Marlon Humphrey's forced fumble turned the tide in the Ravens' 35-34 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. He had a game ball tucked under his arm as he spoke to reporters afterwards.
But Humphrey is taking less enjoyment from the Ravens' wins as the season goes on, even one against a bitter AFC North rival.
That's because, yet again, the Ravens' 32nd-ranked pass defense was carved up.
Ja'Marr Chase went off for 264 receiving yards and three touchdowns. That's the 19th most receiving yards any player has ever posted in a single game.
Chase's 457 yards in two games against the Ravens this year are the most any player has ever had against one team in a single season.
"I'm tired of that dude," Humphrey said. "He's just different. It's not even so much about the route runs. He gets a ball in his hands [and] if you don't tackle him soon, it can get really ugly. You never really can count the Bengals out when he's on their team."
Joe Burrow, who was without his other star receiver, Tee Higgins, threw for 428 yards and four touchdowns. Burrow has thrown for over 800 yards and has nine touchdowns against the Ravens this season.
Chase hit the Ravens with touchdowns of 67 and 70 yards. He raced past several Ravens defenders on a deep crosser on the first. He breezed past Baltimore's secondary on the second, which came just one play after Baltimore took its first lead of the game.
Chase third touchdown came with 38 seconds left in the game, putting the Bengals in position to win it at the end until their two-point conversion fell incomplete.
"I do give him credit. He's a great player. I was looking for him after the game and couldn't find him. Maybe that was appropriate," Head Coach John Harbaugh said with a chuckle.
"We doubled him a bunch of times. Those plays we didn't, we were in zone coverage there. He should have been covered. Those plays shouldn't have happened. There's no doubt about it. Those are not tough plays. Those are basic routes that should be covered in the coverages that we're in, so that's not the standard."
Chase said the Ravens threw all kinds of different coverages at him, with Humphrey mostly at nickel. Chase said it was pretty different from the first matchup with Baltimore, when the Ravens played a lot of "cloud" coverage. The one constant was that Chase beat it.
"He's a hell of a player," cornerback Brandon Stephens said. "It's a battle out there every play, and you can't take a play off."
Baltimore improved to 7-3 and is in a whole lot better position to win the division than the Bengals. But with the way the defense is playing, even Ravens players question how long this can last.
"Wins are getting harder to enjoy based off what we're doing in the pass defense," Humphrey said. "You know, I feel like when I was a rookie, first year guy, second year guy, that's how I looked up to the standard that was there. In the pass defense, we've really lost that standard.
"I feel like that falls on me. We're going to keep chasing at it. We're going to keep working at it because I'm not really satisfied with what I've built in this secondary, where it's gone. I just don't think playing like this, we can go far. It's cool we're winning. It's great winning. But I want to go far. I want to go to the end."
Like he said this week, Humphrey again pointed to a disconnect between how the Ravens are practicing and how they're playing. He said every player has to look in the mirror and ask themselves why they're not playing like they're practicing. Losing Kyle Hamilton to an ankle injury in the first half certainly didn't help either.
"It's becoming more of a mental thing, I think," Humphrey said. "It would be different if we didn't have any guys that can play."
Baltimore's top-ranked offense, led by Lamar Jackson, continues to tear up the rest of the league and rallied from 14 points down to win Thursday night at M&T Bank Stadium. But Humphrey wants the defense to carry its share of the weight.
"We're like the little brothers right now. [Lamar is] carrying us, which is cool. But it's not. I want to be able to end the game on defense," Humphrey said.
"The frustration really comes from the lack of just doing your job. It'd be different if we didn't have the guys. It'd be different if we were confused. It's just simple. We're just not playing how we're practicing. ... We've got to get it fixed. It's Week 10."
