Ravens vs Bengals NFL Wild Card Weekend: QB matchup | Anthony Brown vs Joe Burrow
There couldn’t be a worse time for the Ravens to see the starting QB sidelined, but that’s how the cookie has crumbled as they prepare to face “Joe Cool” and the Bengals
It’s hard to hide from the fact that one of the major factors in this one will be the absence of Ravens starting quarterback, Lamar Jackson. With that Baltimore will be resting the hopes on the arm of a third string signal caller, while the Bengals will have their star in the middle.
Ravens vs Bengals: The Lay of the Land
When the Baltimore Ravens visit the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday, it will be the third time for the season that the sides meet, except this time it will be on Sunday Night Football of Wild-Card weekend. The big news is of course the worst news for Baltimore, which is that starting quarterback Lamar Jackson has confirmed that he will not play. That means the Ravens will enter the game as the overwhelming underdogs, with third-string undrafted rookie quarterback Anthony Brown starting. With that said, when the two teams met in their Week 18 finale to the regular season, it was a very close game despite the fact that the Bengals got the win. That’s to say, don’t be surprised if the Ravens give the Bengals a run for their money.
Anthony Brown’s baptism of fire
It was just about a week ago that former Oregon Ducks quarterback made his first ever career start in the NFL against the Cincinnati Bengals in what turned out to be a 27-16 loss. With Lamar Jackson having confirmed that he will not suit up for Sunday night’s game, the Ravens will once again turn to Brown as they prepare to face the very same Bengals once again. Prior to last week’s game Brown had played just once this season, completing 3-of-5 passes for 16 yards in a Week 14 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Against the Bengals in Week 18, he completed 19 of 44 passes for 286 yards, two interceptions and no touchdowns. Interestingly, the Ravens have backed their young signal caller, which is key in building confidence. Ultimately both he and the team will need every ounce of it, if they are to advance past a team that went to the Super Bowl last year.
Joe Burrow to some and Joey Franchise to others
As one of the most talented QBs in the league, there is no doubt that all eyes will be on Burrow come Sunday night. Burrow absolutely destroyed the Ravens in 2021 and across the two previous games that have been played against Baltimore this season, he registered 432 yards and two touchdowns. This is a top tier quarterback, but on the other hand ‘Joey B’ is approaching this game with caution, knowing that the Ravens have a very decent defense.
“They are really good defense. They know what we try to do on offense, we know what they try to do on defense,” Burrow said. “So, they try to take away our bread-and-butter stuff and they’re pretty good at it. We play them a lot. They have a really good defensive coordinator who makes it tough on you out there so we’ve got to find some ways to find some explosive plays and stay efficient and keep moving the ball down the field. I think we have a good game plan to do that.”