Thursday Night Lock: 2023 Week 11
Bengals @ Ravens (-3.5), O/U 46
WHAT. A. GAME. AFC North battle. The 7–3 Ravens hosting the 5–4 Bengals. Both teams coming in after losing heartbreakers last week. Thursday Night football is great again.
The Bengals need this win if they want to realistically stay in the division race. They’re a game and a half back. They’ve already lost to the Ravens once. And they’re 0–2 in their division. Possibly more importantly than that, they need this game if they want to stay in a good position in the Wild Card race in a deep AFC.
The Ravens would drop out of 1st place in the division with a loss here, so this game is very important to them as well. And while they have a pretty good grip on a playoff berth, back to back home division losses would hurt them.
I’m taking the points with the Bengals here. I could see this game going either way, so I feel better getting more than a field goal. Plus, from a big picture perspective, it feels that this is a game the Bengals get. I expect this division to come down to the wire, and for that to happen, the Bengals need to win this game. So I’ll take the Bengals and the over.
