Ravens @ Bengals

[Scottishbengal]

Just a few stats taken from NFL.com (top 30 in each category where shown)

QB passer rating

Palmer (ranked 22nd) 74.8 %

Boeller (ranked 30th) 56.3%

ADVANTAGE BENGALS

Receiving yards

Chad (ranked 21st) 144yds

PDub (ranked 30th) 127yds

No Baltimore reciver in the top 30

ADVANTAGE BENGALS

Rushing yards

Rudi (ranked 20th) 134yds

Jamal (ranked 21st) 119yds

Chester Taylor (ranked 30th) 90yds

ADVANTAGE RAVENS

Tight Ends

Heap (ranked 3rd) Out with injury 12 receptions - 113yds

Wilcox (ranked 25th) 3 recptions - 22 yds

Schobel (ranked 18th) 4 recpetions - 12 yds

EVEN

Field Goals

Graham (ranked 4th) 4/5 longest 48yds

Stover (ranked 3rd) 4/4 longest 42yds

EVEN

Fumble Recoveries

Kevin Johnson & Terell Suggs - 1 each

Matt Schobel & Reggie Myles - 1 each

EVEN

Sacks

Baxter 2

No Bengal listed in top 30

ADVANTAGE RAVENS

Defence - against the rush

Cincy (ranked 22nd) giving up 122 yds game

Baltimore (ranked 8th) giving up 89yds game

ADVANTAGE RAVENS

Defence - against the pass

Cincy giving up 210yds game

Baltimore giving up 191 yds game

ADVANTAGE RAVENS

Tackles

No Bengal listed

Ray Lewis (ranked 3rd) 21 (17 solo, 4 assists)

ADVANTAGE RAVENS

Well, it seems the advantage is firmly with Baltimore. A Ravens victory is assured. I don't even think it'll be worth switching the TV on!

[turningpoint]

[kybengalsfan]

[CTBengalsFan]

Well, it seems the advantage is firmly with Baltimore. A Ravens victory is assured. I don't even think it'll be worth switching the TV on!

ScottishBengal: How can you call yourself a fan? By the way, what team do you root for?

You are wrong; the boys will prove it on Sunday.

[Jam31]

Nice statistical breakdown Scottie B.

I think it just goes to show what a knock down drag 'em out fight this game will be.

It ain't gonna be pretty but it should be super-comptetive

I also think Scottie was being sarcastic when he made the statement about your boys bot having a chance...

As was I when I said you guys would win 34-0

[Scottishbengal]

I was indeed being somewhat tongue in cheek, as I assume KYJellyBengalsfan was being also.

I was trying to idle away my lunchbreak by comparing the two sides ON PAPER. And, ON PAPER it appears Baltimore has more of an edge in more areas of the game. However, "any given Sunday", homefield advantage, rivalry, personal performances (both good and bad) etc, etc, are not allowed for ON PAPER.

I have changed my original view that the Bengals will win it at a stroll because they're the Bengals and deserve to win everything at a stroll. It will be a lot tougher and closer than I assumed. I'm now predicting Bengals 52-17 Ravens!

[Barbarian]

This is going to be the difference:

Defence - against the rush

Cincy (ranked 22nd) giving up 122 yds game

Baltimore (ranked 8th) giving up 89yds game

ADVANTAGE RAVENS

I firmly believe that if Jamal "Coke is it" Lewis is going to get back on track, then he's going to do it this week. What better way to do it this week against the Bungles' Run D???

Lewis is more of a BrownTerd Killer (think 295)--but he killed the Bungles last year too.

I think Lewis gets the train rolling again this weekend.

I also believe that Rudi will get his head knocked off by Da Killa & Co. I think Rudi gets 50 yards for the day, if he's lucky.

Drunkowski will abandon the run too f**king early (what the f**k else is new???) and Palmer will get into a little trouble as well (I'm going to predict 2-3 INTs for Palmer). Palmer will find himself on his backside all day long.

I know--it sucks.

[kevnz]

Drunkowski will abandon the run too f**king early (what the f**k else is new???)

Well it would be pretty damn new if you looked at this season. The play calling has been very balanced this year despite playing from behind a good portion of the time. In years past Brat would have said f it, throw the ball. But I think Marvin has said run the ball no matter what, protect the QB.

[Barbarian]

Drunkowski will abandon the run too f**king early (what the f**k else is new???)

Well it would be pretty damn new if you looked at this season. The play calling has been very balanced this year despite playing from behind a good portion of the time. In years past Brat would have said f it, throw the ball. But I think Marvin has said run the ball no matter what, protect the QB.

Kevnz,

Then you didn't see the stats for last week. Palmer threw it 38 times.

YES, 38 f**king TIMES.

That s**t is very unnecessary. Drunkowski is still abandoning the run too early.

[skyline]

Drunkowski will abandon the run too f**king early (what the f**k else is new???)

Well it would be pretty damn new if you looked at this season. The play calling has been very balanced this year despite playing from behind a good portion of the time. In years past Brat would have said f it, throw the ball. But I think Marvin has said run the ball no matter what, protect the QB.

Kevnz,

Then you didn't see the stats for last week. Palmer threw it 38 times.

YES, 38 f**king TIMES.

That s**t is very unnecessary. Drunkowski is still abandoning the run too early.

Ok, so 29 rushes compared to 38 passes. Not terribly off-balance, especially when you consider the end of the game where we HAD to pass.

[kevnz]

Ok, so 29 rushes compared to 38 passes. Not terribly off-balance, especially when you consider the end of the game where we HAD to pass.

So if you take into account that the last 8 passes were during the 2 minute drill, it was only 29 runs versus 30 passes. That's pretty damn balanced.

[wookie]

So if you take into account that the last 8 passes were during the 2 minute drill, it was only 29 runs versus 30 passes. That's pretty damn balanced.

It is definitely balanced, but I wouldn't have been surprised to see even more pass attempts considering the Bengals couldn't run the ball against the Dolphins. If Rudi had been closing in on 100 and averaging 4+ yds per I would be upset to see Brat abandon the run.

Considering he kept going back to it even when it was ineffective shows that they are commited to controlling the TOP and wearing the D down. Its a good way to call the game when you have the lead, and when they needed the yards at the end of the game Brat made the right calls and the offense executed. I think Brat did well considering how much the Bengals struggled against the Dolphins D.

[schweinhart]

This is going to be the difference:

Defence - against the rush

Cincy (ranked 22nd) giving up 122 yds game

Baltimore (ranked 8th) giving up 89yds game

ADVANTAGE RAVENS

I firmly believe that if Jamal "Coke is it" Lewis is going to get back on track, then he's going to do it this week. What better way to do it this week against the Bungles' Run D???

Lewis has run for more than 100 yds. 6 out of 6 games vs. Bengals. No reason to think Sunday will be any different.

Rudi is not likely to pierce Ravens D. RBs hardly ever do.

But the ground game won't likely be the decisive factor for either team.

Unless Jamal runs absolutely hog wild, balance on offense will be the decisive factor and the Ravens have no balance on offense.

For the Bengals, the pass w/ good play action has to set up the run vs. a D like the Ravens. The passing game and running plays to throw the Ravens D off balance like dives to J Johnson, Watson pitch outs,WR reverses, and, yes, the draw.

[Barbarian]

This is going to be the difference:

Defence - against the rush

Cincy (ranked 22nd) giving up 122 yds game

Baltimore (ranked 8th) giving up 89yds game

ADVANTAGE RAVENS

I firmly believe that if Jamal "Coke is it" Lewis is going to get back on track, then he's going to do it this week.  What better way to do it this week against the Bungles' Run D???

Lewis has run for more than 100 yds. 6 out of 6 games vs. Bengals. No reason to think Sunday will be any different.

Rudi is not likely to pierce Ravens D. RBs hardly ever do.

But the ground game won't likely be the decisive factor for either team.

Unless Jamal runs absolutely hog wild, balance on offense will be the decisive factor and the Ravens have no balance on offense.

For the Bengals, the pass w/ good play action has to set up the run vs. a D like the Ravens. The passing game and running plays to throw the Ravens D off balance like dives to J Johnson, Watson pitch outs,WR reverses, and, yes, the draw.

Then again, we're not talking about Miami's Running "Attack"--we're talking about a guy who rushed for over 2,000 yards last year.

And it seems COKE somewhat got it together last week.

[schweinhart]

Jamal scorches somebody sooner or later...hopefully later than this Sunday.

In the Ravens-Pitt game he looked like he was going to roll early on then didn't do much at all. It helped the Ravens that Bell was out. His replacement missed gaps vs. run and missed at least one sack that I saw.

I was more impressed by Taylor and Boller running the ball. Taylor hits daylight fast but he's got to have lots of daylight opened up for him.

Boller kept dropping in the pocket then either running up the middle or taking it outside.

Still, the Bengals got to contain Jamal. He'll probably gets his 100yds but if he don't reel off big gainers, it won't make the difference.

Field position and turnovers should tell the tale in this one. The Ravens got a decent PR in Sams. Larson and the special teams have to excel on Sunday.

[HoosierCat]

A couple-three things to keep an eye on Sunday, just IMHO, of course.

1. Saw a note on kffl earlier today that Balti had brought some NFL refs in to practice Thursday to call penalties as if it were a real game. Not surprising in retrospect, I suppose, because even though they beat Pitt they also had 123 yards in penalties last week. And they're going to have backups playing at some key positions, like TE and WR. To me, this all points to crowd noise possibly being a huge factor in the game.

2. Obviously, we know Jamal has been struggling a bit so far this year. After the Browns game, I chalked that up to Ogden's absence, but they the Ravens didn't run well on Pitt, either. I took a quick look at where they've been running. In two games, they've gone right 11 times, left 14 times, and up the middle 32 times. And very few of those runs up the middle have been for more than a handful of yards; their big runs have come on the outside. Which leads me to wonder just how much they're missing C Mike Flynn in the running game. I'll be interested to see how our DTs match up against his backups.

3. No surprise, NT Kelly Gregg is out & his backup, 340-lb. Maatu Kemoeata will be making his 4th NFL start in 3 years. Can the vet C Fontenot clear the big-but-inexperienced man out for Rudi? Another pivot on which this game could turn.

[Bobcat Bengal]

Well, it seems the advantage is firmly with Baltimore. A Ravens victory is assured. I don't even think it'll be worth switching the TV on!

ScottishBengal: How can you call yourself a fan? By the way, what team do you root for?

[Scottishbengal]

Well, it seems the advantage is firmly with Baltimore. A Ravens victory is assured. I don't even think it'll be worth switching the TV on!

ScottishBengal: How can you call yourself a fan? By the way, what team do you root for?

Obviously, you thought he was serious in his post....because there's no way he was, that had sarcasm written all over it.

Especially the part about not watching the game at all

[Benzoo]

First off...Thank goodness for this site! Iamb a member at Ohio Sports fans.com and there really is no intelligent discourse to be found. I'm glad I found my way back here. Kudos to you all.

As for Sunday's game....

Jamal Lewis or not, an offense needs balance, and I really can't find any inkling of it . The Bengals could concievably jam the line with eight guys and get away with it. Run blitz that big sucker and dare them to throw. They can also blitz like crazy on third down. Make Boller think quick, and maybe another ball will find it's way into Brian Simmons' big mitts.

I really think that's the only chance they have. That Baltimore defense will make life miserable for Carson, and Chad Johnson could easily be frustrated by it.

I have no confidence in the running game this week. Not because the OL is banged up, because even when healthy, you just can't expect much against the Ravens. They deserve all of the credit they recieve (whether I like it or not). Not to say that they should abandon the run. They should run and continue to do so until the game situation warrants total abandonment.

This should play out alot like last week, but in a more extreme manner. I think the Dolphins were a nice warmup for this game. All they need to do is keep themselves out of total disaster offensively (in NO WAY can they allow a defensive score), and TEE OFF defensively, while mixing in solid special teams play. I really think they should allow Warrick to return at least a couple of punts. One big play from him could really break things.

It's gonna be a battle of attrition, and a fun game to watch.