[Stardust]

The Baltimore Ravens' physical defense was at its bone-jarring best in a successful season opener, ruining the home debut of a 2009 AFC playoff team.

There's not much different about Baltimore's blueprint for Week 2.

A short week could make for a stiffer challenge Sunday in Cincinnati, along with a Bengals team that swept the division rival Ravens last year and is eager for redemption after a miserable opening-week effort.

Baltimore (1-0) opened the season with question marks in the secondary, where star safety Ed Reed (hip) is set to miss six weeks, Dominique Foxworth (torn ACL) is out for the season and fellow cornerback Lardarius Webb is recovering from a similar knee injury.

The Ravens' defensive backfield offered a pretty convincing answer Monday night. Baltimore suffocated the New York Jets' passing attack, holding Mark Sanchez to 74 passing yards and allowing six first downs in a 10-9 victory.

The Jets went 1 of 11 on third down and only spent 21:28 on the field.

"It was the best defensive performance I've seen here," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "Everyone wants to talk about the secondary. How'd they play?

"The D-line lived up to its billing. Terrell Suggs just jumped off the field. Ray (Lewis), his performance speaks for itself. You can name guy after guy. Haloti Ngata was dominant. ... He just took over the game."

Baltimore's defense could get better this week. Webb may return, while rookie tackle Terrence Cody could make his debut.