Postgame Report: Bengals Go From Shutout to Blowout in 35-13 Win Over Ravens

James Rapien (0:00)

Man, oh man, what a difference one half of football makes. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the craziest 180, I think I've ever seen. I've covered a lot of games, and I've watched basically every single Bengals game from 2001-ish on, and man, oh man, was that wild. Welcome in to Cincinnati Bengals Talk. I'm James Rapien, where the Bengals go to Baltimore, and it was a Baltimore beat down in the second half. They beat the hell out of the Ravens. 35 unanswered points in the second half, 35-13 is your final score. And it was the other way. It was a Burrow beat down. It was a Bengal beat down. They were getting pummeled in the first half, and plenty to react to. This post-game reaction video brought to you by my friend Christian Husky. If you need any real estate advice, if you're buying, selling, just need some guidance, go to cipseyclient.com/chusky.

He's the official realtor of Cincinnati Bengals Talk. Let's dive in here, because there's so much to discuss. I mean, woo wee. Look, and not that you were wrong, but there were plenty of people calling for Zack Sadler's job in the first half. Joe Burrow was six of 12 for 43 yards in the first half. He was awful. It was bad. And especially, because when I'm home, when I don't go on the road, I watch and I watch in my office and I have my TV up there and I try to be calm. I try to just observe.

And I could feel it. I could feel what this week was going to be.

How it was going to be. Man, they gotta move on. There's no way. They're wasting Joe. They're wasting Jamar. There was gonna be talk about Joe. What the hell is going on with Joe coming out of the bye? And all those things, like all these things were gonna happen.

And then Joe Burrow came out, set the tone after a half time. He went 16 of 18, 16 of 18 in the second half. There was four touchdowns, which is just unbelievable and is just outstanding. And overall, like I look at this, and 16 of 18, 249, four touchdowns in a half for Joe Burrow.

Outstanding numbers. This offense moved the ball, like I expect this offense to move the ball. And you know as well as I know how high my expectations are for this Bengals offense, and they did just that.

16 of 18, one of the incompletions, here are the two incompletions, I remember them. Deep ball to chase in the back of the end zone. It's a 50-50 ball, you give him a shot, one-on-one coverage. Love it every time. And the other was in the red zone to Dante Myers, hey, let's get to second down. He's probably not going to have a shot at it, but give him a little bit of a shot. And it didn't work. Those are the two incompletions in the end zone, in the red zone, in the goal, in the end zone for a touchdown, where you take a risk here and there. But the risk isn't a risk, it's a, let's see if he can make a nice play on the ball. Take it all day long. Joe Burrow and T Higgins dominated the second half. T Higgins had one target, no catches in the first half. In the second half, six catches on six targets for a buck 48

Don't be late, it's a buck 48, 148 yards in a touchdown.

Dominant, T Higgins was dominant. He's on pace, his career, we will dive into T Higgins. He is having his best season. T has been dominant.

And today, like they do not win this game without T Higgins. He's playing the best ball of his career. Jamar Chase had five catches for 62 yards, five catches on seven targets. He had a long of 30, it was a nice catch and run. Also had a touchdown late that, in this game was already away, it was 28-13. Bengals get an interception on defense. And I'm gonna dive into the defense. Don't you worry, there's a lot, there is a lot to react to here. I'm trying to wrap my head around it like you are. In the first half, again, I felt the firings that were gonna be discussed, at least publicly. I felt the pressure, I felt the angst, the anxiety. Staring at three and three when now we know that the Ravens would have been five and two on the season. The Browns are five and two, the Steelers we already knew were five and two.

It would have been wild. Wild to have this kind of talent, this kind of performance, this kind of team. And in the first half, this defense, they allow Zay Flowers on the first possession to catch a 48 yard. And it's easy. It's a yard behind the line of scrimmage. Tyler Huntley, a little screen to Zay, and he just runs, whoop, whoop, whoop. I mean, little joystick, whoop, whoop. Oh, I'm off to the races. Touchdown. He finished eight catches, a buck thirty seven. He was awesome. Most of that came in the first half. Didn't really notice him in the second half.