Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals: What We Learned

Oct 26, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Baltimore Ravens defensive end Haloti Ngata (92) knocks the ball away from Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton (14) during the fourth quarter at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Ravens are still a resilient football team

Joe Flacco was not sharp. The offensive line struggled to get push in the ground game and was marginal in pass protection. The receivers looked like they were stuck in the mud. The pass rush couldn’t get home consistently. The secondary without Jimmy Smith looked as bad as it did Week 1. And yet, the Ravens persevered to have a chance to win the game.

The sky is not falling in Baltimore, no matter how terribly they played. Because even when the Baltimore Ravens are outplayed, they find ways to stay in the game. The Ravens are the epitome of opportunistic, as they capitalized on Bengals’ mistakes to take the lead in the fourth quarter after being outplayed for the entire game.

There is a reason the Ravens are so rarely blown out. They never stop fighting and never stop believing they can win. In this, arguably their worst performance since Week 1, nobody can ever doubt that the Ravens kept fighting and made a game out of what very well could have been a blowout.

Take some solace in that, because it’s the only solace fans can have after that devastating loss.