Week 13: Bengals @ Ravens

[HoosierCat]

Man, remember when a prime-time Thanksgiving game for the Bengals was a pipe dream? Good time. Now it's a nightmare.

Bengals at 8 on the draft board now. A loss Thursday would put them temporarily at 6. We need DC, Cleveland, Vegas, the Jets and NO to get some wins.

[ArmyBengal]

If Burrow plays, I will be interested in watching simply to see what he does.
However, I will be hoping he kills it in a losing effort.

Sort of like having a Lamar Jackson on your fantasy team.
Throw for 500 yards and 3 TD's and run for 2 more, then lose.

[HoosierCat]

Well, score 40 and lose has been a Bengals thing for a while now so I have confidence they can do it!

[ArmyBengal]

7 minutes ago, HoosierCat said:

Well, score 40 and lose has been a Bengals thing for a while now so I have confidence they can do it!

Yes, give me that.
Sure, I (we) will be frustrated, but that's just where I am.
Wish I wasn't, but there's no real hope to this season.
We aren't sweeping the Ravens.

I see a 3-3 finish to the season.  Maybe.
Sadly, that 3 game winning streak to end 2025 will be enough to save Zac's job.
Nothing like justifying how one season ends to equate to what's going to happen the next.
Total flawed thinking, but without that, there is no hope at all.

Go Bengals...

[Saintsfan1]

32 minutes ago, ArmyBengal said:

Yes, give me that.
Sure, I (we) will be frustrated, but that's just where I am.
Wish I wasn't, but there's no real hope to this season.
We aren't sweeping the Ravens.

I see a 3-3 finish to the season.  Maybe.
Sadly, that 3 game winning streak to end 2025 will be enough to save Zac's job.
Nothing like justifying how one season ends to equate to what's going to happen the next.
Total flawed thinking, but without that, there is no hope at all.

Go Bengals...

Losing to the Ravens twice in three weeks. Not even the Eagles could sweep the Giants that way

[ArmyBengal]

I have no reason to think the Bengals are going to beat the Ravens, then the Bills and then the Ravens again.
ANYONE who has watched this defense play this season should think that's something they would hang their hat on happening.
Am I saying IT WON'T happen?  No, I can guess how many betting people would be taking the Bengals straight up in any of those games.

That's not being pessimistic or unenthusiastic.  It's simply the reality of the situation. 
Now finishing off with Miami, Arizona and Cleveland with a healthy Burrow is more doable and I've said as much.
3-3 to finish the season.

Thing is there isn't one single thing in that scenario that is a net positive in that happening outside of just winning some games.
We are aren't knocking any of those last 3 teams out of the playoffs because they all suck.  So who cares?

Anyone saying, well if they finish well that carries into the next season is 100% totally full of shit.
There is no correlation with that being the case in damn near any instance.
New coaches, less injuries, free agency, the draft, the schedule, the fucking weather, luck.
All of those are better reasons to expect an improved season then how a team finishes the season.

I hate that argument almost as much as I hate the Steelers.

[COB]

The defense seemed to improve yesterday.  Very guarded language there but you guys understand.  
 

Our 4 best and highest paid players and what they gave us yesterday: 

1. Trey is hurt and I don’t think he even cares if he ever plays for us again beyond putting a couple games on tape for his next deal. 0 minutes.

2. JaMarr out due to spitgate. 0 minutes.

3. Tee gets one of the worst concussions I’ve seen a bengal player suffer.  Some minutes.

4. Burrow toe. 0 minutes.

So, of those possible 4 full games (one full game from each guy) we got .5.

Thursday night, assuming Burrow plays and Trey somehow wants to act like he cares,  instead of the contribution being .5, we’ll get a full 3 games from these guys.  
 

We almost beat one of the best teams in the AFC with .5 contribution.

The Ravens aren’t that good.  I think the Bengals begin the DCB early this year and win on Thanksgiving.

[HoosierCat]

Burrow is a go for Thursday.

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/onsi/news/joe-burrow-set-to-make-return-on-thanksgiving-for-thursday-night-showdown-vs-ravens-01kavgh7pcss 

Higgins is not.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/cincinnati-bengals/news/bengals-officially-get-bad-news-tee-higgins-status-week-13/582c203c71e1ad0bf21839ac

[COB]

I just heard that Trey is a no go.  Sucks.  

[COB]

Tinsley is going to get a big chance here, hope he makes the best of it.

[COB]

Germaine Pratt had 20 tackles yesterday.  15 solo.  Dude is playing out of his mind, and could be headed for his second Super Bowl.  

[ArmyBengal]

I know it wasn't a popular opinion when I said it, but I didn't like seeing Pratt leave.
He stunk it up with the Raiders and struggled, but put him back where's he's had success and there you go.
Seeing as how I don't think Golden changed up much, it's not hard to fathom he would have done better than these rookies.

Such is football life.

[volcom69]

So I just read that Germaine Pratt had missed only 3 tackles this season. So he sucks here last year maybe even some of the year before, he can’t tackle. Goes to Indy same coach as he has had, and all of a sudden is a tackling machine. Something is not right with this, if it show anything at all it’s that the culture in Cincinnati is awful. To to freaking move on from these idiots 

[ArmyBengal]

Regarding Pratt, I think it's that he knows the defense and has better defensive players around him.

[COB]

I think Pratt is a hyper emotional player.  He had definitely mentally checked out at the end of his time here.  He’s just one of those people, temperamental.  Things have to be right for him.

[ArmyBengal]

Oh yeah, Indy's schedule isn't about shit either.
They've played 4 teams with a winning record and are 2-2 for those 4 games.
They are beating bad teams, so that helps the situation out as well.

[AMPHAR]

Pratt had awesome moments  here as did Logan Wilson.    However, they've bled yards for multiple seasons, wtf are they supposed to do? Keep running those dudes out there?  They weren't getting that production from those two recently.  

 

[ArmyBengal]

It certainly didn't help when the defensive talent around them departed, but yeah, I get that point.
Still don't think Pratt would have fared worse than Knight and Barrett.
No way to bear that out, just an opinion.  Clearly I could be off in that assessment.

I'm glad we got some young linebackers in here though and hope they makes strides headed into their sophomore year.
What we've seen from them is what I think fans should really expect when rookies take on starter roles early.
Not every rookie that starts in thought to be all world from day one.  Those are few and far between.
It's more common to get a bust than an elite talent.

[Prophecy]

Pratt was successful when he had good DT's in front of him who could slow down, redirect or trip up a RB. If a RB came straight at him full speed through an open hole, good luck.

DJ Reader helped the Bengals LB's so much. Pratt has gotten help all season from DeForest Bruckner (until he got hurt) and one of the most underrated DT's in the league Grover Stewart.

Grover Stewart as a DT has had 70+ total tackles in 2 of the past 3 seasons. 

Colts whole DLine is good. 

Even Ray Lewis would have a hard time behind this Bengals Dline.

[COB]

Kyle Hamilton may not play, couldn’t practice today.  Lamar playing but he’s pretty banged up.

[Stripes]

I have a feeling this game is going to be an extremely annoying close-but-no-cigar tease. Don't ruin my shitty dinner, Bengals.

[HoosierCat]

Interesting note, Bengals made a run at RB Dameon Pierce before he signed with KC.

https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/bengals/2025/11/24/bengals-reportedly-offer-free-agent-big-name-dameon-pierce/87454585007/

Bengals are a bit iffy at RB with Brooks (concussion) out and Perine coming back from an ankle injury. The mock injury report from yesterday listed Perine as full, but that's a guess since they didn't actually practice Monday. So Gary Brightwell might get an actual carry this week.

[COB]

RB could get scary.  If Perine can’t go, or if he’s significantly hobbled, it’s pretty much all on Chase.  Good, he can deal with it, he seems to want the workhorse role.  But if he gets dinged or knocked out of the game, we’re in trouble.  I’m most concerned about any backup being able to pick up blitzes in the pass blocking role.   An unblocked, full speed Roquan Smith getting Burrow from the blind side?  Forget it.  Bring out the cart.

[ArmyBengal]

They have Kendall Milton on the practice squad as well.
Not saying he's the next coming, but he could certainly be the next guy.

[AMPHAR]

Turkey Hot Brown Thursday Night with a Bengals victory.