Baltimore Ravens v. Cincinnati Bengals: Recent Games

Many "experts" picked the Ravens to win the AFC North, and even advance through the playoffs. But so far, the Ravens are anything but a playoff team, beginning the season 0-2.

One could argue that the Ravens are not as bad as their early season record, since both of the losses came on the road, and both of the losses were close.

But you could argue that the Raven held leads deep into the second half, only to give them up. And the Ravens just got beat by a Raiders team who the Bengals easily beat down only a week earlier. So what should we expect when the Bengals visit Baltimore for the Ravens' first home game of the 2015 season?

All time, the Cincinnati Bengals are 18-20 against the Baltimore Ravens. This head to head record dates back to 1996, and covers the team’s tenure in the city named for Lord Baltimore. It does not include when they were the Cleveland Browns 1.0.

Since 2003, the Ravens have had a very successful run, with a Super Bowl victory, nine winning seasons (out of 11), and hold an overall record of 115-77.

Despite this successful run, Marvin Lewis’ Bengals are 14-10 against his former employer, and have won four of the last five matchups.

During Marvin Lewis’ time as the Bengals’ head coach, this AFC North divisional rivalry has seen a high number of alternating seasonal sweeps.

The Bengals swept the Ravens in the 2005 and 2007 NFL seasons and the Ravens responded by sweeping the 2008 games. The Bengals returned the favor by winning both of the 2009 games. The Ravens then won both of the games in the 2011 NFL season. And last year, the Bengals in turn swept the 2014 series.

Let’s take a look back at the 2014 season, and recap both of the Bengals’ victories against their AFC North divisional foes.

In Week 1 of the 2014 season, the Bengals won 23-16 in Baltimore.
Mike Nugent had a busy day, hitting on five of six field goal attempts, giving the Bengals a 15-0 halftime lead.
The Ravens charged back with three second half scores, capped off by Joe Flacco’s 80 yard bomb to Steve Smith with just under six minutes remaining in the game. After a failed 2-point conversion, the Ravens held momentum and a 16-15 lead at home. On the ensuing drive, the Bengals showed off their own deep ball heroics as Andy Dalton hit A.J. Green with an impressive 77 touchdown reception, returning the lead to the Bengals at 23-16. On the final drive of the game, the Ravens drove all the way down into the red zone before Wallace Gilberry and Reggie Nelson sacked Joe Flacco on fourth down to seal the Bengals’ opening game victory.

In late October, the Bengals won a Week 8 matchup with the Ravens 27-24 at home.
On the opening drive of the game, Andy Dalton plunged into the end zone for a one yard touchdown rush. From that point, the Bengals held the lead, and seemed to be in control of the game following a 32 yard Mike Nugent field goal which gave the Bengals a 17-6 lead midway through the third quarter. But a pair of Lorenzo Talifero touchdown runs helped the Ravens secure a 24-20 lead with just under four minutes remaining.

Andy Dalton hit Mohammed Sanu on a big 56 yard gain as the Bengals marched down the field and took a 27-24 lead on Dalton’s second one yard touchdown rush of the game. With less than one minute remaining, the Ravens attempted the comeback which had eluded them at home in Week 1. This time the Ravens were successful, as Flacco hit Steve Smith on a big 80 yard touchdown bomb. Except for one little problem... Ravens’ wide receiver, Steve Smith was flagged for offensive pass interference, negating the big touchdown reception. Outside of that play, the Ravens’ final drive fizzled on a four and out.

What are your expectations of their next matchup this Sunday?