ExtremeRavens Posted yesterday at 01:13 AM Posted yesterday at 01:13 AM CINCINNATI – A half-filled Paycor Stadium grew quiet as the final seconds to the Ravens’ first shutout since 2018 ticked down. The visitors’ locker room was anything but. Rap lyrics leaked through the concrete walls, down the hallway and past security as players, coaches and team personnel yelled over one another. John Harbaugh’s celebratory message and the team’s resounding reply echoed into the tunnel. For a team that has spent much of the season navigating unease, this sounded like pure relief. On the field, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens played with the same levels of necessary urgency and physical dominance in a 24–0 shutout of the Bengals, a Sunday afternoon win that kept their playoff hopes alive and eliminated Cincinnati from postseason contention with three regular-season games remaining. At last, the embattled offense leaned into its roots. “I believe all of us on offense had good rhythm,” Jackson said. “It felt like us. We just have to keep pushing the envelope.” Excluding three end-of-game kneel-downs from backup quarterback Tyler Huntley, Baltimore ran the ball on 21 of its 37 offensive plays, representing 56.7% of coordinator Todd Monken’s play calls. Lead tailback Derrick Henry averaged an impressive 9.1 yards per carry, while speedy backup Keaton Mitchell averaged an equally impressive 8.3 yards per rush. While the Ravens dictated a majority of the AFC North contest with their physicality, they did so without needing to dominate time of possession. Both scoring drives lasted just five plays. Ten snaps total, spanning 159 combined yards. Explosive gains replaced the slow bleed, incomplete drives and red-zone stalls that have hampered the offense for much of the season. The Ravens finished the Week 15 contest with just one three-and-out. Yup. Just one. “We really don’t get a lot of explosive plays like that,” wideout DeAndre Hopkins said. “So just kind of getting back to our ball, Zay [Flowers] making plays, Lamar doing his thing on the ground, and not turning the ball over.” The Ravens did have one turnover, but that was more so a byproduct of a drop from Flowers that resulted in a lucky interception for Bengals safety Jordan Battle. The conditions Sunday weren’t forgiving. The Ravens’ second meeting with the Bengals ranked among the coldest games in franchise history, a numbing afternoon that stiffened fingers and increased overall soreness. Jackson wore a glove on his non-throwing hand to help manage the cold temperatures (minus-1 degree at kickoff). During Baltimore’s first touchdown drive, Jackson scrambled for 14 yards, cutting up the middle and accelerating without much hesitation. It was the fastest he’s looked in weeks after dealing with multiple lower-body injuries. The drive also featured a 32-yard Jackson strike to Hopkins down the right hash. A few plays later came perhaps Jackson’s most impressive sequence of the chilly afternoon. Cincinnati showed a zero-blitz look, but Jackson quickly recognized the pressure and smartly flipped the ball to Rasheen Ali in the flat. The third-string halfback sprinted untouched 30 yards to the end zone, capturing the first touchdown of his career. Jackson completed 8 of 12 passes for 150 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He was sacked four times, but the pocket never looked overwhelmingly chaotic. His passer rating of 114.7 marked his highest since Oct. 30 against Miami, a notable swing after a stretch of uneven performances that dragged his numbers down in recent weeks. “One thing about Lamar, he will take some sacks sometimes,” coach John Harbaugh said. “But I also think it’s a function of Lamar having a pretty good feel for the fact that he can make some plays. So he held the ball in there a couple of times, a little longer than maybe he’s going to make you comfortable — and yet found receivers.” Late in the second quarter, Jackson delivered one of his cleanest end-of-half sequences this season, capped by a 28-yard touchdown completion to Flowers in the left corner of the end zone. Jackson and his teammates said that the Ravens had some of their most intense and detail-oriented practices of the season leading into the Bengals game. That urgency was apparent throughout. Baltimore recorded its first shutout since 2018, overwhelming a Joe Burrow-led offense that failed to establish rhythm, despite nearly doubling the Ravens in time of possession (20:41 vs. 39:19). The Ravens controlled the line of scrimmage and with their backs against the wall, protected their season. Across the way, the Bengals were mathematically done. “We just wanted to attack,” defensive end Dre’Mont Jones said. “We knew we had [the Bengals] on their heels, based on how they looked, how they were calling it, their demeanor. They didn’t feel lively to me. I felt it from play No. 1 that they weren’t ready to play. It was too cold for them. “Everyone in [our locker room] is ear to ear, smiling.” Said Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase: “Sometimes you just get your butt whipped.” Indeed. The Ravens kept pressing and swarming their opponent. There was no late-game collapse this time around. The overall operation under Harbaugh was clean, too, with the Ravens committing a season-low two penalties. Jackson improved to 5–0 at Paycor Stadium, now owning an incredible 17-to-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio in Cincinnati. No matter how bad things are going, some places just suit the two-time NFL Most Valuable Player like South Florida, or in this instance chilly Southeast Ohio. “I say we played better than a playoff team,” Jackson said. “Hats off to everybody, but I feel like we can still do more.” Inside the concrete walls of the visiting locker room, the sound kept rising. From an up-close view, it sounded and felt like a team that prepared with urgency, played fast and sensed early that this day belonged to them. By the time the music and the Harbaugh-led cheers concluded, Cincinnati’s stadium was quiet again. The Ravens, for at least one more week, felt very much alive. Have a news tip? Contact Josh Tolentino at jtolentino@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200, x.com/JCTSports and instagram.com/JCTSports. Ravens coach John Harbaugh arrives before Sunday's win over Cincinnati. He was equally happy after the convincing result. (Carolyn Kaster/AP) View the full article Quote
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