The Cincinnati Bengals go into Baltimore Sunday night to take on the Ravens. It’s an early AFC North battle, the two division rivals currently tied for the lead with the Cleveland Browns. According to NFL odds, Baltimore is a field-goal favorite in the game, with the total set at 48½.

Bengals After Third in Row
The Cincinnati Bengals are on a hot streak at the moment, with two consecutive (AFC East) wins against the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins. Cincy, after what seemed like a Super Bowl hangover, has finally shown why it’s the defending champs of the AFC. Whipping the then-undefeated Dolphins (despite Miami’s quarterback injury woes) gives them a ton of confidence. That, and a few extra days to preparare, as they played a week ago Thursday.

Cincinnati is priced at 11-1, or +1100, to repeat as champions of the conference, That’s per NFL conference odds.

The Bengals have dominated both sides of the ball in their last two games. Quarterback Joe Burrow had nearly 300 yards in each game (combined five touchdowns). Cincinnati is doing so much better of a job at protecting the ball, just a single turnover in only their last two games. Of course, there’s the argument that the Bengals haven’t faced strong competition to date. They lost to Mitch Trubisky (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Cooper Rush (Dallas Cowboys) at quarterback, then defeated Joe Flacco (New York Jets) and a Tua Tagovolia's-injured-replaced-by-Teddy Bridgeweater Miami team. Jackson will be an acid test.

Cincinnati still needs to improve its run game, however, The Bengals enter this week eighth in passing yards per game, but down at 26th in rushing yards per contest. Burrow passing to threats JaMarr Chase and Tee Higgins means it’s no wonder they prefer throwing the ball.

They can’t remain one-dimensional, needing to integrate tremendous running back Joe Mixon more into the offense.

Ravens ‘Nevermore’ at Home
While the Baltimore Ravens’ record may appear as if they’re having an inconsistent season, that’s not true. They’ve been one of the more impressive teams in the NFL, but done in by terrific competition and their own misdeeds late. The two defeats have been a combined seven points (to the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills), who’ve lost one game each.

What’s troubling is Baltimore still hasn’t won a game at home, having lost five home games in a row (total of a dozen points) dating to last season. In each of their 2022 setbacks in front of the faithful, the Ravens had a massive lead, but surrendered many points (without scoring many) at some point in the second half. Baltimore hasn’t proven to be a fourth-quarter team at all.

At other junctures in the game, Baltimore doesn’t have an issue scoring, third in the NFL in points. Quarterback Lamar Jackson is off to another MVP-caliber season, as the Ravens have one of the dynamic running games in the league. J.K. Dobbins is back healthy, so the Cincinnati Bengals will try to shut down the run, forcing Jackson into third or fourth-and-long situations.

Jackson Claws Cats
The Baltimore Ravens have been the more impressive team this season. While Cincinnati seemingly has found some of the formula that worked last season, the Ravens appear to be a tier above their division foes. With Lamar Jackson having an (early) MVP season, Baltimore is due to close the sale and finally win one at home.

Baltimore minus the field goal is an excellent bet Sunday night, but not in a blowout. It will win this game comfortably, while the over should also hit, despite a bigger total than many other  games. Expect there to be back-and-forth scoring, especially late in the game, with the Ravens as the victors.