Cincinnati Bengals: 3 Takeaways vs. Ravens in Week 1

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CINCINNATI, OH – SEPTEMBER 10: Za’Darius Smith #90 of the Baltimore Ravens pressures Andy Dalton #14 of the Cincinnati Bengals during the first quarter at Paul Brown Stadium on September 10, 2017 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by John Grieshop/Getty Images) /

1. Cincy needs to cut down the turnovers

In the first half alone, the Cincinnati Bengals had three turnovers, all interceptions thrown by Andy Dalton. The Ravens took full advantage of the Bengals’ miscues. Those three turnovers forced by the Ravens really put the Bengals in the hole, which they didn’t recover from. The first interception thrown by Dalton came with 1:46 left in the first quarter when he was short of his target A.J. Green at the Baltimore 27-yard line.

That interception didn’t result in any points for the Ravens, and neither did the second one when C.J. Mosley intercepted the ball in the back of the end zone, costing the Bengals points. The third first-half interception came off a deflection by Terrell Suggs to Lardarius Webb to the Bengals 12-yard line. One play later, the Ravens rushed for a touchdown.

Instead of the Bengals going into the halftime break with points and even a possible lead, poor play from their offense resulted in them trailing 17-0. At the half, Dalton was 7-of-14 for 72 yards passing with the aforementioned three interceptions. For the game, he was 16-of-31 for 170 yards with no touchdowns.

It was more of the same from the Cincinnati offense in the second half. This time, after driving down to the red zone, Suggs forced a fumble by stripping the ball from Dalton for his fourth turnover of the game, again costing the Bengals points inside the 20-yard line. In all, Dalton finished with five turnovers, including four interceptions and the fumble.

Next: NFL Power Rankings 2017: Week 2

This type of showing by Dalton and his offensive line just can’t happen again this season, at least not at the level of ineptitude the offense had on Sunday. It wasn’t all on Dalton, but a lot the struggles were because of him. At least two of the interceptions were via the decision making of Dalton. On other occasions the ball was deflected, and he was under a lot of pressure because of the play of the offensive line. All of those factors were reasons the Bengals began their 50th season with a loss.

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