The Baltimore Ravens Week 16 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals is arguably the biggest game of the season. Both teams are tied atop the AFC North at 8-6. The Pittsburgh Steelers are only a half game back at 7-6-1, with the Cleveland Browns at 7-7. Cincinnati currently holds the tie-breaker, having beaten the Ravens earlier this year.
In that game, Cincinnati dominated the Ravens in Baltimore, 41-17. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had one of the best games of his career, throwing for 416 yards and three touchdowns. The Ravens look to avenge that loss and retake the division lead.
Here are my Baltimore Ravens Week 16 bold predictions.
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Ravens Week 16 Predictions vs. Cincinnati Bengals
4. The Ravens struggle to move the ball through the air
It's been reported that Baltimore Ravens starting quarterback Lamar Jackson is unlikely to play Sunday. He has missed last week's loss to the Green Bay Packers with a knee injury. In the loss, back up quarterback Tyler Huntley filled in admirably.
Huntley threw for 215 yards and two scores through the air. He also rushed for 73 yards and two more touchdowns on the ground. However, he is not feeling his best heading into this weekend's pivotal matchup vs the Bengals. Huntley is dealing with a non-COVID related illness, according to head coach John Harbaugh.
The Bengals secondary has been hot and cold this season. But with Huntley under center, the Ravens should look to do work on the ground. He's shown this year in limited action that he is fully capable of doing just that.
Tyler Huntley doing his best Lamar Jackson impression 🤧pic.twitter.com/aB1P7mwP0W
— PFF (@PFF) December 12, 2021
3. Devonta Freeman and Latavious Murray combine for over 100 yards and a touchdown
No team in the NFL has had more injuries to their running backs this season than the Baltimore Ravens. Before the season even began, they lost starting tailback Gus Edwards and his backup J.K. Dobbins to torn ACL's. Then they lost running back Justice Hill as well.
That forced the team to look elsewhere. The Ravens signed Latavius Murray, Devonta Freeman and Le'Veon Bell. Murray missed a bunch of time with injuries, and Bell struggled, leaving only Freeman in the backfield.
Freeman surprised many by playing pretty well for the Ravens with over 600 scrimmage yards and five touchdowns. Murray had his best game since October in the loss to the Packers.
I expect to see a lot of both players Sunday against the Bengals. With Baltimore struggling to get much going through the air, Huntley will do a lot of handing off to the tandem of Murray and Freeman Sunday, with decent success.
2. The depleted Ravens defense will struggle to slow down Cincy's offense
Baltimore's defense has been somewhat overlooked this season. Despite losing many key players to injury, they actually led the NFL in rush defense. They are only allowing 86 rushing yards per game.
In the previous meeting vs the Bengals, they held Mixon to 59 yards rushing with a touchdown. However, that was only on 12 carries and backup Samaje Perine also ran for over 50 yards and a score.
However, the injuries and COVID-19 related issues are mounting for the Ravens defense. They were missing their entire starting secondary in the loss to the Packers. It might be worse this week. On Wednesday, the Ravens’ placed defensive tackle Justin Madubuike, inside linebacker Kristian Welch and outside linebackers Justin Houston and Pernell McPhee on the COVID-19 reserve list.
Ravens’ Don Martindale on depleted defense: ‘I don’t know if we are playing football or the Squid Games’ | NOTES https://t.co/tbFYWjhs6Y
— Baltimore Sun Sports (@BaltSunSports) December 23, 2021
Burrow had arguably the best game of his career in the first meeting this season. He threw for over 400 yards and three touchdowns. With so many pieces missing Sunday, the Ravens are going to struggle to slow down Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense.
1. Baltimore loses and falls further out of playoff contention
Many might not realize, but the Ravens are currently on the outside of the playoffs looking in. They are the #8 seed, with the Colts, Chargers and Bills all holding the tiebreaker on them for wild card positioning.
The Ravens are more likely to win the division than they are a wild card spot. With so many injuries and missing pieces on both sides of the ball, it will be too much to overcome Sunday.
With the loss, the Ravens would see their playoff hopes almost entirely crushed. They will be a game behind the Bengals, who will own the tiebreaker on them. So, to win the division, they would have to win out and the Bengals would have to lose out. They would still need other help in the division as well.
The Ravens will fall even further down the pecking order for a wild card spot. This will be their 6th conference loss, that could see them tumble as far as 12th in the AFC standings. The once-promising season will come crashing down.
On the bright side, Lamar Jackson is not even in his prime yet.
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