It's safe to say the Cincinnati Bengals are thankful for Joe Burrow. Playing in his first game since suffering a turf toe injury in Week 2, the franchise signal caller was able to lead the Bengals to a 32-14 win over the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving. That pushes Cincinnati to 4-8 on the year, keeping slim hopes of reaching the playoffs alive. Meanwhile, this loss snaps a five-game winning streak for Baltimore and pushes the club down to 6-6 on the year.
The story of this game centers around the continued struggles of the Ravens offense, specifically Lamar Jackson. While Baltimore was riding a winning streak coming into the Thanksgiving holiday, they hadn't looked quite right in recent weeks, and it seemed to come crumbling down in Week 13. In all, the Ravens tallied five turnovers, three of which fell on the shoulders of Lamar Jackson. He finished his night completing 17 of his 32 throws for 246 yards, an interception, and two fumbles.
It wasn't all on Jackson, however, as the mental errors stretched beyond the two-time MVP. For instance, Isaiah Likely fumbled a would-be TD reception from Jackson through the end zone, resulting in a touchback midway through the second quarter, and would've made it a 14-3 lead.
While the Bengals were able to notch a win, it wasn't perfect. This score could've gotten out of hand early had Cincinnati taken full advantage of those Ravens turnovers. In all, the club scored just nine points off of those miscues, despite tremendous field position. Despite settling for field goals, Burrow, who sported a metal plate in his cleat to keep his toe stabilized, looked solid in his return. He showed no real limitations rolling out and moving within the pocket, while connecting on 24 of his 46 pass attempts for 261 yards and two touchdowns.
From here, the Bengals will travel to Buffalo to take on the Bills in Week 14. As for the Ravens, they'll need to bounce back quickly as they prepare for a pivotal AFC North matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers at M&T Bank Stadium.
For more on how this game unfolded, check out our main takeaways below.
The big storyline coming into Thursday night was the return of Burrow. Pregame, the NBC broadcast highlighted how the Bengals quarterback was wearing a metal plate in his cleat to help stabilize his turf toe injury that kept him out since Week 2. Watching him throughout the contest, it was hard to see Burrow in any sort of discomfort, and the veteran moved around quite normally. He seemed to move up and down the pocket with fluidity and was able to roll out to his right on several occasions without any limitations.
He also seemed to get more comfortable as the game went on, completing 64% of his passes in the second half for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
Something is off with Lamar Jackson. The two-time NFL MVP has now gone three straight games without a passing touchdown and looks out of sync within the offense. To make matters worse, Jackson was on the hook for three of Baltimore's five turnovers in the game. While one of those turnovers was a batted ball at the line of scrimmage that landed in the arms of a Bengals defender, the other two were just uncharacteristically sloppy play.
As he was getting sacked in the final minutes of the first quarter, Jackson let the ball pop free, which gave Cincinnati an instant goal-line opportunity.
Later in the contest, he fumbled again on what looked like a pump fake. Jackson was initially looking to make a throw down the field, but pulled off at the last second, and as he tried to regain possession, let the ball slip free. While some may argue that this was an incomplete pass and ruled an interception, Jackson's intent didn't seem to be to throw the ball here, and he just lost his grasp.
Over these last three games, Jackson has zero total touchdowns and five giveaways. Whether that's health-related or simply not seeing the field well at the moment, he needs to dial it in over the next few weeks to keep Baltimore's playoff hopes alive.
This game should've been a blowout. Despite Baltimore giving the Bengals the football in prime real estate, they didn't fully capitalize. After one of Jackson's fumbles, Cincinnati gained possession at the Ravens 2-yard line. The offense proceeded to go four straight plays with no gain and turned the ball over on downs. Overall, the Bengals converted just one one their six red zone trips for touchdowns. While the effort was good enough to pull out a win in Week 13, they'll need to be better in that key area of the field down the stretch.
Jackson will likely be the headline for Baltimore's struggles for this game, but it wasn't all on him. He would've had a passing touchdown in this contest had it not been for tight end Isaiah Likely fumbling his reception just before he crossed the goal line. The ball then bounced out of the back of the end zone, resulting in a touchback.
Instead of it being a 14-3 lead in favor of the Ravens, it remained a 7-3 game before Cincinnati moved 74 yards down the field, where they kicked a field goal to cut within a point.
It may have come in a losing effort, but Derrick Henry was able to make some NFL history on Thursday night. The veteran back passed NFL legend Jim Brown on the all-time rushing yards list. Henry passed Brown on a 28-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter.
Henry is now No. 11 on the all-time list after passing Brown. Next up, he has Tony Dorsett in his crosshairs to move into the top 10.
The Bengals have welcomed back Joe Burrow with a win, taking down the Ravens in Baltimore. This brings them to 4-8 on the season, and keeps them relatively in the hunt for the playoffs. Meanwhile, Baltimore drops to 6-6 and has them clinging to that first-place standing in the AFC North with the Pittsburgh Steelers hot on their heels.
This is the largest number of turnovers (5) by the Ravens in a game since 2013 at the Buffalo Bills. Meanwhile, it's the most turnovers in a home game since 2007 against the Colts.
That's now five turnovers for the Ravens. This time, Zay Flowers is the culprit, having the ball punched out after making the reception. The Bengals will have a good opportunity to run this clock down en route to a victory.
That fumble by Perine emphasizes how poor Cincinnati has been in the red zone tonight. Despite making six trips into the red area, they've only crossed over the goal line once.
After the Jackson interception, the Bengals were able to add to their lead, although not as much as they likely would've wanted. The offense traveled just 19 yards following the pick and had to settle for a 52-yard field goal. Time is running out for Baltimore.
That's four turnovers for the Baltimore Ravens, and three on the shoulder of Lamar Jackson. This time, the Ravens quarterback had a pass batted at the line of scrimmage, and it wobbled into the arms of Demetrius Knight. That erased a red zone opportunity for Baltimore and has the Bengals at midfield. This Ravens offense continues to seem out of sync.
Dagger? Andrei Iosivas destroyed Roquan Smith in coverage, and Joe Burrow saw it immediately. The two connect for a 29-yard touchdown, which pulls Cincinnati further away for the Ravens. Lamar and Co. need to start piecing together plays offensively or this will get away from them.
While it's great that they have Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase back in the lineup, Cincinnati's offense clearly misses its other wideout in Tee Higgins. With him sidelined, that has elevated Mitchell Tinsley into a bigger workload, and it hasn't panned out. Burrow has looked his way eight times so far (second behind Chase), and he's only logged two catches for 22 yards.
Credit to Zay Flowers on this touchdown run by Keaton Mitchell. While the BC product isn't the biggest wide receiver, he apparently packs a punch. He pancaked his defender, which helped free Mitchell up for the 18-yard touchdown run.
Throughout the night, the Bengals had continuously settled for field goals. For a minute, it looked like it'd happen again, but Joe Burrow uncorked a perfectly placed ball to Tanner Hudson, who hauled in a one-handed touchdown. Suddenly, the Ravens are firmly on upset alert with the Bengals leading, 19-7.
Boy, that was a terrible fumble by Lamar Jackson, his second of the night. Jackson argued that his arm was moving forward (which it was), but he clearly lost his grip on the ball as opposed to trying to throw it. Another mistake by Baltimore.
Lamar Jackson's 36-yard touchdown pass to Zay Flowers was nullified due to an offensive pass interference penalty.
Cincinnati was able to put points on the board after Likely fumbling through the end zone, but only. field goal. That gives them a small 9-7 lead with roughly two minutes to play in the first half, but they haven't fully taken advantage of some Baltimore miscues.
Brutal development for the Ravens. Lamar Jackson hit Isaiah Likely for what initially looked like a touchdown, but the review shows that he fumbled before crossing the goal line. The ball bounced back through the end zone, which will result in a touchback. Massive swing in favor or Cincinnati.
Man, the Bengals missed an opportunity to go up in this game. Wideout Mitchell Tinsley had a step on his defender up the right side of the field, but inexplicably slowed down. Joe Burrow saw him and threw it deep in his direction, but it was off target. Had Tinsley kept pushing downfield, Burrow would've hit him in stride for a touchdown.
The Bengals had first-and-goal at the 2-yard line following Lamar Jackson's fumble. While that felt like a potential nail in their coffin for this game, the Baltimore defense held strong. They didn't just hold Cincinnati to a field goal, but turned the ball over on downs after the Bengals went for it on fourth down. Massive stop.
Lamar Jackson had a mind-numbing turnover on that sack. Maybe he tried to flick the ball away for an incomplete pass? Regardless, Cedrick Johnson recovered the fumble, and now Cincinnati has a goal-line opportunity, and this game has turned upside down.
As highlighted by the "Sunday Night Football" broadcast, here's how Joe Burrow is managing his return from turf toe tonight. Specifically, he's wearing a metal plate in his cleat.
Derrick Henry continues to be a force in the NFL. The NFL's ultimate bowling ball took a toss from Lamar Jackson for a 28-yard touchdown.
Cincinnati has taken an early 3-0 lead after an opening field goal drive. Joe Burrow looked fine on his first drive since making his return from turf toe in Week 2, completing four of his six pass attempts for 34 yards. Chase Browns was heavily involved on the drive, logging five touches for 15 yards. He also connected with LSU buddy Ja'Marr Chase for a 9-yard gain.
After a couple of impressive carries, it's worth pointing out how well Chase Brown has been playing as of late. The Bengals running back has logged five-straight games with 100-plus scrummage yards, which is tied for the longest by a Bengals player since the merger.
In his return to action, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow will be wearing a metal plate in his foot.
"We'll see. I don't think it'll have much impact," he told the NBC broadcast.
