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| KC at OAK | MIA at STL | NO at TB | NYG at WAS | PIT at NE | SEA at DAL | SF at BUF | TEN at DET |
Week 13 Game Recap: Baltimore Ravens 34, Cincinnati Bengals 3
What you need to know
| Baltimore Ravens |
Rookie Joe Flacco put together a nice stat line against the porous Bengals defense as he led his squad to over 450 yards of total offense. He also threw for 280 yards and a pair of scores. Flacco showed off his fast ball several times and hooked up often with Mark Clayton for long gains.
The starter and main ball carrier in this game was LeRon McClain. Willis McGahee did not see any action as Ray Rice was the change of pace back. Rice was also used in the passing game. McClain had a steady game and put up 86 yards on 25 carries.
Mark Clayton had a studly performance with 164 yards on five receptions. He also hooked up with Derrick Mason for a touchdown pass on a razzle dazzle type of play. He and his quarterback Joe Flacco enjoyed taking advantage of single coverage on the outside and gave the Bengals secondary fits. A couple of Clayton's catches were highlight reel material.
| Cincinnati Bengals |
Ryan Fitzpatrick had a couple of things go wrong for him during the game. The first was a stout Ravens defense who took away the run game and forced the Bengals into third and long on almost every possession. The strong Ravens pass rush sacked and knocked Fitzpatrick passes down at the line of scrimmage with regularity. His stat line was poor with only 12 completions for 124 yards.
Cedrick Benson was abused all day. His stat line was 17 yards on ten carries as he was constantly facing defenders in the backfield. The Ravens front seven basically imposed their will all game and never let the Bengals running game to get going.
Shayne Graham and his 21 yard field goal was the entire Bengals offense on the day.
What you ought to know
| QB Joe Flacco, Pass: 19 - 29 - 280 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 3 - 15 - 0 |
Flacco started this game a little bit shaky. He was under some pressure from the Bengals pass rush, especially on third downs when they frequently blitzed. He started to pick things up in the second quarter and began hitting his receivers with more regularity. He used Mason and Heap as his security blanket and then Clayton for his deeper passes. Flacco displayed a very strong arm and was able to fit throws into tight spaces especially on out routes. His decision making was flawless and he also contributed with his legs and ran for 15 yards.
| QB Troy Smith, Rush: 3 - 4 - 0 |
Smith came in for a handful of plays with the wildcat formation. He handed off a couple of times and also run the ball for minimal gains.
| RB LeRon McClain, Rush: 25 - 86 - 0 |
The 260 pound bruiser ran very hard between the tackles. He often broke the first tackle and kept his legs moving to maximize his yards on every carry. McClain runs primarily out of the I set on straight ahead power type runs. There were no goal line situations as the Ravens scored through the air from longer distances. McClain was able to pick 86 yards rushing for a solid day.
| RB Ray Rice, Rush: 11 - 41 - 0, Rec: 4 - 14 - 0 (5 targets) |
Rice was used on third downs and to spell the starter McClain. He was effective at running the plays on the edges, sweeps and tosses mixed in with the odd draw play. In the passing game his used for screens and short dump off passes. He was able to pick up 56 yards of offense on game.
| RB Lorenzo Neal, Rush: 1 - 1 - 0, Rec: 1 - 4 - 0 (2 targets) |
The rarely used fullback had a carry and a short reception in the flat for very small pickups.
| WR Derrick Mason, Rec: 6 - 91 - 1 (8 targets) |
Mason is likely one of the more under appreciated wide receivers in the game. He displayed his excellent route running by giving his rookie quarterback the biggest target and opportunity to make his throws. His out and slant routes were nearly un-coverable. Mason was able to score when his buddy Mark Clayton threw to him after his defender fell for the fake end around play. He also had 91 yards on six grabs for a nice stat line.
| WR Mark Clayton, Pass: 1 - 1 - 32 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rec: 5 - 164 - 1 (8 targets) |
Clayton had an excellent game with a couple of highlight reel catches both on go routes. The first play, he made a diving catch while seemingly grasping only the back half of the football to haul in the long reception. The second play he blew past his defender and made a circus one handed catch in stride. He was able to stay up right and in bounds to score from 70 yards out. Clayton also hit the score sheet on an end around where took the handoff and promptly threw the ball downfield to find a streaking and wide open Derrick Mason for a 30 yard touchdown.
| TE Todd Heap, Rec: 4 - 39 - 1 (4 targets) |
Heap was able to act as a possession type receiver for his quarterback. He was often called upon to run shorter out routes and had a red zone target. Heap was able to score on a beautifully run drag route across the back of the end zone.
| TE Daniel Wilcox (1 targets) |
No catches on the day.
| PK Matt Stover 2 - 2 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 10 points |
Stover had a perfect day converting four extra point attempts as well as field goals from 27 and 21 yards.
| BAL Rush Defense |
They were absolutely dominant. Bengals running backs saw a sea of white in their backfield. The Ravens held the Bengals to only 57 yards and 29 of those yards were from Fitzpatrick running for his life.
| BAL Pass Defense |
The Ravens put up constant pressure and sacked Bengal quarterbacks three times and knock down several other pass attempts. Backup quarterback Jordan Palmer was greeted on his first passing attempt by being intercepted by Jim Leonhard who scored on the play. They also did a great job of shutting the formidable pair of Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh out of the end zone. The Ravens only gave up 155 passing yards while limiting Cincinnati for two of 15 attempts on third down.
| QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, Pass: 12 - 31 - 124 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 3 - 29 - 0 |
The lack of running game really hurt. Fitzpatrick was often in long conversion situations where the Ravens could simply pin their ears back and rush the quarterback to apply pressure. He also seemed to struggle with the wet ball. He often threw ducks and passes that appeared to just slip out of his hand. This attributed in part to his 12 of 31 passing. Give full credit to the Ravens defense in limiting the Bengals passing attack.
| QB Jordan Palmer, Pass: 0 - 2 - 0 - 0 TD / 1 INT |
Palmer came into the game for some mop up time after the score was well out of hand. His pass was picked off for a touchdown by Jim Leonhard.
| RB Cedric Benson, Rush: 10 - 17 - 0, Rec: 2 - 1 - 0 (2 targets) |
Benson really didn't have much of a chance to get untracked. The blocking simply was not there and there were several Ravens living in the Bengals backfield it seemed. On a couple of plays he was able to follow his blocking and get the available yards.
| RB Chris Perry, Rush: 3 - 11 - 0, Rec: 1 - 6 - 0 (1 targets) |
Perry was greeted with the same welcome that Benson got. No running room. He tried the speed plays to the outside and the Ravens were able to answer that as well. His catch came in the flat were he had a solid gain.
| WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Rec: 4 - 64 - 0 (7 targets) |
He led the Bengals receivers with four grabs and 64 yards. His best gain of the day was a deeper slant that he promptly took up the field for a gain of 46.
| WR Chad Johnson, Rec: 4 - 45 - 0 (11 targets) |
He looked a little rusty while having a pair of drops on the game. Early in the game he was involved in some deeper looks but was not able to get on the page as his quarterback Fitzpatrick. It was a quiet day for Johnson.
| WR Chris Henry (4 targets) |
He saw the field in some three wide sets but was not able to make a catch on his four targets. He was open on one of the plays but over thrown.
| WR Jerome Simpson (1 targets) |
Simpson was not able to register a catch.
| TE Reggie Kelly, Rec: 1 - 8 - 0 (5 targets) |
Kelly appeared to stop his route that led to the Ravens interception that went for a touchdown. He was only able to catch one ball for eight yards and was not used as a primary read.
| PK Shayne Graham 1 - 1 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 3 points |
Graham was able to score points on a short 21 yard field goal.
| CIN Rush Defense |
They did a solid job of run blitzing and limiting the Ravens to any big plays in the run game. However, they were also not able to stop McClain and company from controlling the game clock and driving the field. The Ravens enjoyed a 39 to 21 minute time of possession advantage.
| CIN Pass Defense |
The Ravens exploited defensive back Leon Hall in single coverage especially with Mark Clayton. This group gave up three touchdowns and over 300 yards of passing. In total the Bengals gave up 451 total yards of offense, not a very good performance at all.
