Subscribe
Follow Us
The Cincinnati Bengals were able to come away with an impressive blowout victory against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 16, 41-21. This was a must-win game for the Bengals and they did exactly that on Sunday by taking care of business against an AFC North division rival. The Bengals are now in first place of the division and will look to close it out in the next two weeks. They have tough games against the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns.
There are plenty of reasons why the Bengals were able to come away with an easy victory and obviously the Ravens injuries certainly helped and played a major part. At the end of the day, the Bengals needed to take care of business against a good football team and they did exactly that.
The offense was clicking on all cylinders and the defense was able to get stops when they needed to help secure this big victory. Let's take a look at three takeaways from the Bengals' Week 16 win against the Ravens.
*Watch NFL games LIVE with fuboTV (Click for free trial)*
Bengals Week 16 Takeaways
3. The division is Cincinatti's to lose
Cincinnati put themselves in a perfect spot as they are now in first place of the AFC North. They have a two-and-a-half game lead over the second-place Pittsburgh Steelers.
It's not going to be an easy task to end up winning this division because we've seen all year long that crazy things have happened in the AFC North. If the Bengals can somehow replicate what they did on Sunday in Week 17 against the Kansas City Chiefs, and pull out a victory, they will be in a perfect spot to walk away with this division.
2. The defense stepped up
The defense was able to get stops on Sunday and that was one of the keys to victory. Obviously scoring 41 points is always going to set you up to win the ballgame, but they did just enough on the defensive side of the ball to say that they looked impressive this week. Baltimore was without their star quarterback Lamar Jackson, but at the end of the day, Cincinnati's defense cannot control who is hurt and who is not. They did exactly what they had to do on Sunday and allowed their offense to do the rest.
1. Joe Burrow
What Joe burrow did on Sunday was incredible. He went 37-46 for 525 yards and four touchdowns. He almost broke the record for most yards thrown in an NFL game as he only missed the mark by 24 yards. The reality is if the Bengals want to have any sort of success in the playoffs and towards the back end of the season, while they try to win their division, they're going to need Burrow to play the best football that he has played in his career and he did exactly that on Sunday.
525 yards is unheard-of in the NFL and being able to throw four touchdowns and not having any interceptions is just as impressive. He was dominant and if he can even do half of what he did on Sunday towards the back end of the season and in the playoffs, Cincinnati will find a bunch of success.
