The Bengals made this a fun week of AFC North football. With the Ravens fading, it sets up an incredible race to the finish in this division.
The Bengals are for real
No matter what you previously thought about the Bengals, there is no denying they are for real now. They were before, however even those non-believers out there have no choice but to buy in. Joe Burrow might have a lot of nicknames, but the one that should be used more is, “Winner.” Cincinnati officially has Kansas City’s number and for all you nonbelievers out there, how about that win? A few weeks ago we wrote that it was time to buy the Bengals stock, last week we said it might be the last time to get in before the ship leaves, and now you’re going to have to swim and catch up. Careful though, those waters aren’t always friendly. Maybe now is the time to buy some Burrow stock as someone to take seriously in the MVP race. Regardless, the Bengals appear to have officially shaken off the Super Bowl loss and might be in great position to make a return trip this season.
Ravens’ offense woes continue, putting playoff hopes in danger?
It’s been a rough go of things for the Ravens offense all season long. Sunday was simply yet another example of that, but somehow it got even worse with an injury to Lamar Jackson. The star quarterback’s timeline for a return is up in the air right now as the team talks about it being days-to-weeks, rather than a real extended period of time. As for the game, Denver’s defense is really good, but not that good. With a final score of 10-9 it begs the question. Good defense or bad offense? Ponder that this week and suddenly, you might find that the Ravens could end up missing the playoffs. Yes. They can’t score and have been playing with fire all season long. With the Bengals coming on strong, the AFC North looks less likely and with a competitive wild card race, don’t discount the chance that John Harbaugh’s team falling out of the tournament entirely by season’s end.
Tomlin’s streak lives for another week
These Steelers just keep finding a way, meaning that we might have some Mike Tomlin magic going on in Pittsburgh. At this rate, they are going to finish above .500, aren’t they? The passing game isn’t great and neither is the offense, but for this team it doesn’t matter. Maybe we should start respecting the Steelers a little more going forward.
The Browns played a football game
So that happened. Six total points on offense, yet Cleveland covered the spread that hovered between seven and eight points all week. Imagine that. Turns out, the Texans forgot to circle the game and only drew two of the four lines required to make a rectangle. In other words, another ‘L’ for Houston. The Browns’ quarterback, you know the one, had an unceremonious return to NFL action, tossing an interception and appearing out of sorts all afternoon. In what ended up being an ugly contest for all parties involved, at least we can take solace in knowing that this will be the answer to a trivia question some time in the future.