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Bryan Woolston / Associated Press
The good news is that the Cincinnati Bengals clung to a 34-23 win after taking a 21-0 lead over the Baltimore Ravens, taking them to a 2-0 first-place finish in the North. AFC.
The bad news is that after a 21-0 run, the Bengals had to keep a 34-23 win over the Ravens, a match in which Cincinnati narrowly avoided another prime-time meltdown.
A contest that began to look like a party in the city of Queen City was a stark reminder that we can not trust these Bengals as legitimate contenders for the division. Not yet anyway.
At first, the Thursday night affair would have sent a very different message: the Bengals were not just contenders, but they could be the best team in the AFC North.
That's how they looked for the first 18 minutes or so. Cincinnati was dominant on both sides of the ball. The offensive gained yards seemingly at will. The defense harassed Joe Flacco and blocked the Ravens.
After Andy Dalton found A.J. Green for the third touchdown of the receiver's touchdown, it appeared that the rout was on.
Andy Lyons / Getty Images
The Ravens responded with a touchdown, but the Bengals returned to serve. When Cincy took the lead on his 38-yard line with 1:21 to go in the first period, up 28-7, the match looked good.
Then there was the first reminder that few NFL teams over the past decade have been more successful than the Marvin Lewis Bengals. Rather than throwing the ball against a Ravens team without linebacker C.J. Mosley (knee) and at least burning off his time in Baltimore, the Bengals had three passes that took 13 seconds and were postponed.
The Ravens, with just over a minute to play in the second quarter and three timeouts in hand, led and scored to score 28-14 at halftime.
After intermission, the Bengals struggled to synchronize offensively. With quarterback Joe Mixon put away for most of the third quarter with a bad knee, the Bengals did not have any running games to speak of. Dalton also could not succeed the attack, in part because the Cincinnati receivers had a case of dropsy. After those three first-half scores (the first three touchdowns match of his career), Green was shut out in the third quarter.
By the end of this quarter, the Ravens had narrowed the gap to 28-17. The first Baltimore attempt of the last period ended in a touchdown that was 28-23. The Ravens had all the momentum and rumors had started at Paul Brown Stadium and on social media.
It was happening – again. The Bengals were choking – again.
To their credit, they stopped the bleeding. Cincinnati led for a field goal that outshot the lead at eight, then the defense hardened, while safety Shawn Williams imposed a turnover that resulted in the match score.
Frank Victores / Associated Press
The victory allowed Dalton to talk about the ceiling of his team and to express himself by speaking with Michael Irvin, of the NFL Network, during the session of the competition.
"I really think we have the potential to be really good," Dalton said. "So for us, we have to continue to find ways to win, we've done it in the last two weeks, and we just have to keep winning."
To be fair, the potential East The. Dalton made four touchdown passes in the first period for the second time in his career on Thursday night. In addition to the huge Green outing, 23-year-old Tyler Boyd caught six passes for 91 yards and a score. Despite having knee problems, Mixon had 87 yards total. And a strong defense by striker Geno Atkins and rookie team Sam Hubbard fired Flacco four times and forced three turnovers.
But all that was barely enough to prevent a Baltimore team that was exposed as far from being as good as the Buffalo Bills' 47-3 loss last week. The Bengals gave the Ravens a total of 425 yards. If Dalton had his first period, he was a pedestrian of 10 out of 17 for 87 yards in the second period.
Yes, the Bengals are 2-0 and in first place in the division by themselves. The last time the team was in this position was three years ago – which was also the most recent opportunity for the playoffs. But the near-collapse of Thursday came after an opening match in which the Bengals found themselves behind 13-3 and 23-10 against a Colts team that, roughly, did not feature in head for a playoff spot.
That's not to say that Bengals are a paper tiger. Frankly, it can be argued that Cincinnati is the most balanced team in the division. There are weapons in violation. The game leaders in defense. And when the O-line line keeps Dalton's jersey in order (as was the case Thursday by eliminating a Ravens pass that scored six sacks in the first week), he is able to be a good quarterback of the NFL.
Andy Lyons / Getty Images
But this offense was the last in the NFL a year ago. And Dalton's win against the Ravens has raised his career record in games under fire to 6-14.
We will not enter in his palmares (0-4). Or Lewis (0-7). Two early wins at the start of the season on mediocre teams are not a suitor.
We will not have to wait long to see how good these Bengals are. Three of Cincy's next four games are against playoff teams a year ago. They will face the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team that has beaten the Bengals six times in a row (including the final playoff game in Cincinnati).
A victory over a playoff team on the road would go a long way towards consolidating the Bengals' record as a playoff contender. Overcoming their nemesis Steel City would do so much more.
But while Thursday's final game score was more optimistic about Cincinnati's outlook for 2018, the way we did it was tempered.
The Bengals could be this "very good" team to which Dalton refers. Or they might look like mediocre teams from the last two seasons.
The fact is, we still do not know who the Dey are.
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