Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and his offense averaged over 5 yards per carry in his team’s 34-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on “Thursday Night Football”. Here’s what you need to know:
- Jackson threw for 264 yards, two touchdowns and rushed for 54 yards in the win.
- Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow left the game in second quarter, was later ruled out with a right wrist injury and Jake Browning replaced him.
- Ravens tight end Mark Andrews left the game in the first quarter with an ankle injury.
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Ravens TE Mark Andrews leaves game vs. Bengals
Impact of Burrow’s injury
There’s only one takeaway that matters for the Bengals. Without Joe Burrow, a season with arguably the highest expectations in franchise history goes up in smoke. Everything runs through Burrow and no matter the efforts of Browning, they don’t have enough to carry on without him. At least, not at the level the second half of the year necessitated.
Due to his calf injury sabotaging the first four games of the season, the margin for error was already gone in a brutal AFC North. The math now looks impossible to win the division and the only hope is Browning could right the ship long enough for Burrow to return and somehow sneak in. Without knowing the seriousness of the injury in the current moment, no one can say for sure what that path looks like other than dark and undesirable. — Paul Dehner Jr., Bengals beat writer
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Bengals’ Burrow exits vs. Ravens with right wrist injury
Bengals struggle against the run
Cincinnati’s defense continued to struggle against the run. It allowed explosive plays just as it did against the Houston Texans five days prior. This time the Bengals gave up seven plays of 20-plus yards.
When the Cleveland Browns lost Deshaun Watson, they knew they could fall back on perhaps the best defense in the NFL. Cincinnati just doesn’t have anything close to that right now. They have enjoyed moments and stretches of quality play, but nowhere near enough to compensate for losing Burrow for an extended period of time. — Dehner
Required reading
(Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
