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The bad blood between the AFC North is real! The 1-0 Baltimore Ravens will hit the road for the first time this season as they take on their familiar rivals in the 0-1 Cincinnati Bengals. It's time to continue our NFL odds series with a Ravens-Bengals prediction and pick.
As expected, the Baltimore Ravens handled their business in impressive fashion with a season-opening decisive victory by a score of 25-9 against the lowly Houston Texans. With QB Lamar Jackson fully healthy and the Ravens looking the part like a contender, the sky is truly the limit for this organization.
Meanwhile, it was the Bengals that greatly disappointed in a shocking manner. Seemingly out-played from start to finish, Cincinnati was overwhelmed by Cleveland and ended up on the short end of things 24-3. All things considered, the Bengals hit rock bottom during the opening week of the season and it is difficult to go anywhere but up after the dreadful performance they put on.
Here are the Ravens-Bengals NFL odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
NFL Odds: Ravens-Bengals Odds
Baltimore Ravens: +3 (-104)
Cincinnati Bengals: -3 (-118)
Over: 46.5 (-110)
Under: 46.5 (-110)
How to Watch Ravens vs. Bengals Week 2
TV: CBS
Stream: fuboTV, NFL+
Time: 1:00 ET/10:00 PT
*Watch NFL games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Ravens Could Cover The Spread
Without question, the Ravens and Bengals have two distinctly different starts to their seasons, and Baltimore would surely like to continue down the path that they encouragingly set a week ago. Not only that, but the Ravens' 16-point win over the Texans covered the spread with ease.
In order to accomplish that feat in back-to-back weeks within a hostile environment, it is this defense that enters the second week of the season with a boatload of confidence. While Baltimore was a respectable defense in 2022, they looked like an entirely different unit against Houston. Before the clock hit triple zeroes and the Texans were begging for mercy, it was the Ravens that got in the backfield and sacked rookie QB CJ Stroud a whopping five times and also held Houston to a measly 268 yards of total offense. Evidently, it is hard to imagine that Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense won't be as porous as they were last weekend, but another strong performance by this defense should only help their chances to cover.
Needless to say, there seems to be a match made in heaven between Lamar Jackson and rookie wideout Zay Flowers. In the win versus the Texans, Jackson found Flowers nine times for 78 yards in what ended up being an impressive pro debut. Simply put, September showers bring Zay Flowers and he's not going anywhere anytime soon!
Why The Bengals Could Cover The Spread
There's no other way to put it… that was just flat-out ugly! In what might have been arguably the worst showing in the Joe Burrow era, the Bengals could've not gotten off to a worse start in 2023. Still, Cincinnati was so bad that it is hard to imagine that things won't go up from there, and for good reason.
For starters, the infamous statistic of teams starting 0-2 that make the playoffs are not high. In fact, only 9.6% of teams throughout the history of the NFL have been able to dig themselves out of an 0-2 hole and end up clinching a spot in the postseason. However, the Bengals are certainly no strangers to adversity as they were in a similar position last year by losing the first two games of the season before they ended up winning 14 of their next 16 games overall. With that being said Cincinnati would love to avoid going 0-2 for the second consecutive year.
Furthermore, while these passing attacks needs to wake up in a big way, maybe establishing a presence on the ground wouldn't be such a bad thing either. Not a whole lot went right for the Bengals a weekend ago, but playing smash-mouth football against a division rival where things have always been physical needs to be a main priority. If they can accomplish this, then throwing vertically and connecting with many of their top targets in the passing game will open up for them to attack this Ravens' defense.
Final Ravens-Bengals Prediction & Pick
The blood, sweat, and tears of the AFC North is no joke. All hands on deck will need to be available for both sides in this one. At the end of the day, Joe Burrow will look like Joe Burrow of old and will use his team's home-field advantage to perfection en route to covering the field goal spread.
Final Ravens-Bengals Prediction & Pick: Bengals -3 (-118)
