In the first half of the Bengals-Ravens Week 7 matchup, Cincinnati’s offense couldn’t get anything going. They had just 59 yards on 19 plays and were shut out on the scoreboard.
It looked like another one of those games where the Ravens were just going to out-class the Bengals.
Then Cincy exploded for 35 points, including 5 touchdowns on their first 5 drives of the second half.
The biggest difference between the two halves was pressure. The Ravens were able to get it on Joe Burrow 54% of the time in the first half. That rate was cut to 27.8% over the final 30 minutes.
And when you give Burrow and this passing game time, the conflict they put a defense in with Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins is nearly impossible to handle.
On this day, Baltimore chose to give more attention to Chase. That opened things up for Higgins, who caught 6 passes for 148 yards and a touchdown in the second half.
You could see a great example on this 3rd-and-3 during the Bengals’ first drive of the 3rd quarter.
Chase was aligned to the left and Higgins was aligned to the right. The Ravens would play cover-1 (man free):
But watch the hole defender in the middle of the field turn his attention to Chase at the snap. That left space to the other side for Higgins’ slant:
The Bengals would score on that drive to cut the Ravens’ lead to 13-7.
On their next drive, Cincy took advantage of a short field off of a good punt return and marched down to Baltimore’s 13-yard line.
Once again, Chase was aligned to one side and Higgins was aligned to the other:
The Ravens would have 3 to account for 3 to the right. To the left, Marlon Humphrey was responsible for Chase: