On Thursday Night Football, the Bengals will face the Ravens in an AFC North matchup in Baltimore. At 8:15 p.m., the game will be broadcast on WCPO-TV (ABC Channel 9) in Cincinnati, as well as on Prime Video. Keep an eye on these five things:
Burrow's second-half 64-yard passes to Ja'Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd showed the Bengals' explosiveness in Week 10 against Houston. The ball to Chase was Burrow's 19th 40-plus yard touchdown pass and Ja'Marr's eighth 50-plus yard reception, both league leaders since their rookie seasons.
Cincinnati's biggest passing play in Week 2 against the Ravens was a Burrow rollout and fast ball to Joe Mixon, who turned up field for 32 yards. Burrow may challenge the Baltimore defense and target his best wide outs on deeper routes Thursday night.
The Bengals' defense will face the NFL's best rushing assault on Thursday in a rugged AFC North game. The Ravens are averaging 154.9 yards per carry, and in Week 2 they won at Paycor Stadium with 178.
Last two road games had the Bengals' season-highest rushing totals. In Week 5, Joe Mixon ran for 81 of Cincinnati's 93 yards. In Week 8, Mixon averaged 5.4 yards per carry as the Bengals scored 134 over San Francisco. Planning and scrambling accounted for Burrow's season-high 43 yards.
The Bengals have been one of the league's finest teams at forcing turnovers and offensively managing the ball. 18 takeaways to eight turnovers is a plus-10 margin that is tied for first in the NFL. In seven of nine games, the Bengals have won turnover battles, going 5-2.
The Ravens have 10 interceptions, including one in each of their last five. Safety Geno Stone leads the NFL with six interceptions, including his third-quarter Week 2 red-zone interception on Burrow that set up a Baltimore touchdown drive and cost the Bengals points. Ravens losses have produced three of Lamar Jackson's five interceptions this season.
Each NFL defense faces a unique challenge from Lamar Jackson, as Lou Anarumo knows. Once again, the former MVP is a top dual-threat quarterback, completing a career-best 70.3% of his throws and averaging 5.2 yards per carry with five rushing touchdowns.
Since 2022, Cincinnati has limited opponent QBs to the third-lowest completion percentage (60.3%) and fourth-lowest passer rating (81.1). After giving up 356 passing yards to C.J. Stroud and the Texans in Week 10, the Bengals secondary will want to rebound in Baltimore.
He's tied for first in leaguewide receptions (59), fourth in yards (751), and fourth in touchdowns (five) since Week 3. From Week 5, when he set a team record with 15 catches for 192 yards and three touchdowns against Arizona, he has been productive on the road. Chase scored 100 yards on 10 receptions and a fourth-quarter touchdown to beat San Francisco in Week 8.
Chase played against Houston with a back issue last week and scored a team-leading 124 yards. He was not on the injury report this week, but with Tee Higgins and Andrei Iosivas out, Burrow may feed his star wideout early and often.