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Ravens at Bengals: What to Watch For

Bengals RB Zack Moss makes a catch during the Bengals Week 4 game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium, Sunday, September 29, 2024.
Bengals RB Zack Moss makes a catch during the Bengals Week 4 game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium, Sunday, September 29, 2024.

The Bengals face their first AFC North Division test of the season when they host the Baltimore Ravens at Paycor Stadium on Sunday. The game kicks off at 1 p.m. ET on CBS. Here are five things to watch:

Game of Runs

Both the Bengals and Ravens have boasted a strong running game through the first four weeks of the season, providing their offenses with a versatility that challenges opposing defenses. Cincinnati is coming off a season-high 141 yards on the ground in Week 4 at Carolina, which featured a career-high 80 from second-year back Chase Brown and 51 from Zack Moss. Chase and Moss each carried the ball 15 times, becoming the first Bengals teammates to log 15+ rushing attempts in the same game since Jeremy Hill (25 carries) and Giovani Bernard (15) did so on Dec. 14, 2014 at Cleveland.

Brown and Moss also also one of just two running back duos in the league with at least 175 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns apiece, alongside Detroit's David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs.

On the other side, Baltimore features a dynamic combination in dual-threat quarterback Lamar Jackson and former Tennessee Titans All-Pro back Derrick Henry. Henry enters Week 4 leading the NFL in rushing yards (480) and is tied for the lead in rushing touchdowns (five). Jackson's 308 yards on the ground are 90 more than the next closest quarterback (Washington QB Jayden Daniels, 218).

As a team, the Ravens have churned out 270+ rushing yards in each of their last two games and average a league-leading 6.38 yards per carry.

Chase's 50th

Sunday marks the 50th career regular-season game for Ja’Marr Chase, who comes in having performed at his Pro Bowl level over the past two games. In Weeks 3 and 4, Chase averaged a league-high 22.6 yards per reception, tied for the league lead with three touchdown catches and was one of six players to total over 200 receiving yards.

Last week at Carolina, Chase became the fifth player in the Super Bowl era to record 4,000+ receiving yards and 30+ receiving touchdowns within his first 50 career games, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Randy Moss and Jerry Rice, former Bengals Pro Bowler A.J. Green and Odell Beckham Jr.

In six career regular-season matchups against Baltimore, Chase has 505 yards on 37 catches and three touchdowns. That includes a 201-yard day in Week 7 of his 2021 rookie season and an eight-catch, 86-yard outing with a touchdown in the 2022 finale.

Brown, Stone Take On Former Team

Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. will face Baltimore for a fourth time since he last played for the Ravens in 2020, while safety Geno Stone is set to meet his former side for the first time since signing with the Bengals as a free agent this offseason.

A former third-round pick by the Ravens who earned a pair of Pro Bowl selections while in Baltimore, Brown is playing perhaps at the highest level of his career. Per the NFL's Next Gen Stats service, he is allowing the lowest pressure rate among any left tackle in the league so far this season at 3.4 percent (minimum 75 pass blocking snaps). Brown and the Bengals offensive line are coming off a clean sheet at Carolina, as the unit held the Panthers to zero sacks while blocking for 373 yards of offense.

Stone emerged as a premier ball-hawking safety in 2023, his final season with the Ravens. He led the AFC and ranked second leaguewide with a career-high seven interceptions, highlighted by a streak of four straight games with a pick. He has 18 tackles and a pass defensed for Cincinnati this season and enters Week 5 still searching for his first takeaway.

Wilson Among League's Top Tacklers

Logan Wilson’s 43 tackles this season are not only tied for the fourth-most in the NFL heading into Week 5, they are the most by a Bengals player in the first four games of a season since at least 1994. He is the first Cincinnati defender to log nine or more tackles in four straight contests to open a season since former linebacker Dhani Jones in 2008.

Wilson is the only Bengal this season to line up for every single one of the team's 259 defensive snaps. His 11 career interceptions are the most by any linebacker since he entered the league in 2020, but he remains on the hunt for his first pick of 2024.

Rookies Stepping Up

Cincinnati's rookie class added several key contributions in the win at Carolina. Namely, first-round draft pick Amarius Mims made his first NFL start at right tackle and lined up for all 67 offensive snaps, helping Brown and company hold the Panthers without a sack.

The Bengals' following pick in April, Kris Jenkins Jr., made his presence felt early on when he was credited with a tackle on a crucial fourth-and-goal stop at the one-yard line to end the Panthers' opening drive.

Fourth-round pick Erick All Jr. has impressed his coaches already while showing his skill set as a versatile tight end. All has caught each of his 12 targets this season, but his most notable moments have come as a blocker, as he has been a major factor in Cincinnati using 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends) on 29 percent of its plays this year, the fourth-highest rate in the NFL.

Last but certainly not least, undrafted punter Ryan Rehkow continued his red-hot start to his pro career in Week 4. After a record-setting debut on Sept. 8 vs. New England, he punted three times for 170 yards against the Panthers, good for a gross average of 56.7 yards. Two of his boots were downed inside the Carolina 20-yard line, including a 63-yarder in the third quarter that traveled from the Bengals' 22 to the Panthers' 15.

View the best photos from Bengals-Ravens matchups of years past

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