Cincinnati Bengals (4-8)
Fresh off their most convincing victory of the season, a 32-14 trouncing over the Ravens on Thanksgiving, the Bengals will look to sustain momentum this coming Sunday. It won’t come any easier, as they’ll have to take on an eight-win Buffalo Bills squad who need a win for playoff hopes and positioning.
The biggest developments from last week’s win for the Bengals was their defensive improvements and the return of quarterback Joe Burrow. Cincinnati’s much maligned defense forced five turnovers against
the Ravens, had a 70% success rate on third downs, and allowed just 14 points — their mark of the year. Burrow got into a groove as the game progressed and threw two second-half touchdowns with no turnovers and 261 passing yards.
The Bengals were without the services of two of their most important players on each side of the ball, too, in Trey Hendrickson and Tee Higgins. To pull off another upset in this week’s matchup with the Bills, the Bengals will need to prove up to the task defensively against another one of the league’s top quarterbacks in Josh Allen.
Forcing five turnovers again is a tall, unlikely task, but Allen has been turnover-prone at times in recent weeks — presenting some hope for the Bengals to come up with a takeaway or two. Burrow and the Bengals’ passing attack are potent, but they’d be well-served to challenge a vulnerable Bills’ rushing defense by establishing the ground game. Chase Brown has 284 rushing yards over the past three games while averaging 5.4 yards per carry and has 73 or more rushing yards in five of the past six games.
Cleveland Browns (3-9)
The Browns were unable to start a win streak last week and dropped a 26-8 game to the San Francisco 49ers. It was Shedeur Sanders’ anticipated first start at home, but the Browns found little success offensively. After scoring a touchdown and two-point conversion to take a lead late in the second quarter, the Browns could not manage to put any more points on the board for the remainder of the game.
Cleveland’s offense averaged only 4.2 yards per play they converted on 3-of-11 third down attempts, while also failing on all four of their fourth down tries. Defensively, although they allowed 26 points, the Browns ceded just 251 yards overall and were stingy on the ground, giving up 2.7 yards per rush. As has been the case for most of this season, the Browns’ defense significantly outplayed their offense.
The Browns are better suited for success this coming Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, who are one of the only teams with a worse record than the Browns this year (2-10). Cleveland’s defense could feast against the Titans’ dismal offense and rookie quarterback Cam Ward, who has experienced his share of struggles this season with a shaky infrastructure around him.
Kevin Stefanski has made an effort to feature Quinshon Judkins heavily in most games this year, even when it’s been tough sledding. Judkins received 23 carries last week for 91 yards, with three additional touches in the passing game. Expect him to be leaned on again this Sunday and potentially have a big performance against Tennessee’s defense.
Baltimore Ravens (6-6)
The Ravens were on the wrong end of Cincinnati’s big win last week, and instead were the victims of an embarrassing defeat at home. Lamar Jackson’s and the team’s offensive recent struggles hit a new low point as they scored just 14 points with five turnovers against the Bengals’ league-worst defense. Jackson completed only 17-of-32 passes with no touchdowns and two fumbles with a fourth-quarter interception.
With their defeat, the Ravens snapped their own five-game win streak and squandered an opportunity to take a one-game lead atop the division. Now, they have to shift focus to a matchup of utmost importance against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Ravens will enter this Sunday on 10 days of rest, which may have afforded them valuable extra time to try and fix their putrid offense.
From Jackson’s subpar play to questionable play-calling and inconsistent offensive line play, there’s no one single fix for the Ravens to key in on. A good turnaround method this week would be establishing the run and committing to the ground game against an exploitable Steelers’ rushing defense. In Week 13, Derrick Henry carried the ball only 10 times and was out-snapped by third-string running back Rasheen Ali.
Baltimore’s defense began to crack in the second half last week and wound up allowing 32 points, but they held up admirably in the first two quarters. Expect the Ravens to blitz Aaron Rodgers often and try to take away Pittsburgh’s rushing attack.
Pittsburgh Steelers (6-6)
The Steelers suffered their most lopsided loss of the year last week, dropping a 26-7 contest at home versus the Buffalo Bills. After taking a 7-3 lead into halftime while playing stout defense, the Steelers were outscored 23-0 over the final two quarters with no answers to climb back.
It was a worrisome offensive performance for Pittsburgh’s unit. They converted just 10 first downs, gained 166 total yards, and averaged 3.9 yards per play. On the other side of the ball, the Steelers’ vulnerable run defense was thrashed by James Cook and Ray Davis. The Bills rushed for 249 yards and averaged 4.9 yards per run.
Up until last year, the Steelers had consistently had the Ravens’ number in recent years and swept the season series multiple times. The Ravens beat them twice in a row last season by double-digit points, though, including in the playoffs. For the Steelers to revert the rivalry back in their favor, they badly need to fix their issues up front on both sides of the ball.
The Ravens will likely pound the rock and Pittsburgh’s front-seven will need a bounce-back performance. The Steelers have done a great job at forcing turnovers defensively against the Ravens during Jackson’s tenure, and he’s been more turnover-prone in recent weeks than usual. On the flip side, they need to do a better job of protecting an injured Rodgers under center.
