Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow are set to meet on Sunday afternoon in a matchup that’ll see both quarterbacks play in an AFC North contest for the first time since resetting the market.
The Ravens have a 6-1 record against the Bengals when Jackson is the starting quarterback, and he’s 2-0 as a starter in Cincinnati.
Buy Ravens TicketsBaltimore is looking to snap its three-game losing streak in Cincinnati, and their star quarterback could be the biggest x-factor.
With just 24 hours remaining, we’re looking at seven storylines.
The Hill Brothers reunite
Justice Hill is a talented running back for the Baltimore Ravens, while his younger bother Dax, is a former All Big-10 safety at michigan, and an emerging swiss army knife for the Bengals.
separated by three years with Justice as the older sibling, they have prominent roles on Sunday and should unite for some contact at key moments.
Lamar Jackson-Joe Burrow
The 2023 NFL season will be Lamar Jackson’s sixth and Joe Burrow’s fourth, yet two of the NFL’s five highest paid players in history have only met three times due to injuries. Baltimore won the first matchup between the two early in the 2020 season, and the first game between the two last year.
Burrow and the Bengals won their first meeting with Jackson in 2021 as part of a season sweep.
In his last four meetings against Cincinnati, Jackson has completed just 53% of his passes, averaged 181 passing yards and 61.5 rushing yards per game, while throwing seven touchdown passes and three interceptions.
Ravens ball distribution
Baltimore wants to spread the football around, and that means getting more skill position players involved outside of Zay Flowers and Odell Beckham.
Mark Andrews returns on Sunday, and the Ravens will need more production and opportunities from Rashod Bateman, tight ends Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar, and receivers Nelson Agholor and Devin Duvernay.
Ravens patched up offensive line
In their 24-3 season-opening loss to the Cleveland Browns, the Bengals allowed nine running plays of 10 yards or more.
Baltimore is banged up along the offensive line, but they’ll still look to establish the run behind Lamar Jackson, Gus Edwards and Justice Hill.
Patrick Mekari, expected to start in place of Ronnie Stanley at left tackle, and he’ll face Trey Hendrickson — one of the best edge rushers in football.
Ravens red zone woes vs. Bengals
Baltimore will look to reverse their struggles in the red zone against Cincinnati from last season.
In their three matchups, the Ravens were 3-for-10 in the red zone, while the Bengals were 5-8 in scoring situations.
The team that finishes with more touchdowns will win.
Bengals want to avoid 0-2 start
Cincinnati opened the 2022 regular season in an early 0-2 hole but won 12 of its final 14 regular-season games — including eight in a row — to clinch back-to-back AFC North titles.
They have the roster to climb out of such a hole, but Sunday is as close to a must-win as any team can get.
Bengals strong at home
After a dissapointing season opener, the Bengals return to Paycor Stadium, where they have won seven straight games and nine of their last 10 dating back to Week 16 of last year.
Cincinnati’s two most complete games came last season came in dominant home wins over Atlanta in Week 7 (35-17) and Carolina in Week 9 (42-21).
Kicker vs. Kicker
Sunday offers an interesting matchup that features two outstanding place kickers that can walk-off with a win in the final seconds.
For Cincinnati, Evan McPherson is 14 of 17 for his career on field goal attempts of 50 or more yards. McPherson is 7-8 overall on field goals and a perfect 15 of 15 on PAT’s against Baltimore since he entered the league in 2021.
The Ravens have an all-time great in Justin Tucker.
Now in his 12th season, Tucker has a career field goal percentage of 90.5, the highest mark in league history. Tucker is 44-48 in his career on field goal tries against the Bengals while going 49-49 of his extra point attempts.
