Special Preview: NFL, Week 16
Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals
Ravens: With everything, there’s always a positive and a negative. Let’s get the bad out of the way first. They dropped yet another game. This is their third consecutive loss and this slump couldn’t have come at a worse time. Remember how I was saying throughout the year I’ve been trying to figure them out? I had been questioning them all season because they haven’t looked too dominant in many moments this year. Now, let’s look at the good. The offense was finally able to score some on Sunday against the Packers. They had a streak where the offense couldn’t crack 20 points. They scored 22 in Cleveland in week 14 and 30 in week 15. Give Tyler Huntley credit because he’s had to come in and keep things afloat now twice for Lamar Jackson. The talk of the Ravens this week has been one, John Harbaugh. He elected to go for the two-point conversion in Pittsburgh a few Sundays back and didn’t get it. Against Green Bay, John did it again and couldn’t convert! I could understand why he elected to go for it, but you have the best kicker in the league. An extra point with Justin Tucker is more guaranteed than going for two. With the loss, they have dropped now to 8th in the AFC which means they wouldn’t make the postseason if it started today. They’ll face a young Bengals team on Sunday.
Bengals: I considered Sunday in Denver a playoff game for them. After that big win against the Pittsburgh Steelers, they had dropped their last two games against the Los Angeles Chargers and San Francisco 49ers. What a difference being two games over .500 makes than being at 7-7 and still on the outside looking in of the playoff picture. Sunday was a game they had to grind out and entering that contest, I trusted the Cincinnati offense more than I did Denver to move the ball up the field more consistently. I need to say this about the Bengals. They need to find a way to move the football without depending on the big play. Give the Broncos credit because they took away the rushing lanes and eliminated the deep ball down the field. To be successful in this league, you must find a middle ground and they struggle to do that. I’m still worried about their offensive line as I have been throughout the season. You can give Joe Burrow all of the weapons imaginable, it doesn’t mean anything if he’s getting hit in the pocket and eating grass. With a few teams falling in their division, they currently sit in first place in the AFC North. They return home on Sunday for a showdown with Baltimore.
Ravens X-Factor: Mark Andrews– He’s a top-five tight end in the league. This passing attack truly goes through him. Mark is excellent in the open field and has also become one of the best red-zone targets in this league. I like that Mark can make those contested catches and will go over the middle in traffic to make those catches. He’ll need to be big time on Sunday.
Bengals X-Factor: Tee Higgins– Burrow has his selection of weapons to choose from. Of course, there’s Ja’Marr Chase, Tyler Boyd, C.J. Uzomah, and Tee Higgins. I followed Tee when he was at Clemson. I feel he can be a special player in the NFL for years to come. He’s a true possession receiver at 6’4. Tee has great hands to catch everything and big-time athleticism.
Final Analysis: These two first played in October and the Bengals stunned the Ravens. I don’t think anyone saw that coming, myself included. I’ll say that it made people notice them more. This was the Ja’Marr Chase game as he had 201 yards receiving in that game. Months later, here we are with even more to play for. The Bengals are in first place in the AFC North and the Ravens are looking to snap their losing streak. Both have identical 8-6 records. Lamar is expected to play in this one. The Baltimore defense is banged up right now, especially in the secondary. The Bengals attacked that secondary the first time and watch them do it again. If Lamar can’t go, the Ravens will turn to Tyler Huntley once again who hasn’t looked back in the two games he’s played this year. The Cincy pass rush will get after the quarterback as they have all year long. For Baltimore, there’s more pressure on their offense because the defense hasn’t been what we’re accustomed to seeing. I’m expecting a close game compared to the first meeting.
Prediction: Bengals 31, Ravens 24
