CINCINNATI _ The game plan didn't call for pretty. That's rarely how the Ravens have won games anyway.
But there was nothing prettier for the Ravens than to look up in the seating area at Paul Brown Stadium, where they hadn't won in six years, and see rows upon rows of empty seats early in the fourth quarter. The Ravens rode a dominant defensive effort and an opportunistic offense to a surprisingly easy, 20-0 victory in the season opener before an announced 55,254.
The defense forced five turnovers and registered the Ravens' first shutout since Nov. 16, 2009, when they blanked the Cleveland Browns, 16-0.
The victory was culminated by an 18-play, 81-yard drive that ate up nine minutes, 38 seconds of the third quarter. The Ravens, who were leading 17-0 when the drive started at their own 10-yard line after Terrell Suggs' strip sack of Andy Dalton, didn't complete a single pass on the drive. They also were unable to get the ball into the end zone despite getting inside the Bengals' 10-yard line.
However, when Justin Tucker kicked a 25-yard field goal for a 20-0 lead, the Ravens had accomplished exactly what they wanted.
Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco hit Jeremy Maclin for a 48-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter and Terrance West plunged in for a 2-yard touchdown run 24 seconds later after a Bengals' turnover.
Otherwise, the Ravens were content to just hand the ball off and keep the clock moving. Flacco finished 9-of-17 for 121 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
The defense did the rest, forcing five Dalton turnovers: four interceptions and a fumble, and sacking him five times. Brandon Carr, C.J. Mosley, Lardarius Webb and Jimmy Smith all had interceptions.
Other than potentially significant injuries to running back Danny Woodhead (left hamstring) and outside linebacker Za'Darius Smith (left knee), the first half went about as well as the Ravens could have hoped.
They led 17-0 thanks to a turnover-creating defense and an opportunistic offense.
With all the attention on Flacco and the starting offense, which was barely on the field together during training camp and the preseason, the Ravens had a respectable 172 yards of total offense in the first half. Flacco, playing in his first game since missing all of the preseason with a back injury and returning to practice just eight days earlier, was 9-for-14 for 121 yards and a touchdown pass.
On the team's first offensive drive, Flacco drove the Ravens 57 yards on three plays before the Ravens settled for a 25-yard field goal by Tucker. The only negatives on the drive were Woodhead's injury and the fact that the Ravens couldn't reach the end zone.
The score stayed 3-0 until the second half of the second quarter, thanks to Dalton's struggles. Dalton was intercepted for the first time late in the first quarter when weak-side linebacker Patrick Onwuasor got his hand on a pass intended for A.J. Green and the deflection was corralled by Carr. Carr had just one interception over the previous three seasons for the Dallas Cowboys, but he got one in his first quarter of action for the Ravens.
Dalton had the Bengals on the move on Cincinnati's first drive of the second quarter, but he made an ill-advised throw to a well-covered Brandon LaFell in the back of the end zone on a third-and-7. Mosley read it all the way and made a leaping interception.
The two teams then traded punts before the Ravens offense struck for its biggest play of the first half. On third-and-7 from just inside midfield, Flacco found Maclin all alone in the middle of the field. Tight end Benjamin Watson picked off a Bengals cornerback and Maclin coasted into the end zone for a 48-yard touchdown reception and a 10-0 Ravens lead.
It would get worse for the Bengals. On their second play from scrimmage on the ensuing drive, Dalton's pass hit Suggs in the face mask. Webb caught the ricochet and returned it to the Bengals' 2-yard line. West needed just one play to pound the ball into the end zone. His 2-yard touchdown run gave the visitors a 17-0 lead.
