You may recall a time when Joe Flacco, as the Ravens quarterback, would struggle against Marvin Lewis’ Cincinnati Bengals. During his career, Flacco had a 72.6 passer rating when competing against Marvin’s squads from 2008 to 2018. While wearing purple and black, Flacco was (9-11) v. Cincinnati. Against the rest of the league Joe, was (87-70) as a starter for the Ravens while sporting a passer rating of 85.4.
During this time, the Bengals relied upon zone concepts, and they played them with discipline. Even when their teams lacked the talent that comprised the Ravens roster, the Bengals regularly matched up well with Baltimore. The numbers support the story. This Thursday, the Ravens host the Bengals at The Bank again and five years later, the cast of characters is vastly different. Gone are Flacco and Andy Dalton. In are Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow.
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The name of Joe Burrow seemingly strikes fear in the collective heart of Ravens fans. It seems like only yesterday that Burrow was raining tear drops beyond the outstretched arms of Ravens DB’s and into the waiting arms of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, at will. In 2021, Burrow throttled the Ravens for 941 yards and 7 touchdowns in two games. Two. Games. His passer rating against the Ravens that season was a blistering 131.1 while averaging a whopping 11.18 yards per attempt. That kind of performance is difficult to erase from the mind of RavensFlock.
And then along came Burrow’s kryptonite, at least relatively speaking. His name? Mike Macdonald.
Macdonald was hired as the Ravens defensive coordinator in 2022 and since he took the job, the Bengals, particularly Burrow, haven’t been quite so prolific. In the four games that the Ravens and Bengals have played since Macdonald’s arrival, Burrow’s passer rating has fallen 33.9% to a more manageable 85.9. During those four games, Burrow has averaged 216 yards passing per game to go with a total of 5 scoring strikes and 2 interceptions. Macdonald has choked down Burrow’s production with a varied look of coverages, stunts across the defensive front and a determined effort to mitigate big plays. Burrow’s most explosive play v. the Ravens since Macdonald taking over as DC is 33 yards. The aforementioned gaudy 11.18 YPA, has fallen during Mike Mac’s reign to a pedestrian 5.77 YPA.
After dominating the Ravens by the combined score of 82-38 in 2021, the combined score of the four games since is 92-79 in favor of the Bengals, with both teams winning twice. But let’s keep in mind that Burrow started and finished all four games. Backup QB Tyler Huntley started two games for the Ravens, losing both. Lamar Jackson has won both of his starts against the Bengals since the beginning of the 2022 season, with the Ravens holding a combined point differential edge in those two wins of +5.
The last time these two teams met during the regular season under the bright lights of prime time, was October 9, 2022, on Sunday Night Football at The Bank. Lamar led a drive with under two minutes to play that ended with a game winning kick from Justin Tucker from 43 yards out as time expired. The Ravens were 3 ½ point favorites and won 19-17. The game conditions, point spread (3 1/2) and the uniforms will be nearly identical on Thursday. It’s not too difficult to picture a similar outcome, particularly with Burrow and the Bengals short a key weapon – Tee Higgins, who had 8 catches and 89 yards to go with 2 scores back on September 17.
And let’s not forget, Joe Burrow’s kryptonite.
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