Bengals vs. Ravens: Joe Burrow's Four Second-Half TD Passes Turn a 13-0 Hole Into a 35-13 Week 7 Rout

At halftime in Baltimore, the Bengals had 59 yards, zero points and one very loud wide receiver. "I don't think I've shut up. I was getting on everybody," Ja'Marr Chase said afterward, voice going hoarse, and whatever he yelled in that locker room should be bottled and sold.

Cincinnati came out of the break and scored touchdowns on its first five possessions of the second half. Joe Burrow threw all four of his touchdown passes after intermission, Tee Higgins caught all six of his passes for 148 yards in those same 30 minutes, and the Bengals turned a 13-0 deficit into a 35-13 beatdown of the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday.

Two Games in One Afternoon

The first half belonged entirely to Baltimore. On the fourth snap of the game, Tyler Huntley hit Zay Flowers on a 48-yard catch-and-run for a 7-0 lead. The Ravens then went on an 18-play, 78-yard odyssey that ate 11 minutes of clock, and later added a 13-play, 82-yard drive. Per the AP, Baltimore held the ball for 22:20 of the first half and outgained Cincinnati 258-59.

The problem? Both of those long marches ended in Tyler Loop field goals, from 34 and 24 yards. Baltimore went 0 for 3 in the red zone on the day, and leaving those points on the table turned out to be the whole story. Bengals coach Zac Taylor said afterward that holding Baltimore to a field goal on its drive at the end of the half was critical.

Then the second half started and the Bengals turned into a different team entirely. A 9-play, 66-yard opening drive ended with Burrow hitting Mike Gesicki for a 6-yard score. Rookie Cashius Howell sacked Huntley for his first career sack to force a three-and-out, Dohnte Meyers ripped off a 31-yard punt return, and six plays later Burrow found Higgins for a 13-yard touchdown. Just like that, Cincinnati led 14-13 and never trailed again.

The rest was an avalanche. Samaje Perine scored from a yard out to cap an 88-yard drive. Burrow then hit Chase for 30 and Higgins for 43 before flipping a 2-yard touchdown to Chase. On Baltimore's very next snap, Demetrius Knight Jr. picked off Huntley, and three plays later Burrow found Drew Sample for a 16-yard score. Five drives, five touchdowns, 35 unanswered points.

Burrow Plays Video Game Football

Burrow finished 22 of 30 for 292 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions and a 143.3 passer rating. According to the Bengals, he went 16 for 18 for 249 yards after halftime, tying his career high for touchdown passes in a single half. He is now at 15 touchdown passes this season, the most he has thrown through six games of any season in his career, per the team.

"We just started calling some of our base stuff, O-line protected great," Burrow said. "Really, we just got the ball in Ja'Marr and Tee's hands as many times as we could."

Higgins was the main beneficiary. His 44-yard catch on a Burrow scramble set up the Perine touchdown, and per the Bengals, his 148-yard day pushed him past 6,000 career receiving yards. Chase added five catches for 62 yards and a score, and Gesicki now has a touchdown catch in four straight games, according to the team.

The defense deserves a parade of its own. After giving up 258 yards in the first half, Cincinnati allowed 101 after the break and pitched a second-half shutout. Boye Mafe had 1.5 sacks, Dexter Lawrence II added another, and Knight's interception was the exclamation point.

Flowers was brilliant in a losing effort with eight catches for 137 yards, and Huntley threw for 298 yards. Trey Hendrickson, the former Bengals pass rusher now in purple, was held to two quarterback hits, with no sacks and no tackles, against his old team.

Fourth-and-2 at the 12

Here's the swing. Trailing 14-13 late in the third, the Ravens marched to the Cincinnati 12 and faced fourth-and-2 on the first play of the fourth quarter. Huntley's pass for Josh Cuevas fell incomplete.

The Bengals took over at their own 12 and went 88 yards in six plays to make it 21-13. Instead of a Ravens lead, it was an eight-point Bengals cushion, and Baltimore never recovered. Taylor credited the halftime reset.

"Just took a deep breath, kept their composure, led," Taylor said. "And went out there and put together as good of a second-half performance as I've ever seen."

Stats That Matter

• 298-101: Cincinnati's yardage edge after halftime, per the AP, after Baltimore led 258-59 in the first half.
• 5 for 5: Bengals red-zone touchdowns. Baltimore went 0 for 3.
• 10 for 57: Ravens penalties and penalty yards. Cincinnati had one flag for 15.
• 76 years: According to Sportradar via the AP, Baltimore is the first team in that span to lead by at least 13 at halftime and lose by at least 20.

AFC North Fallout

The Bengals are 4-2 and, per the team, own their first AFC North win of the season. More importantly, they found an identity in the second half that Burrow wants to see for a full four quarters.

"That second half is who we have to be," Burrow said.

The Ravens are 4-3 and wobbling. Lamar Jackson sat out a third straight game, and Baltimore is now 1-2 without him and has lost two straight division games. The AP noted the Ravens have blown a double-digit second-half lead in back-to-back weeks and 10 times since the start of the 2022 season, and that they have outscored opponents by 65 points in first halves this season while being outscored by 70 after the break. That is a Jekyll and Hyde problem with a very specific schedule.

"Right now, we're too much of a momentum team," Ravens coach Jesse Minter said. "We're riding the wave when it's good, and we're riding the wave when it's bad."

Cincinnati hosts Tennessee next Sunday. Baltimore heads to Buffalo.

Who Needs a Script?

Even Burrow did not have a tidy explanation for this one. He did, however, have the perfect review.

"I don't even really know what to say about it. We were terrible in the first half, and we were unbelievable in the second half," Burrow said.

Two halves, two completely different teams, one final score that only tells half the story. Literally.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press and Bengals.com.