Lamar Jackson finished 24-of-33 passing for 237 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 54 yards to lead the visiting Baltimore Ravens past the Cincinnati Bengals 27-24 on Sunday.
Joe Burrow completed 27 of 41 passes for 222 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Burrow aggravated his right calf injury on his second touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter.
The Ravens (2-0) took early control with a 75-yard drive in 13 plays. Gus Edwards had three carries for 20 yards, including a 1-yard scoring plunge that capped the drive.
The Bengals (0-2) again had trouble getting their offense in gear, going three-and-out on their first drive and punting on their first two possessions.
The Bengals caught a break when Justin Tucker missed a 59-yard field goal wide right late in the first quarter. After assuming possession at their 49, the Bengals could manage just two yards and punted.
Cincinnati’s offense was booed off the field after their second drive as the offense managed just 14 yards and no first downs.
Burrow completed four of his first five passes but only for 13 yards.
It appeared the Bengals were going to get a big break when Trey Hendrickson forced a fumble and Logan Wilson recovered at the Baltimore 18 to open the second quarter.
But Zach Carter was flagged for illegal hands to the face and the Ravens retained possession. The Ravens would punt three plays later, resulting in Cincinnati’s first touchdown of the season, an 81-yard punt return by rookie Charlie Jones.
Jones took the ball at his 19, started up field, made a sharp cut to the sideline and raced untouched up the left sideline for his first career touchdown.
Tucker finished the first half with his second field goal, a 40-yarder that gave Baltimore a 13-10 halftime lead.
Cincinnati’s offense showed good signs to open the second half and seemed poised to score their first offensive touchdown. Facing second-and-8 at the Ravens 17, Burrow’s pass for Tee Higgins at the goal line was picked off by Geno Stone.
The 36-yard interception return was followed by a 50-yard bomb from Jackson to rookie Zay Flowers, who beat corners Cam Taylor-Britt and DJ Turner. Three plays later, Jackson found Mark Andrews on a three-yard pass for the touchdown that made it 20-10.
The Bengals finally put together an offensive touchdown drive when they needed it most, marching 75 yards on 13 plays. Burrow connected with Higgins from three yards out on third-and-goal to cut the deficit to 20-17.
But Jackson engineered another 75-yard scoring drive, capped by Jackson’s picture-perfect 17-yard fade pass to Nelson Agholor that beat Chido Awuzie, putting Baltimore up 27-17 with just over 11 minutes remaining.
Burrow found Higgins again, this time on a 4-yard touchdown pass, to make it 27-24 with 3:28 left in the game before the Ravens ran out the clock.
–Field Level Media