Andy Dalton is one impressive rookie quarter. Sure he had three interceptions, but he threw for 373 yards and one touchdown against the vaunted Ravens’ defense. There were several times the Ravens (7-3) defensive backs were beaten deep by Cincinnati (6-4) receivers.
It didn’t really seem to matter by the end of the day, though. Dalton proved he was a rookie when Terrell Suggs wrapped him up and he threw the ball out of bounds for intentional grounding. That was effectively the end of the game in the Ravens’ 31-24 victory.
Dalton is one story, but another story is the Ravens use of running back Ray Rice. Rice rushed the ball 20 times for 104 yards and had five catches for 43 yards. He touched the ball 25 times and the Ravens won. Pretty simple stuff, huh?
Joe Flacco hit six different receivers, including Torrey Smith six times. Smith ended the day with 165 yards and a touchdown. Flacco did throw a bad interception in the second quarter, but the Bengals didn’t capitalize on it.
Special teams was much better Sunday than it was last Sunday against Seattle. That may have been a function of David Reed being inactive for the game.
At the end of the day, the Ravens are in first place in the AFC North and currently hold the top seed in the AFC.
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