Joe Burrow Throws Four Second-Half Touchdowns as the Bengals Bury the Ravens 35-13: Tee Higgins, Derrick Henry and the Fantasy Read

Joe Burrow threw all four of his touchdown passes in the second half on Sunday as the Cincinnati Bengals erased a 13-0 halftime deficit and beat the Baltimore Ravens 35-13 at M&T Bank Stadium. Cincinnati scored touchdowns on five consecutive possessions after the break, outscored Baltimore 35-0 over the final two quarters and improved to 4-2 with its first AFC North win of the season. Baltimore, playing a third straight game without Lamar Jackson, fell to 4-3.

For fantasy managers, the game confirmed two things at once: Burrow and his receivers are back to being weekly starters regardless of matchup, and Derrick Henry is no longer the matchup-proof RB1 he was drafted to be while Jackson is sidelined.

How the game flipped

The first half belonged to Baltimore. Tyler Huntley, making his third straight start in Jackson's place, threw for 227 yards on 21 first-half attempts and the Ravens took a 13-0 lead into the locker room. Cincinnati's offense was stuck, and the Bengals were in danger of falling two games behind in the division.

Then Burrow went 16-of-18 for 249 yards and four touchdowns in the second half, according to the Bengals' postgame notes. He spread the scores around: Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Mike Gesicki and Drew Sample each caught one. Baltimore's offense, meanwhile, did not score again. The Ravens committed a string of pre-snap penalties, including four false starts in the first half, and Huntley was sacked four times.

The Bengals noted that Burrow is the only quarterback in the league this season with four touchdown passes in a single half, and that Sunday followed a four-touchdown game in Week 5 at Miami.

The box score that matters

Here are the fantasy lines from Sunday's game, from the team and wire box scores.

Fantasy fallout: Cincinnati

Burrow is a top-tier QB1 for the rest of the season. Two four-touchdown games in three weeks, plus a second half in which he barely missed, is the profile of a quarterback who can win a week by himself. His Week 8 matchup is a home game against the Tennessee Titans on Nov. 1, which only strengthens the case.

Higgins was the story among the receivers. A 148-yard game on six catches shows the downfield role he has in this offense, and it is a reminder that he is not a weekly afterthought next to Chase. Managers who have been treating Higgins as a WR3 should move him up to a confident WR2.

Chase had a modest 62 yards, but he scored and he has historically feasted on Baltimore (the Bengals noted he entered the game averaging 120.4 receiving yards per game against the Ravens). A quieter afternoon is not a trend. He stays an elite WR1.

The tight ends are a different matter. Gesicki and Sample both scored, which tells you the red-zone looks are shared. Neither is a reliable weekly start outside of deep leagues or bye-week emergencies.

Fantasy fallout: Baltimore

Henry is the concern. Forty-five yards on 17 carries is his second straight game without double-digit fantasy points, according to ESPN's Week 7 fantasy recap, and the logic is easy to follow. Without Jackson's running threat, defenses do not have to account for the quarterback on option looks, and the boxes Henry faces are more crowded. When the Ravens fall behind, as they did after halftime Sunday, his carries dry up.

He should still be started in most formats because of his touchdown equity, but he is now a touchdown-dependent RB1 or RB2, not a set-and-forget anchor. His Week 8 matchup is a road game at the Buffalo Bills.

Huntley is a usable superflex option in good matchups, but this game showed the ceiling and the floor in one afternoon. The more important question is Jackson's ankle. He has now missed three straight games, and his return timeline will set the value of everyone in this offense.

The betting angle

This was the kind of game that shows why a backup-quarterback team is hard to price. Baltimore's first half looked like an offense that could cover anything, and its second half looked like one that could not move the ball at all. Until Jackson is back, Baltimore's game totals and spreads carry more variance than the market usually gives a team at 4-3.

Cincinnati is the opposite story. An offense that can score on five straight possessions against a division rival on the road is not one to fade at home against Tennessee. For the model's view of Week 8, check the NFL predictions page once lines settle, and the weekly picks piece published at /blog/nfl-week-8-picks-2026.

What to do in your league

Start: Burrow, Chase and Higgins every week. Higgins is a buy-low target if his manager is still treating him as a secondary option.

Hold, but lower expectations: Henry. Do not panic-sell a back with his scoring history, but do not pay a premium for him in trades until Jackson returns.

Monitor: Jackson's practice participation this week. If he returns against Buffalo, Henry and the Baltimore receivers improve immediately. If he does not, Baltimore's offense remains a fade in most DFS builds.