» Cincinnati's 44-13 defeat was the worst opening day loss for Marvin Lewis as Bengals head coach.
"Certainly not what we expected out there today," Lewis said. "We got out-played and out-coached. We did not come out well defensively. Frankly, we did not reract well to what we expected. I like the fact it's a short week. It doesn't give us much time to get this taste out."
» A key part of the game came at the end of the 12-play drive to open the second half when the Bengals had to settle for Mike Nugent's 19-yard field goal that made it 17-13 with 8:59 left in the third quarter. The Ravens played as advertised. Their defense led the league last year and allowed the fewest red-zone touchdowns with 16.
"It would have been nice to tie the game right there," Bengals center Jeff Faine said. "Who knows where the momentum would have gone from there but they played well in the tight red (zone)."
Faine played remarkably well for a guy that had just five practices before Monday night. He oversaw a running game that averaged 4.6 yards per carry on 28 attempts.
"I felt good," Faine said. "I didn't feel rusty. For the most part we communicated well. There were a few times they got a good hit on Andy (Dalton) but we can clean that up."
» Defensive end Robert Geathers played for the first time after missing the preseason with a knee injury. He played about half the snaps and said the Ravens no-huddle didn't give the Bengals problems from a conditioning standpoint but he did say the lack of pressure on Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was a killer.
"When we get to him he's not going to play like that," Geathers said, "but the bottom line is we didn't get there. We didn't win our matchups. They did a lot of different things (like) play-action, and we didn't respond to it."
» Ravens safety Ed Reed became the NFL's alltime leading interception return yards leader when he picked off Dalton late in the third quarter when Dalton overthrew wide receiver Brandon Tate. Reed went 34 yards for the touchdown on his 10th career interception against the Bengals. Three of his 10 career return touchdowns have been against Cincinnati.
"I saw everything they were going to do. We had it protected. I called the right protection," Dalton said. "There was a guy at my feet and I felt like I couldn't get my feet into the throw and the ball sailed and it got picked."
» Dalton showed no signs of Haloti Ngata driving his 330 pounds into his throwing shoulder when he fumbled in the fourth quarter.
"The biggest thing is we can't let them beat us twice," Dalton said. "We have to go in, learn from our mistakes, move on. It's one game. I think we'll be OK."
» Defensive tackle Domata Peko was at a loss for words to explain how the man the Bengals built their game plan around, Ravens running back Ray Rice, rushed for 68 yards on just 10 carries.
"We got beat in every part of the game," Peko said. "We'll have to go back to the drawing board and take it out on Cleveland. We'll have to win that one. It's another division game."
