Bengals vs. Ravens Prediction: Can Lamar Jackson Play Defense Too??
By Josh Yourish
It’s AFC North football, and it might be a must win. The Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens both expect to be real contenders in the AFC and yet both are 2-2 after less than stellar starts to the year. This is for the lead in the division in Week 5 on Sunday night. It feels like we need a really great primetime game after a run of a few tough ones, so what could be better than Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson.
Bengals vs. Ravens Odds, Spread and Over/Under
Bengals vs. Ravens Odds, Spread and Over/Under Movement in NFL Week 5
This line opened with the Bengals +1, but now has moved all the way to Bengals +3.5 which crucially gives you the field goal on the road.
Bengals vs. Ravens Prediction and Pick
The Bengals passing offense had a slow start to the year, but they seem to have found their footing against the second worst pass defense in the league last week. Now, coming off of a mini-bye Cincinnati gets to face the league's worst passing defense, the Ravens.
Baltimore has gotten beat with volume in the passing game, facing the most passing attempts in the league and allowing the most passing yards, but their yards per attempt ranks 10th in the NFL.
The last time Joe Burrow saw the Ravens defense, it was a banged up unit short Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters, but he hung four touchdowns and 525 yards on them, in a 41-21 win.
Earlier in 2021 against a more intact Ravens unit, he again put up 41 points this time with just three touchdown passes and only 418 yards through the air. Joe Burrow might own Baltimore and clearly knows how to unlock their defense. Even with Wink Martindale gone and a less aggressive style, he will still be able to beat them deep.
The only fear is that Lamar Jackson is the scariest player in football right now and could easily carry Baltimore by himself. John Harbaugh might want to try Lamar out in the secondary, maybe if he plays both ways then they'll have a better chance. I don’t see the Ravens having the weapons to keep pace especially with Rashod Bateman on the injury report throughout this week. I’ll still take the 3.5 to protect myself against Lamar, but I see the Bengals winning outright.
Pick: Bengals +3.5 (-118)
Follow all Josh Yourish’s bets HERE
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.