Reborn Bengals Shut Up Ravens

CINCINNATI -- He is the king of smack, both verbal and physical. That is what Ray Lewis brings.

He called Cedric Benson's 120-yard rushing day last month against the big-time, big-mouth Ravens defense a fluke. And Benson said Lewis brought an extra assortment of jive here on Sunday.

"He started telling me how he was going to be there all day, on every play,'' Benson said. "I laughed and kind of smiled. Then he says, 'We are the team to go through, man!'

"So, I told him we'd just go through them to the playoffs and the Super Bowl.''

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No doubt, this was the clean version of this volley.

"I don't really know the guy,'' Benson added. "He always says his little bit. Sometimes it's hard not to look at it as silly. Sometimes it's hard not to feed into it. He is still a force.''

Of course, we all wanted to know what Lewis had to say about the Bengals' 17-7 win Sunday, about Benson's 117-yard rushing day this time around, about how Cincinnati did the smacking on the field. And why it was that, after Benson became the first running back in 40 games to rush for 100 or more yards against Baltimore in Week 5, he was able to do it again.

Oh, and also about how the Ravens were swept by the Bengals this season (Cincinnati won 17-14 on Oct. 11 in Baltimore).

But Lewis was quiet after the game. Not a whisper.

Usually steady, reliable safety Ed Reed was unprofessional in the postgame locker room, repeatedly interrupting a teammate's interview. Other Ravens showed they are big and bad and gruff when things go according to plan but, like a lot of pseudo bullies, are bewildered and weak when things go poof.

Or when they get punched.

That is what the Bengals did to the Ravens on Sunday. Cincinnati jumped to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and a 17-0 lead at halftime. The Ravens offense gained only three first downs in the first half, punted three times and threw one interception. The Bengals led in time of possession for every quarter of the game, held the Ravens to 1 of 10 on third-down conversions, and outrushed Baltimore, 146-55.

The Bengals, indeed, did the smacking, the dominating, the winning.

In recent seasons, the Bengals have been kicked around in their division and in this league. But something about the Ravens brings out the best in the Bengals. And something about this Bengals season, this 6-2, first-place season in the AFC North, is different.

A couple of the Ravens' classier pros tried to offer an explanation.

"They finally have a legitimate running back,'' defensive end Trevor Pryce said. "A back who is not afraid to run between the tackles. You have to play the run against them now. They've got good receivers and the quarterback is good, and now you throw that running back in there -- that's a good offense.''

The Ravens fell to a 4-4 record.

In spite of all their talking, they are only average.

They played this game as if they were feeling the pressure of what the Bengals are becoming in the division and what the Ravens are struggling to remain. The Bengals, who are now 4-0 within the AFC North, were easily the more dominant and better team in this game.

"Their record doesn't lie,'' Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth said. "I don't know what exactly their reputation is or was, but I would think they should just keep doing what they are doing. That's winning.''


The mix the Bengals showed Sunday will go a long way in their quest for a new name, a new standing.

The defense was solid up front, in the middle and on the back end. It covered and smothered the Ravens offense and quarterback Joe Flacco (two interceptions, no touchdown passes and a 48.3 quarterback rating). The Bengals' cornerbacks (Johnathan Joseph and Leon Hall) were stellar, limiting Baltimore's star wide receiver, Derrick Mason, to three catches for 31 yards, and not even a sniff of the end zone.

Benson, meanwhile, kept breaking backside runs against a Baltimore defense playing minus injured nose tackle Haloti Ngata, who missed the first start of his four-year career. Chad Ochocinco was impressive in his routes and in his overall game, forcing the Baltimore cornerbacks to slip and fall and spin in their attempts to cover him. Quarterback Carson Palmer kept re-setting his pocket, taking shots and delivering. The Bengals were aggressive and confident.

They have a renewed spirit -- and it was on display Sunday.

"Last year we learned, period,'' Bengals linebacker Dhani Jones said of Cincinnati's dismal 4-11-1 mark in 2008. "We learned how bad it can get. So, we asked ourselves some questions going into this year. Do you really want to be that bad? Do you really want your legacy, your time spent here remembered for being a terrible team? Are you really comfortable being a laughingstock? We started by taking one positive step forward. And that leads to another. It's contagious.''

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Baltimore all game long produced only one sustained drive that gained points. It was early in the fourth quarter and ended on a Ray Rice 2-yard run. The Bengals, though, scored on their first two drives, one covering 73 yards and the other 80 yards. Next came a 75-yard drive that gained a field goal. All three drives produced 10 or more plays.

It was a steady, sustained effort by the Bengals.

"They earned it,'' Ravens coach John Harbaugh said.

The bad news for the Bengals was they may have lost receiver Chris Henry for the season with a fractured forearm, and linebacker Keith Rivers was on crutches afterward due to a leg injury.

Even so, the Bengals, across the field, won the matchups that mattered. Cincinnati is earning a fresh reputation as a serious contender -- halfway through the season, they find themselves hunted in their own division.

"For whatever reason, our guys get excited about playing them,'' Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said about the Bengals' 4-2 record against Baltimore over the past three seasons. "We know it's going to be a grinder, an all-day sucker.''

That is style, a game that the Bengals can now handily play. Smack for smack.