The 4-9 Cincinnati Bengals will face the 6-7 Baltimore Ravens for the second time in three weeks this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET at Paycor Stadium. Let’s take a look at three key players for the Bengals this week.
Mitchell Tinsley
Tee Higgins has re-entered concussion protocol. This will almost certainly keep him out of action for the game on Sunday. The Bengals also parted ways with former third round draft pick Jermaine Burton this week. That puts Mitchell Tinsley back in line for expanded snaps. Tinsley was given a similar
opportunity the last time these two teams faced on Thanksgiving.
In that game, Tinsley didn’t quite seize the opportunity. He caught only two of his eight targets during the game. He was also credited with two drops. Tinsley has a prime opportunity to regain the trust of quarterback Joe Burrow, hopefully he can take advantage of that this time around.
Barrett Carter
To say Barrett Carter has struggled this season would be quite the understatement. He will continue getting a majority of the snaps throughout the rest of the season. His play so far has shown me a player who in no world should enter next season as the starting linebacker. I am not saying to cut him, but he needs to go back to being a special teams and depth linebacker for this team. Regardless, he will need to have a good week for the Bengals to get the win over the Ravens.
Two weeks ago, Carter wasn’t credited with having a missed tackle during the game in Baltimore. While he didn’t get credited with a missed tackle, he still took some awful pursuit angles to the ball-carrier. The example below is a weekly occurrence for Carter.
Carter has been a liability in coverage, along with it. The Ravens will look to get him matched up against any of their trio of Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, and Charlie Kolar. Barrett Carter will be a key player in this game; it just might ultimately end up in favor of the Baltimore Ravens.
Mike Gesicki
With Tee Higgins most likely out, Gesicki could end up seeing a lot of targets come his way. Even with Higgins, Gesicki caught six passes in the loss to Buffalo. Gesicki has shown the strong hands, ability to high-point the football, and reliability on third down that made him a first-round draft selection years ago. There will be opportunities for some big plays against the Ravens’ secondary, and Gesicki might be the one to take the most advantage of that this week.
