Just two years in the past, the roles have been reversed.
The Ravens met the Cincinnati Bengals on the final Sunday of the 2020 common season and made mincemeat of their divisional foe, bashing out 404 speeding yards to clinch a playoff berth for the third yr in a row. At that time, that they had gained their final three video games in opposition to the Bengals by a mixed rating of 114-19.
Little did we all know the seeds of change have been already within the floor. The Bengals had parlayed their futility right into a franchise quarterback, Joe Burrow, who had demonstrated his promise within the face of horrible punishment via that 2020 season. Four months later, they might draft one other offensive celebrity in huge receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
In Baltimore, Lamar Jackson was one yr faraway from successful NFL Most Valuable Player honors and nonetheless the king bee of AFC North quarterbacks, however his contractual future was about to develop into as large a narrative as his play.
Now, we bounce to the current and the upcoming matchup between the Ravens, struggling to seek out any offensive spark with Jackson sidelined by a knee damage, and the Bengals, having fun with a second straight division title with their ambitions firmly mounted on a repeat journey to the Super Bowl.
These two groups are nonetheless not far aside on paper. The Ravens defeated the Bengals in Week 5 and led the AFC North a lot of the season. They might need performed for the division title Sunday if not for the chilling on-field collapse of Buffalo Bills security Damar Hamlin, which prompted the NFL to declare final Monday’s Bills-Bengals sport a no contest. The Ravens may nonetheless seize home-field benefit through coin flip in the event that they win the season finale in Cincinnati. Even with decreased stakes this weekend, there’s a superb probability they’ll meet the Bengals once more within the wild-card spherical of the playoffs.
Despite their proximity within the standings, nevertheless, the Ravens and Bengals have moved in reverse instructions during the last two months and extra broadly, during the last two years. The Bengals have gained seven video games in a row, with Burrow throwing fearlessly and precisely into the enamel of defenses designed to cease him. He’s surrounded by large, fleet move catchers and bolstered by an environment friendly operating sport. As the Bengals soared, the Ravens trudged. They secured a playoff berth with Tyler Huntley filling in for Jackson at quarterback however have scored a mere 59 factors over their final 5 video games.
Analytics inform the identical story. The Ravens are literally forward of the Bengals in DVOA, Football Outsiders’ measure of total workforce effectivity, for the season. Over the final seven weeks, nevertheless, the Bengals have ranked sixth, whereas the Ravens have ranked 14th. The hole is wider if we glance simply at offense, with the Bengals fourth and the Ravens twenty third over that span.
Do you like betting odds? Again, similar story. The Bengals are a +750 wager to win the Super Bowl, in accordance with Las Vegas sportsbooks. The Ravens are +3000.
In the standings and within the minds of most outdoors observers, Cincinnati is now the workforce to beat within the AFC North.
“Of course,” Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen stated. “They were the last team there to win it. [They] got to the Super Bowl. I know some of them will say it runs through them, so now we’ve got to go through there at their home place and try to take it back.”
Coach John Harbaugh acknowledged that the Ravens can’t merely comply with the identical plan they did in Week 5 and assume the end result — a tense, 19-17 win — can be similar. “They’re the same, but they’re better than they were then,” he stated.
This will not be every week for animosity, not after gamers and coaches across the league dropped all the things to wish for Hamlin, whose coronary heart needed to be restarted on the sector in Cincinnati. Harbaugh admired the best way Bengals coach Zac Taylor performed himself within the moments after the trauma. Ravens gamers watched Burrow embrace Bills quarterback Josh Allen as they each feared for Hamlin’s life.
It was a dose of perspective that pushed video games and rivalries to the again burner. The Ravens and Bengals will play their subsequent snaps on the very discipline the place Hamlin fell. How this can change the tone of the confrontation is anybody’s guess.
“Obviously, this is something that I think for this whole week — and probably for many weeks to come — it’s going to be in the back of everyone’s minds, especially the guys that are playing,” Ravens tight finish Mark Andrews stated. “But I don’t think this alters the way you play. I think you go out there, be yourself and everything else will take care of itself.”
Burrow supplied comparable ideas to Cincinnati reporters: “As unusual as this week has been, it’s business as usual from a football standpoint. I don’t even really know what to say about it, because it’s such a scary, emotional time, and guys still have a football game to play on Sunday. It’s our job to get out there and execute and play the game we need to play it to win.”
He stated his thoughts didn’t flip to the Ravens till Wednesday.
There’s additionally the sensible query of whether or not the Ravens and Bengals will relaxation key gamers, although that’s seemingly with home-field benefit nonetheless at stake. On Monday, Harbaugh stated he can be inclined to go all-out for the win, as a result of the Ravens will not less than have an opportunity to maneuver as much as the No. 5 seed within the AFC if the Denver Broncos beat the Los Angeles Chargers.
If they continue to be at No. 6, nevertheless, there’s a risk they’ll go proper again to Cincinnati for his or her playoff opener. This raises strategic questions: Will the Ravens deal with the Bengals as a two-week downside and maintain their finest tips in reserve for a potential playoff matchup?
Offensive coordinator Greg Roman and defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald stated the likelihood is on their minds.
“It certainly could [factor into our approach],” Roman stated. “We’re going to try to go win the game no matter what the situation is. But will it change strategy? It could. It certainly could.”
“A whole lot of unknowns,” defensive finish Calais Campbell stated. “At the end of the day, we’re focused on what we do know, and we’ll give it our best shot.”
How will that finest shot land in opposition to a rival that’s taking part in so properly? The Bengals have been off to an uneven begin when final they met the Ravens, and Macdonald bottled them up with two-high protection designed to maintain Burrow’s prime playmakers from getting downfield. Will Macdonald once more eschew aggression on the line of scrimmage in hopes of stopping deep strikes?
The Ravens know too properly that the Bengals can gentle them up in the event that they’re a step off in planning or execution. Burrow threw for a mixed 941 yards in a pair of blowout victories over them final season.
“The stats speak for themselves. The film speaks for itself,” Macdonald stated. “Burrow at quarterback, he’s incredibly efficient with the ball and makes very fast decisions. At one point in time, they have up to five guys that are potential matchup problems. … They’re clicking on all cylinders right now.”
Week 18
Ravens at Bengals
Sunday, 1 p.m.
TV: Ch. 13
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
Line: Bengals by 10
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Source: www.bostonherald.com