The Cincinnati Bengals pulling off an upset over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 5 to keep their season alive hinges on two key things:
- Joe Burrow
- The defense waking up
The first should be doable, at least. Burrow has been on fire since that preseason-like showing from the entire offense in Week 1, which had other factors like hold-ins and injuries holding things back.
Burrow, through four games, has completed 70.9 percent of his passes with seven touchdowns against one interception. He’s firing on all cylinders now, with multiple touchdown passes in each of his last three games, with the two losses by a total of just six points.
Were the defense playing even a hair better, the Bengals might be 3-0 over Burrow’s outburst.
Alas, the Bengals are 1-3 largely because of perhaps the worst stretch we’ve seen from coordinator Lou Anarumo since his arrival. Some of that is due to poor injury luck — some of it is unacceptable yearly staples from Anarumo, such as slow starts and playing down to rookie or inexperienced veteran passers who don’t have a lot of film for him to analyze.
The injury luck, at least, seems to be dramatically improving for the defense. Trey Hendrickson is miraculously through his neck injury already. B.J. Hill is back in the middle. Former first-round pick Myles Murphy returns on the edge and rookie McKinnley Jackson is off injured reserve now, too.
The question is: Will it matter?
Baltimore has won two in a row, impressive victories over Dallas and Buffalo. In the 35-10 blowout of the Bills, Lamar Jackson threw two touchdowns and ran for another while Derrick Henry went wild to the tune of 24 carries, 199 yards and one score.
So, while the Bengals defensive line is getting healthier, this will also be their first game playing together as a near-whole, and there’s no guarantee the returning guys will play big snap counts.
Even then, it’s fair game to think the Bengals can stay close in this game, if not outright steal it. Burrow has the ability to stick with any opposing offense in the league. And if nothing else, Jackson and the Ravens are a little like Mahomes and the Chiefs — Anarumo projects to do well against them because they’re so familiar.
At home, look for the Bengals defense to exceed expectations via a turnover or two while Burrow gets clutch late.
Prediction: Bengals 23, Ravens 20
