Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals claimed first place in the AFC North Sunday, taking down Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens on the road, 41-17.
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Cincinnati Bengals
Quarterback
Burrow had a dominant day overall, completing 23 passes for 416 yards and three touchdowns. The one blemish came on his one turnover-worthy throw — an interception into the end zone. The second-year QB looked to push the ball downfield early and often, posting an 11.7 average depth of target and throwing just 36.8% of his passes short of the sticks.
Burrow was helped by his pass-catchers, as 49.4% of his passing yards came after the catch.
JA’MARR CHASE IS EMBARRASSING THE RAVENS DEFENSE
pic.twitter.com/WJwbSkspoX— PFF (@PFF) October 24, 2021
Running Backs
The run game for Cincinnati wasn’t super efficient. Running backs Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine essentially split snaps (34 to 30) and carries (12 to 11). They also had almost identical box scores, with each scoring a touchdown. The Bengals offensive line did the backs zero favors: Mixon tallied 4 yards before contact, while Perine lost 6 yards before contact. A quarter of Mixon’s runs went for a loss or no gain.
| Rushing grade | Attempts | Rushing yards | Yards After Contact | TDs | Explosive runs | Stuff rate | |
| Joe Mixon | 72.3 | 12 | 59 | 55 | 1 | 2 | 0.25 |
| Samaje Perine | 50.4 | 11 | 52 | 58 | 1 | 1 | 0.1818 |
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
Ja’Marr Chase’s Offensive Rookie of the Year train kept rolling in this one: The former LSU wideout posted a 90.0 overall receiving grade on the back of an eight reception, 201-yard performance. The first-round pick couldn’t be contained all afternoon, garnering five explosive plays, seven first downs and a touchdown.
Ja'Marr Chase start to NFL career:
5 rec-101 yards-1 TD
2-54-1
4-65-1
6-77-0
6-159-1
4-97-0
8-201-1On pace for: 85-1831-15. Madness. #CINvsBAL
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) October 24, 2021
The remaining two dominant receivers in this offense, Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins, each saw over 35 snaps but had very different days. Higgins commanded a team-leading 15 targets, hauling in seven (all contested) for 63 yards, while Boyd hauled in just four catches for 39 yards, running 88.9% of his snaps from the slot.
Tight end C.J. Uzomah continues to be a popular fantasy football sleeper. He saw just three targets but had three catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns, posting a 16.7 average depth of target.
Offensive Line
The Bengals had a mediocre day in pass protection, posting a 58.1 pass-blocking unit grade. They allowed 14 pressures on 39 pass-blocking snaps and one sack. The group was slightly worse in run blocking with a 53.5 run-blocking grade. Tackle Jonah Williams led Cincy in snaps with 63, but he also posted the line’s worst pass-blocking grade (41.1), giving up the team’s lone sack and four QB hits.
Defensive Line
Edge rusher Sam Hubbard lived in the Baltimore backfield all afternoon: He totaled three sacks, seven total pressures and an 18.4% win rate on his way to a 68.9 pass-rush grade. On the other side of the line, Trey Hendrickson paced the defensive line in overall grade, posting an 82.2 defensive grade thanks to a sack, eight pressures and a 29.4% win rate, as well as zero missed tackles.
Linebackers
Linebacker Germaine Pratt played the most snaps against the run (17), but he also posted a unit-worst 32.2 run-defense grade, tallying just one tackle and grading negatively on 23.5% of run plays. Meanwhile, Akeem Davis-Gaither posted a 77.9 defensive grade thanks to six tackles and allowed just one catch on 25 coverage snaps.
Secondary
Cornerback Chidobe Awuzie paced the starting secondary in overall coverage grade, posting an 84.2 grade after allowing four receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown on 47 coverage snaps, 13 of which he was in primary coverage.
Baltimore Ravens
Quarterback
Jackson was limited through the air in this one, completing just 50% of his passes for 238 yards and a touchdown. He hit two big-time throws to tally a 6.3% big-time throw percentage, and 70.5% of his passing yards came through the air as opposed to 29.5% after the catch. Jackson did most of his damage with his legs, scrambling seven times and totaling 12 carries for 88 yards, leading Baltimore in rushing.
Running Backs
The Baltimore running game was non-existent outside of Jackson: The trio of Devonta Freeman, Le'Veon Bell and Ty’Son Williams combined for 29 yards on 11 carries. Freeman was the only one to find the end zone, finishing with 14 yards on four carries, while Bell averaged just one yard per carry on five carries.
| Rushing grade | Attempts | Rushing yards | Yards after contact | Missed tackles forced | Yards after contact per attempt | |
| Le'Veon Bell | 50.6 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 1.6 |
| Devonta Freeman | 72.3 | 4 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 3 |
| Ty'Son Williams | 61.6 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
As usual, Marquise Brown and Mark Andrews led the Ravens in targets with 14 and eight, respectively. Despite the massive target share, Hollywood saw just five catchable passes. He hauled in all five for 80 yards — seeing a 24.7 average depth of target. Brown posted a 50% deep target percentage, showing off his breakaway speed and big-play ability yet again, including a touchdown in the back of the end zone:
LAMAR ???? HOLLYWOOD BROWN
OH MY GOD ????
pic.twitter.com/7rKEqwjQB9— PFF (@PFF) October 24, 2021
Two of Andrews’ four receptions went for explosive plays, and he finished the day with 59 yards. Meanwhile, rookie Rashod Bateman posted 80 yards — 35 after contact — on three receptions in just his second career game. All three receptions were explosive plays, averaging 26.7 yards per reception.
Offensive Line
Veteran tackle Alejandro Villanueva may have led the offensive line in pass-blocking snaps (55), but he was the unit’s worst performer by PFF grade. The former Steeler allowed 10 hurries on his way to a poor 46.2 pass-blocking grade. On the other end of the spectrum, center Bradley Bozeman allowed just one hurry on 42 pass-blocking snaps to total an 80.0 pass-blocking grade.
Defensive Line
Veterans Calais Campbell and Justin Houston led the Baltimore defensive line in pass-rushing snaps with 30 and 25, respectively, but they combined for just seven total pressures. Overall, the unit combined for just one sack but 19 total pressures and a 53.8% win percentage on 39 pass-rushing snaps.
Linebackers
Patrick Queen led the Ravens defense in defensive grade, posting an 82.9 overall defensive grade on 27 snaps. Josh Bynes was right behind him, as the fellow linebacker tallied a 79.2 grade with a seven-tackle performance.
Secondary
Marlon Humphrey drew the unenviable task of covering Chase throughout the afternoon. He allowed seven receptions for 227 yards and two touchdowns on 39 coverage snaps. Humphrey was in primary coverage for 10 plays and allowed 5.82 yards per coverage snap and five plays of 15-plus yards. However, he did grab an interception, bringing his overall coverage grade to 62.1.
Marlon Humphrey had never allowed more than 143 yards in a game before today
Ja'Marr Chase gave him 201
— Mike Renner (@PFF_Mike) October 24, 2021
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