Henry Roldán
With a fantastic Sunday Night Football game between the Ravens vs Bengals, the AFC Wild Card pairings for the 2023 NFL postseason will end on Sunday.
Baltimore finished the regular round as the second wild card in the American Conference after three losses in their last four games. Cincinnati took advantage of this situation, and with eight wins in a row, including last weekend’s victory over the Ravens, they won the AFC North championship title.
Without further ado, at JefeBet we bring you the best preview of the important clash between the Baltimore Ravens vs Cincinnati Bengals.
Predictions and Betting Preview for the Baltimore Ravens vs Cincinnati Bengals AFC Wild Card Game on January 15, 2023
- Where: Paycor Stadium – Cincinnati, Ohio.
- When: Sunday, January 15, 2023 – 8:15 PM E.T.
Odds provided by BetMGM.
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Betting on the Baltimore Ravens
- Season record: 10-7 (2nd wild card – 6th AFC seed)
- BetMGM Spread: +6.5
- BetMGM Moneyline: (+240)
- BetMGM Over/Under: 43.5
When Lamar Jackson revealed he would be departing the Ravens for free agency the next year, fans who were worried about what life would be like without him got their response.
Since the quarterback suffered an injury during the Week 13 championship game, the Ravens’ offense broke down to the point that it failed to score more than 17 points in the final six games of the season. This is something that could be repeated this Sunday, with Jackson in serious doubt to return to the starting lineup after a month’s absence due to a knee injury.
The team’s biggest issue is its strength, despite the fact that Baltimore managed to keep up the momentum of its ground attack without Jackson, its best running back. The Ravens placed second overall in rushing yards and third in average yards per rush, although they were 20th in the league with 15 touchdowns. They also finished with the third-lowest efficiency percentage in the red zone and are among the poorest regarding passes.
The defense has had to step up in the absence of the offense, and boy are they doing it well. Baltimore’s defense had gone five straight games without allowing more than 16 points before giving up 27 points to the Bengals last week. As a result, they finished the season with 315 points against, ranking third-lowest in opponents’ scoring.
The key to this great performance is their defense of the ground attack, one of the best in the league after finishing with the third-lowest amount of rushing yards allowed as well as average yards per rush. This effort was rewarded by conceding only 11 opposing touchdowns and being the third-best defensive team in the red zone, conceding TDs on 46.4% of opposing visits.
Betting on the Cincinnati Bengals
- Season record: 12-4 (AFC North Champion – 3rd seed AFC).
- BetMGM Spread: -6.5
- BetMGM Moneyline: (-300)
- BetMGM Over/Under: 43.5
The Bengals finished the season strong, and there is no question that they have an outstanding roster to try to win the AFC championship title for a second consecutive year and, why not, avenge their Super Bowl defeat from the previous year.
Since its eight-game winning streak began, the team from Cincinnati has never scored less than 20 points, and in three of those games they even surpassed 34. As a result, they were seventh in the league in points scored and were able to turn things around in the AFC North to knock the Ravens out of first place.
Since the Bengals were among the worst in the league on the ground, even with Joe Mixon around, it will be crucial to see what Joe Burrow can accomplish with his aerial game. The quarterback, on the other hand, ranked fifth in the league in terms of passing yards with 4,240 and had 35 touchdown passes, which was the second-highest total in the league. The 18 turnovers were the fourth-fewest in the NFL, thus they were able to accomplish all of this without losing too many balls.
Defensively, Cincinnati should come into the game a little calmer, knowing that their forte is stopping the opposing ground attack. Their average of 4.2 yards per rush was ninth best in the league, while their 12 touchdowns allowed tied for 10th in the circuit. Regarding passes, the opponents gained yards but without a happy ending, as they only scored 17 times, the fourth-lowest number in the championship.
JefeBet Prediction
There are only two explanations for the close spread line for this game: the Ravens’ strong defense and Baltimore’s continued optimism that Lamar Jackson will be able to play.
However, Cincinnati already showed last week what it can do against the weakest part of that defense, the secondary, and win comfortably by 11 points.
Naturally, if Jackson comes back, things will be different since the Ravens previously defeated the Bengals this season with the QB at quarterback. But how would the quarterback fare when he eventually plays again after a month off? Can he undermine Cincinnati’s strong ground defense?
These are all assumptions, of course. The reality is that Tyler Huntley is called upon to be Baltimore’s offensive leader and with him on hand there is little they can do to match the Bengals and Joe Burrow’s offense.
Prediction: Bengals spread (BAL 17 – CIN 27).
