Top takeaways from Ravens dominant win over Bengals: Pass Rush

The Baltimore Ravens improved their record to 4-1 and won their second straight game since losing their first to the Kansas City Chiefs by using an explosive first quarter from their offense and a phenomenal performance by their defense to dominate the Cincinnati Bengals 27-3 in Week Five.

Here is one of the top takeaways that I observed from the Ravens second blowout over an AFC North opponent by more than 20 points:

Pass rush was on point

The state of the Ravens pass rush has been a hot topic of discussion and criticism by their fans and pundits because they weren’t getting the sacks to go along with their high numbers of hits and pressures on opposing quarterbacks.

After being held without a sack against the Chiefs two weeks ago and failing to rattle Patrick Mahomes with his creative blitz and pressure packages, Ravens Defensive Coordinator Don Wink Martindale’s unit has two straight multi-sack games and against the Bengals on Sunday, Baltimore’s pass rush had their best outing to date.

First overall pick Joe Burrow had the worst game of his young career and likely woke up on Monday morning feeling like he got hit by a car. He was under constant duress all game long, got sacked seven times, hit a whopping 15 times, and pressured on countless other occasions.

“That was fun to watch,” Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh said after the game.

Leading Baltimore’s relentless pass rush charge was veteran outside linebacker Pernell McPhee who was playing like a an possessed and had his best game as Raven since rejoining the team last offseason. He finished the game with five tackles, including one for loss, a sack, a pass deflection, and a team-leading four quarterback hits.

The Ravens’ had five defensive backs registered a sack which, according to Pro Football Reference’s database, is the first time that has ever happened in an NFL game. First-Team All-Pro cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters recorded the first full sacks of their careers.

Rookie inside linebacker Patrick Queen got in the action too by recording his second sack of the season on his college teammate and completed a hat trick by recovering the fumble he forced with the vicious hit.

Even though he didn’t log a sack, second-year pro Jaylon Ferguson had a great game both rushing the passer and setting the edge in the run game. He was consistently disruptive in the backfield and finished with six total tackles including one for a loss and a quarterback hit.