We are now in our second week of the National Football League’s 2018-19 season and this Thursday’s games was a very hectic week that gives us a good idea of how the rest of the season will go for some teams!
Thursday’s games kick off a new week in the NFL schedule, and today we had the Baltimore Ravens taking on the Cincinnati Bengals. Both teams are coming off week 1 wins and are looking to get a leg up on their divisional opponents. Whichever team wins will be the top team in their division after the week is over as the Browns and Steelers tied each other in week 1. The Bengals had the home field advantage in this contest, always something that can give a little boost as every game is super important when you only play 16 in a season. Now without further delay, let’s get to the action on the field.
Well there’s no other way to put the first half other than it was a Bengals airshow. They kicked off the scoring with Andy Dalton connecting with A.J. Green for the touchdown and the 7-0 lead. The duo were far from done there as they’d connect again in the endzone before the end of the quarter. The major was a product of an interception by Jesse Bates that gave Dalton and the Bengals offence great field position. This made for a great touchdown by A.J. Green where he broke a tackle and outran the defence to make it 14-0. The Bengals continued to roll in the second quarter as the dynamic quarterback and receiver duo would connect for a third time. At this point it seemed an unstoppable force as Dalton to Green made a 21-0 lead. The Ravens would put the next points on the board on a goal line run by Javourious Allen cutting the lead to 21-7. The 21 point lead would be restored however as the Bengals would find another receiver to catch a touchdown pass. This one was caught by Tyler Boyd giving the Bengals a 28-7 lead. The half would end however with a 14 point lead as the Ravens would score before the end of the half. Another goal line play, this time a pass by Joe Flacco to Mark Andrews making it 28-14 ant halftime.
The second half had less scoring, but the volume the Ravens were getting was making things interesting. The third quarters only scoring was a 55 yard boot by Justin Tucker cutting the lead to 28-17 with one quarter to go. Cincinnati would open the scoring in the fourth with a field goal by Randy Bullock making it 31-17. Baltimore still had fight left in them as they’d respond with a touchdown. Flacco would find John Brown on the back of the endzone for his second touchdown pass of the game cutting the deficit to 31-23 as the 2-point convert was unsuccessful. The Ravens still had hope as it was still a single score game. However with a little over 2 minutes to go Cincinnati would add another field goal making it a 2-score 34-23 lead. This would ultimately be the final score of the game as the Ravens failed to score on their final drive of the game.
Notable stats of the matchup are as follows. Joe Flacco went 32/55 for 376 yards with 2 touchdown and 2 interceptions. Andy Dalton on the other hand had an amazing outing going 24/42 for 265 yards and 4 touchdowns! The running back leader for Baltimore was Alex Collins getting 9 carries for 35 yards. Joe Mixon despite being injured for a good chunk of the game had a great game managing 21 caries for 84 yards. John Brown led the way for the Ravens receivers getting 4 catches for 92 yards and 1 touchdown. Tyler Boyd was the top Bengals receiver in catches and yards with 6 catches for 91 yards and 1 touchdown, however A.J. Green is worth noting as he caught 5 for 69 yards and 3 touchdowns! The kickers were perfect on both sides with Justin Tucker going 1/1 and Randy Bullock going 2/2.
The Bengals next game is next Sunday at Carolina, whereas the Ravens will host the Broncos. For stats on those games and all the others tune in to Fandomwire.
