Ravens crashes Bengals home opener 27-24

What else can you say about the Ravens? Last week, there faced little adversity and went on to roll out the red carpet on their opponent. This week, without some of their key players in the lineup, they had to rely on more so of a balance offense against the Bengals.

After getting a touchdown that chalked up seven minutes on their opening drive, the Ravens' offense started to stall for the remainder of the quarter. A couple of mistakes and penalties halted any type of productivity for Jackson to get into rhythm. On the defensive side of the ball, the Ravens' defense hassled and put a lot of pressure on Joe "money" Burrow. Before the Bengals scored off a punt return and tied the game up, Burrow was booed off the field with throwing a pedestrian 13 yards. Talk about the Ravens bringing the heat!

Despite the early success with holding Cincy's offense to zero first downs, their bend but do not break defense started to crack. Burrow started getting into rhythm and taking advantage of the cushion that Baltimore was given them. It got to the point that Cincy was threatening to score but on a third and short at the Ravens 10-yard line, Baltimore knocked a pass away that was a potential touchdown pass. The Ravens finished off the half with two monster penalties that cost them a potential touchdown, so they had to settle for a Justin Tucker field goal to go into the locker room 13-10.

Baltimore faced some bad news in the second half. Already with injuries pilling up, it was announced that Odell Beckham Jr was not going to return with an ankle injury. Since their leading receiver was out, the Ravens' tried numerous ways to get the offense rolling and convert third downs, but on three consecutive possessions, they had to punt the ball. Clinging onto a three-point lead, Jackson hit Nelson Agholor for a 10-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth.

The Bengals made things very interesting late as they scored a touchdown at the 3:30 mark. Up by three and with a chance to end the game with a couple of first downs, Jackson made the most out of very conservative play calls. On a third down and short, he converted the down with his legs and put the game on ice as Cincy could not stop them, 27-24. Jackson finished 24 out of 33 for 237 yards through the air, 54 yards on the ground and two TD's.