Ja'Marr Chase's halftime speech during Sunday's game definitely woke up his Cincinnati Bengals teammates as they stormed back in the second half from a 13-0 deficit and dominated Baltimore in the second half.
Whether the 35-13 victory over the Ravens
can serve as the springboard to an extended winning streak or the Bengals making the playoffs for the first time since 2022 remains to be seen over the next couple of weeks.Chase said after Sunday's game
that he cried the previous time he gave a speech at halftime. His emotions were the opposite this time.
“I didn't cry this time,” Chase said. "I came in here screaming, saying, ’Somebody’s got to make a play for us, somebody got to make a play.' And I told our offense we can’t look at our defense the whole time. We’ve got to step up and make something work.”
The 35 second-half points are the most by a team shutout in the first half since the Minnesota Vikings put up 39 points in their Week 15 game in 2022 against the Indianapolis Colts, completing the largest comeback in NFL history after being down 33-0.
The Bengals scored on their first five second-half drives and Joe Burrow had a perfect 158.3 passer rating after halftime, the second time he has done that in his career. He was 16 of 18 passes for 249 yards in the second half.
Coach Zac Taylor and offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher were also more aggressive in the second half as the Bengals had nine plays of at least 10 yards.
“I thought at halftime Ja'Marr set the right tone. He knew what he was doing and I think he challenged everybody the right way,” Taylor said. “You don’t always want to be playing that role and you guys have seen I’m not a big yeller and screamer all the time. So it’s good when you’ve got a captain step up and take that role. Other guys have done it in different ways.”
All four of Burrow's TD passes came from a clean pocket as the offensive line had one of their cleanest games of the season.
Burrow has two straight games with four touchdown passes and no interceptions and Tee Higgins has two games with at least 145 receiving yards.
While the offense is putting up big numbers, the Bengals are still looking for consistent play from all three phases in the same game, something they haven't had since their Week 1 victory over Tampa Bay.
The run defense held Baltimore's Derrick Henry to 45 yards on 17 carries, with only three runs that ended up keeping the Ravens ahead of the chains. The Bengals held Henry to zero or negative yards on four attempts.
Taylor and Pitcher have to make sure Chase and Higgins aren't held to a combined four targets and two receptions going into halftime.
DE Boye Mafe had 1 1/2 sacks against the Ravens, and is up to 4 1/2 for the season. He had only two sacks with Seattle last season.
RB Chase Brown has 88 yards on 33 carries the past three games. He had 11 carries for 39 yards on Sunday.
Taylor had no updates on S Kyle Dugger (quadriceps) and TE Erick All Jr. (knee), who were injured on Sunday.
3: Times the Bengals have trailed by at least 13 points at halftime and have come back to win since Burrow arrived in 2020.
4: Consecutive games with a receiving touchdown by Mike Gesicki, the longest streak by a tight end in franchise history.
The Bengals host the Titans next Sunday. Cincinnati has won four of the past five meetings against Tennessee.
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