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Cincinnati Bengals: 3 Takeaways vs. Ravens in Week 1

By Stephen Forsha

CINCINNATI, OH - SEPTEMBER 10: Terrell Suggs #55 of the Baltimore Ravens sacks Andy Dalton #14 of the Cincinnati Bengals during the fourth quarter at Paul Brown Stadium on September 10, 2017 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH - SEPTEMBER 10: Terrell Suggs #55 of the Baltimore Ravens sacks Andy Dalton #14 of the Cincinnati Bengals during the fourth quarter at Paul Brown Stadium on September 10, 2017 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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CINCINNATI, OH – SEPTEMBER 10: Nick Vigil #59 of the Cincinnati Bengals and George Iloka #43 of the Cincinnati Bengals combine to tackle Danny Woodhead #39 of the Baltimore Ravens during the first quarter at Paul Brown Stadium on September 10, 2017 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH – SEPTEMBER 10: Nick Vigil #59 of the Cincinnati Bengals and George Iloka #43 of the Cincinnati Bengals combine to tackle Danny Woodhead #39 of the Baltimore Ravens during the first quarter at Paul Brown Stadium on September 10, 2017 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

2. The defense was put into bad spots too many times

Truthfully, the Cincinnati defense didn’t play that poorly. They were playing without one of their top stars in Vontaze Burfict, who was serving the first leg of a three-game suspension. Don’t forget the fact the offense kept giving the ball back to the Ravens defense, doing the Bengals defense no favors with the Baltimore offense winning the time of possession battle 34:00 to 26:00.

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The Ravens also began their possession on their own 35-yard line or better five times and on their own 40-yard line or better on three occasions, including once on the Cincinnati 2-yard line. The Bengals defense made the Ravens earn all of their yards, forcing a fumble and having one interception. They also sacked Joe Flacco once by Geno Adkins, while the interception was by Nick Vigil.

Anytime the offense has five interceptions and is not playing up to par, the defense will suffer too, and that’s what happened to the Bengals on Sunday. They kept Flacco to 121 yards passing on 17 attempts, and the Ravens totaled 268 yards, with 157 of those yards coming via the run.

Just from how the game was played, the Bengals defense didn’t have the best hand dealt to them, starting with the suspension of Burfect from the preseason hit and the fact they also didn’t have Adam Jones in their secondary due to a suspension as well. Giving that consideration and with how poor the offense was for Cincinnati, there isn’t much else the Bengals defense could have done to keep pace with the Ravens in the season opener.

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