How Bengals attacked Saints could benefit the Ravens

The Ravens had the luxury of the Week 11 bye to gain extra time in preparing for the New Orleans Saints.

Adding to Baltimore's advantage is seeing how its divisional rival, the Cincinnati Bengals, demolished the Saints 27-10. It was a dominating effort from the Bengals, which saw Andy Dalton bounce back for three touchdowns in the air.

It would be one thing for a team outside of the AFC North to do this to the Saints. But the Ravens have plenty of familiarity with the Bengals and what they want to do on both sides of the ball. Knowing their strengths and how they were able to combat the Saints could go a long way for this week's matchup between Baltimore and New Orleans.

"We know what we're looking at on the one side of the ball probably," Ravens coach John Harbaugh told reporters on Monday. "It's good to compare a little bit, because you've seen that. That's one of the advantages of the cross-division games. We see a lot of those games against teams in our division when we play outside of our division."

The key — which is much easier said than done — is to attack the Saints with balance while completing passes with high efficiency. While Dalton threw for three touchdowns, his yardage was capped at 220 on 16-of-22 passing. It was running back Jeremy Hill that set the tone, running for 152 yards on 27 carries.