BALTIMORE (AP) — If Lamar Jackson's return from an ankle injury is imminent, the star quarterback's top priority will be solving Baltimore's second-half woes.
Back-to-back duds after the break have dropped the Ravens to last among the four winning teams in the AFC North.
Baltimore dominated while holding Cincinnati scoreless in the first half, but a 13-point lead disappeared quickly after halftime in a 35-13 loss.
It was a loss in a second consecutive
division game when the Ravens (4-3) didn't allow a point before the break and took a double-digit lead to the locker room.
“It’s a tale of two halves, right?” veteran defensive tackle Calais Campbell said. “The first half, I feel like we were making a lot of plays. We’re playing really good football, and then once momentum got away from us, I mean, it was like quicksand.”
Jackson missed his third consecutive game, but did return to practice this past week. Logic says he should be closer to a return, perhaps next Sunday at Buffalo.
The Ravens could say that playing without Jackson was too big a handicap to overcome. But they beat Atlanta with backup Tyler Huntley and held Cleveland scoreless before the break last week before squadering a 10-point lead in a 13-10 loss.
Baltimore held the Bengals (4-2) to 59 yards and three first downs before the break, then allowed touchdowns on the first five Cincinnati drives of the second half. The turnaround was so sudden, disgruntled Ravens fans were flocking to the exits in the middle of the fourth quarter.
The Ravens became the first team in 76 years to lead by at least 13 points at halftime and lose by at least 20, according to Sportradar. The Baltimore Colts were up 20-7 on the New York Giants on Nov. 19, 1950, before losing 55-20.
“In every game, we’ve proven that we’re good enough to be the type of team that we want to be, and we’ve proven that we’re bad enough to be a not a very good team as well,” first-year coach Jesse Minter said. “So there’s a consistency level that we need to find where it’s where it’s less riding the wave of momentum and more about staying even-keel.”
Huntley was 23 of 34 for 298 yards passing, but while Cincinnati's Joe Burrow threw four touchdown passes. Huntley was sacked four times. Huntley had a 48-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass to Zay Flowers and threw an interception that set up the Bengals' last TD.
“He’s put us in position to have a chance to win,” Campbell said of Huntley. “But we have to do better and execute, especially on defense.”
Then again, that defense allowed just 59 yards and three first downs before halftime.
“It’s not a 30-minute ball game,” Campbell said. “It’s four quarters, and we got to find a way to play a complete game with all of them.”
The Ravens are only a game out of first place, but last place is last place.
“It’s a big point in the season for us,” Minter said, “to determine what type of team we want to be.”
___
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
