Cincinnati Bengals vs Baltimore Ravens Preview and Prediction

By Jalen Willingham

The Cincinnati Bengals will go on the road to play their division rival Baltimore Ravens for Thursday Night Football in week 11 of the 2023 NFL season. Lamar Jackson is 7-2 against the Bengals. This is just the fifth time that Joe Burrow and Jackson will face off.

Where: M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland

When: November 16 at 8:15 pm

Network: Amazon Prime Video

Offense

Tyler Boyd is not the reason the Bengals lost to the Texans. The Bengals are the reason the Bengals lost to the Texans. Burrow was sacked four times and threw two costly interceptions. On top of that, the offense was conservative at times and allowed the Texans to gain momentum. That has to change going forward.

Cincinnati will be without receivers Tee Higgins and Andrei Iosivas. This calls for another big Ja’Marr Chase game. Baltimore will likely have him double-covered often, but the Bengals still need to find ways to get the ball to Chase as much as possible. Expect Tyler Boyd and Trenton Irwin to also get plenty of targets once again. Baltimore is holding opposing receivers to a rating of 69.6 which is the best in the NFL. It will be a tough task no doubt. Burrows decision-making has to be on point. The good news for Cincinnati is that cornerback Marlon Humphrey will likely be out.

The Ravens have a top-three scoring defense while also currently leading the league with 39 sacks. They are also first in quarterback hits as well. The Bengals offense has given up three or more sacks in five of the last six games. Cincinnati needs to do a better job at protecting Burrow this week.

Running the ball will be key to this matchup. Baltimore gave up 178 yards on the ground to the Browns last week. I doubt the Bengals will get that many yards but Joe Mixon should still be featured enough to keep Baltimore honest.

Defense

C.J. Stroud lit up the Bengals defense all game long on Sunday. The bigger issue, in my opinion, was the run defense. Giving up 188 yards on the ground is never good to see. Stopping the run will once again be important on Thursday. The Ravens have the best rushing attack in the NFL averaging 154 yards a game. Keaton Mitchell has been an emerging threat for the Ravens. It also doesn’t help that the Bengals will be without defensive end Sam Hubbard for the second straight game. At least Trey Hendrickson will be playing even after a late-game injury vs the Texans.

Offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley will be out. The Bengals need to put pressure on Lamar Jackson. The last time the two teams met, Cincinnati didn’t get a single sack on Jackson and he had more than enough time to make plays downfield. Someone besides Trey Hendrickson needs to step up. Lamar Jackson has also fumbled ten times this year. Forcing turnovers in a primetime divisional matchup is another thing that the Bengals can do here as they currently have 18 forced turnovers this season.

Cincinnati’s inability to play tight ends well may once again hurt them against Baltimore and Mark Andrews. If they can find a way to contain him, they’ll be in good shape to stop the passing downs. They still have to account for rookie Zay Flowers though. He’s the Ravens leading receiver with 545 yards. I think the Bengals passing defense will bounce back this time around.