Cincinnati makes a statement with a road win over the Ravens

Week 7 of the NFL season served up a rather interesting slate of games. With six teams on a bye week, there were not many options in the early window.

But perhaps the most fascinating matchup was an AFC North clash between the 5-1 Baltimore Ravens, and the visiting Cincinnati Bengals, checking in with a 4-2 record. Would the Ravens remain the top dogs in the North, or would the young, upstart Bengals make a case of their own?

Consider the case made.

Joe Burrow and company when into the Inner Harbor and took control in the second half, en route to a stunning 41-17 rout of the Ravens. Burrow continued his impressive sophomore season, completing 23 of 38 passes for 416 yards and three touchdowns, and his connections with rookie wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and tight end C.J. Uzomah remained solid. Chase caught eight passes for 201 yards and a touchdown, while the tight end caught three passes for 91 yards and a pair of scores.

The first touchdown of the entire game came on this 55-yard connection from Burrow to Uzomah, on a beautiful throwback design:

Burrow comes out of a run fake to the left and rolls to his right, but he picks up Uzomah who is running a post route from right-to-left, away from the flow of the play. The Ravens lose him in coverage, and Burrow hits his tight end for the huge touchdown.

Uzomah got back into the end zone early in the third quarter to restore a Cincinnati lead, on this beautiful fake screen:

The Bengals fake the quick flat screen to the receiver, with Uzomah releasing vertically on the seam route. Burrow, after faking on the route to the flat, resets and hits his tight end up the hashmark, and the timing gives Uzomah a chance to catch, secure and make a defender miss, allowing Uzomah to finish the play for a touchdown.

The huge play, however, came between the former LSU teammates as Burrow and Chase hooked up for this 82-yard scoring play:

This is a simple slant route on a slant/flat combination, thrown on third and short to move the chains. But Chase is thinking about more than just the first down, as he runs through multiple tackle attempts en route to the 82-yard score.

As you can see courtesy of the dots and Next Gen Stats, this play accounted for the highest amount of yards over expected out of any play the past four seasons:

The Bengals put the game away in the fourth quarter thanks to their ground attack and touchdown runs from both Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon. First it was Mixon getting in from 21-yards out with a nice cutback to the right side:

Then it was Perine from 46-yards out to put the game on ice, and send the Bengals back home as your AFC North leaders:

What lies ahead for the Bengals? Well, they get the New York Jets on Halloween, a team coming off a 54-13 rout at the hands of the New England Patriots. They will not see the Ravens again until after Christmas. There is obviously a ton of football left to be played, but with road wins at Baltimore and at Pittsburgh, the Bengals have certainly made a statement here in the early going.