Back in 2019, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens took the league by storm with a "revolutionary" run-heavy offense that led the league in scoring.
They're doing it again five years later, but in a different way.
Jackson's evolution as a passer has NFL coordinators and opponents shrugging. After Baltimore's 35-34 win on "Thursday Night Football," the Bengals (and the rest of the league) are probably asking: how do you stop this guy?
In Week 5, the Bengals decided to blitz Jackson at a very high rate (42.6%). He made them pay with 348 yards, four touchdowns, and 55 rushing yards, including a 131.9 passer rating against the blitz. Jackson entered Thursday night's game leading the league in QBR vs. the blitz.
The Bengals had a little more success playing in zone coverage that first time around. Jackson threw all four of his touchdowns against man coverage for a 142.2 passer rating versus 82.4 versus zone coverage.
So what did the Bengals do in the rematch? They didn't blitz nearly as much and they played more zone. And Jackson ate it up again.
The Bengals only blitzed Jackson 13.9% of the time in the rematch. When they didn't blitz him, he completed 21-of-28 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns. When they played zone coverage (77.8%), Jackson completed 19-of-25 passes for 244 yards and a touchdown.
To the Bengals' credit, they did a better job than most teams at defending Jackson and the Ravens offense for more than a half, though a fair number of Baltimore's stubbed toes in the first half were due to self-inflicted penalties and other mistakes.
However, Jackson and the Ravens offense countered in the second half and exploded for 28 points. Here's a sampling of what Jackson did so well, including his leaping passes with a basketball twist.
Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken deserves a lot of credit as well for his creative play designs and concepts.
Perhaps Jackson's most head-scratching play was his 10-yard scramble in the third quarter, in which he ran a whopping 58.1 yards (all the way beyond the 30-yard line) and was tackled just short of the goal line after evading several Bengals defenders.
Last time these two teams met, Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard dropped to his knees in disbelief after Jackson pulled off the double stiff-arm "Rag Doll" touchdown.
This time, Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton couldn't believe what he was seeing watching Jackson tiptoe down the sideline and nearly score. Defenders are at a loss.
Defensive coverage breakdowns
Just like the Bengals had trouble finding answers to Jackson, the Ravens defense had difficulties slowing down Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase.
In Week 5, Burrow had five touchdowns and 392 passing yards and Chase accounted for 193 of those yards and two of the scores.
Much of their damage was done against single-high safety looks, where Chase had nine catches for 184 yards and two touchdowns. He was targeted just once on split-safety coverage.
Well, the Ravens mixed things up, this time with Tee Higgins sidelined. Baltimore used split safety coverage 51.7% of the time compared to 25.5% in the first meeting.
The results? Chase exploded again, this time even more with 11 catches for 264 yards and three touchdowns.
Once again, explaining the Ravens' pass defense struggles requires a tip of the cap. Burrow made some fantastic throws, including on Chase's first long (67-yard) touchdown.
The Bengals helped the Ravens with deep shots on two questionable fourth-down play-calls in which Baltimore played good man-to-man coverage.
Could more man coverage be in store for the Ravens defense as it continues to search for answers? Baltimore gave up just 60 yards passing in man coverage versus 368 in zone.
Ravens' defensive front turned up the heat.
Much has been said about the Ravens' pass rush in recent weeks, with fans clamoring for General Manager Eric DeCosta to add another rusher at the trade deadline.
Baltimore didn't end up making that happen, getting a deal done with cornerback Tre'Davious White instead. The Ravens' pass rushers, however, responded with perhaps their best game yet.
The Ravens recorded 40 pressures on Burrow Thursday night, which is tied for the most in a game by any defense this season, per Pro Football Focus (PFF). Baltimore had a whopping 13 quarterback hits, led by four from outside linebacker Odafe Oweh.
Nnamdi Madubuike, who entered the game with two sacks this season, recorded his first career game with a sack hat trick. He tied a career high with seven pressures and his two highest pressure totals in a game this season have both come against the Bengals.
Travis Jones has been dealing with an ankle injury in recent weeks but has gotten healthier and made his impact felt with five pressures himself and helping his teammates. Kyle Van Noy also recorded nine pressures, per PFF.
The Ravens did it all without sending many blitzes. They blitzed only seven times, according to Next Gen Stats. Their 11.7% blitz rate was down from their year-long average of 20.9%, yet Baltimore had a pressure rate of 43.3%, up from 31.9%.
Some of that is attributable to the fact that Cincinnati was playing without injured left tackle and former Raven Orlando Brown Jr., but not all of it. It's no wonder that Burrow left Baltimore sore.
Mark Andrews and Lamar are always on the same page.
Jackson was missing one of his top targets with tight end Isaiah Likely sidelined by a hamstring injury, but reliable Mark Andrews stepped up to fill the void.
On Andrews' 18-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that gave the Ravens their first lead of the game, Andrews and Jackson adlibbed based off the coverage the Bengals gave them.
Andrews saw the Bengals playing a "mesh" concept behind a six-man blitz pressure and changed his route to go over the top of linebacker Logan Wilson instead of underneath. Jackson saw it the same way and lofted a pass over Wilson and before former Ravens safety Geno Stone could get there in coverage.
Talking about the play after the game, Jackson pointed to his brain when discussing the connection between he and Andrews.
"We've been together for quite some time, so you know Mark's something crazy, and me and him will be here – we'll be in sync with it," Jackson said.
