By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Bengals' No. 18 rank against the rush might not look too good at first glance, but behind that number are some impressive efforts containing the NFL's top running backs.

Only four running backs have 100-yard individual games against the Bengals, and only two played a significant role in their team's victory over the Bengals: Denver's Clinton Portis ran for 120 yards in the opener Sept. 7, and Arizona's Marcel Shipp had 141 Nov. 2.

Two other backs went for 100 yards against the Bengals but did so in losing causes. One is Houston's Domanick Davis, who had a season-long run of 51 yards against the Bengals. The other is Baltimore's Jamal Lewis, who had 101 yards on Oct. 19 and will get another crack at the Bengals on Sunday in Baltimore.

"They are an outstanding running team," Bengals defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said of the Ravens. "Jamal is having a great year."

The Ravens are ranked second in the NFL with a 158.2-yard average. Lewis leads the NFL with 1,442 yards.

"He's the best guy in the league," Bengals defensive tackle John Thornton said of Lewis. "He gets downhill real quick. Their line does a good job of pushing guys out of their lanes.

"But if you stay in your gap, you're fine. It's probably the toughest running game in the league to stop, but if you can stop them and get a lead, you can force them to pass."

That's what the Bengals did in a 34-26 victory in their previous game against the Ravens.

Lewis had 85 of his yards on 13 carries in the first half of that game. But with the Ravens trailing by up to 20 points in the second half, he had just six more carries for 16 yards.

Containing Lewis put pressure on rookie quarterback Kyle Boller, who lost two of three fumbles and threw an interception.

Boller is out with a leg injury this time, and Anthony Wright has started the last three games - leading the Ravens to 88 points in their last two, both victories. Wright had six touchdowns and one interception in those wins.

"Now they're beginning to open it up more with Anthony Wright, and (wide receiver) Marcus Robinson is playing well," Frazier said. "They've added another dimension with Kyle Boller out that we didn't face the first time we played them."

Still, look for the Bengals to try to copy what worked for them in their earlier game against the Ravens.

"With a team like this, that's becoming more balanced, what can you take away?" Frazier said. "You've got to work on that. You might not be able to take everything away, but you hopefully can take away something they really like doing and make them go to the second option."

Against Baltimore, the Bengals will see plenty of Lewis but also some offensive wrinkles.

"You have to get an idea of what their plan is," Frazier said. "I'm sure it's going to be a little bit different than it was the first time we faced them. But we're going to be a little bit different on defense than we were the first time."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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