for any steeler loss to be our benefit.
Whodey
Ray Rice is scary good, I am not looking forward to playing against him in the future.