2 takeaways from Bengals' frustrating Week 2 loss to Ravens

For the second straight year, the Cincinnati Bengals are 0-2 to start the season. This time, they were at least able to find the end zone a few times but when push came to shove and the final whistle sounded, the Baltimore Ravens won 27-24 to move to 2-0 while their divisional foes, our Bengals, dropped to 0-2.

This was a frustrating loss because the Bengals defense looked like a shell of themselves, it once again took the offense a long time to get going, and it felt like there were so many missed opportunities.

An 0-2 start last year might have been okay but now that the Ravens, Browns, and Steelers have all improved this offseason, it might not cut it this time around.

Let's look at some takeaways from the loss.

All stats courtesy of ESPN

Joe Burrow injury watch

As we all know, Joe Burrow was injured on just the second day of training camp and we didn't see him at all during the preseason. He's now started each of the Bengals' first two games and hasn't looked like himself. Some of that could be blamed on rust or maybe the injury was nagging more than everyone thought.

Well, after the Bengals scored a touchdown to make it a three-point game, Burrow limped off the field and then Jake Browning was seen throwing on the sideline. We never saw Browning come into the game because the Ravens offense was able to run down the clock and get the win but Burrow limped off the field.

This is going to be a major storyline to watch this week, as Burrow didn't look 100% last week (or this week either) but was still out there. If he re-aggravated that injury, this could be worst case scenario for Cincinnati amid an 0-2 start.

Defense... what's going on there?

During these past few years, it's been the defense that has been the bright spot for the Bengals in most situations. The defense was counted on to come up with a key turnover or stop when the team needed them to but unfortunately, that hasn't been the defense we've seen so far.

The run defense has been awful, surrendering over 200 yards rushing last week and then 178 yards rushing this week. The secondary also looked off, allowing Lamar Jackson to throw for 237 yards and two touchdowns. The pass rush failed to record a single sack of Jackson. It was just a rough game for the defense and a performance from them that we're not used to seeing.