Week 2: Ravens vs Bengals Preview & Pick
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Date: Sunday, September 19, 2010
Venue: Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, OH
Broadcast: CBS
Ravens vs Bengals NFL Betting Lines from Betus.com
Baltimore: -2 (Moneyline: OFF)
Cincinnati: +2 (Moneyline: OFF)
Total: 40 points: Over -110, Under -110
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Baltimore Ravens (1-0)
It certainly wasn’t pretty but the Baltimore Ravens showed some real grit in edging the New York Jets 10-9 this past Monday. Their pass defense came up huge, holding Mark Sanchez to 74 yards, but any defense can look good against Mark Sanchez. Carson Palmer and the Bengals passed the ball well against New England last week so Week 2 will give us a much better idea of how badly the Ravens miss Ed Reed.
Ray Lewis and the Ravens’ interior defense, however, were a real force. They made Shonn Greene look like a practice squad player last week and they’ll do everything in their power to bottle up Cedric Benson and Bernard Scott.
Baltimore’s offense was hit-miss last week. Joe Flacco hanged in the pocket and made plenty of beautiful throws but he couldn’t quite get on the same page with Todd Heap, Derrick Mason or T.J. Houshmandzadeh. At least he showed a midseason rapport with newly acquired Anquan Boldin, who caught seven passes for 110 yards. In the running game, the Jets totally neutralized Ray Rice. He should be better against a Bengals’ run defense that looked surprisingly pedestrian against New England’s motley crew of runners last week.
Cincinnati Bengals (0-1)
Manny bettors, myself included, believe the Bengals’ AFC North odds for 2010 were unfairly low after they won the division last year and ran the table in their entire division. But the Bengals didn’t do much to inspire confidence last week. Their normally stellar pass defense, led by corners Leon Hall and Jonathan Joseph, got lit up by Tom Brady. Cedric Benson, who tore up the league last year, averaged just 2.9 yards per carry. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
But there were still some positive takeaways from Sunday’s shellacking. The Bengals really moved the ball on New England in the second half. Carson Palmer spread the wealth among Chad Ochocinco, Terrell Owens and rookies Jermaine Gresham and Jordan Shipley. His 50-attempt, 345-effort was necessitated by the Bengals’ huge deficit but it still has to get Cincy fans feeling a bit better after there were whispers all offseason of his arm being toast.
Against a tougher Ravens “D,” we’ll find out of the Bengals really will field an above-average passing offense or if all the stats they piled up were just a result of the Pats surrendering underneath routes.
The pick:
While I still like the Bengals to play competitive football this year, I like the Ravens more. In fact, I see the Ravens playing for the Super Bowl this winter. Ray Lewis and monsters like Haloti Ngata showed that their defense isn’t ready to relinquish its sterling reputation just yet.
Even though the Bengals on the road are a tough matchup, I still think Flacco and the Ravens will find a way to score. He was a few tipped passes and drops away from a huge game even against the Jets last week. Ray Rice also couldn’t be worse than he was last week; Cam Cameron, the team’s offensive mastermind, will find a way to get him going.
Even though the Bengals should play better defense this week overall, I think their offense will regress against the mean Ravens. Expect a tight, tough, low-scoring affair with the Ravens scraping out another tough win.
Ravens vs Bengals prediction: Ravens 24, Bengals 13
Moneyline: OFF
Spread: Ravens -2
Over/Under: UNDER 40
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