Cincinnati Bengals (3-8) @ Baltimore Ravens (6-5)
Thursday, November 27, 8:20 PM ET
I don't know why the NFL thinks we all want an obligatory NFC North matchup on Thanksgiving night, but you could see at the time the schedules came out why this might be considered one of the best possible primetime matchups they could slot here.
The expectation was probably that both Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow would be playing at MVP-caliber levels at this stage of the season, and these two team would be jockeying for 1st place in the AFC North. The Ravens have managed to put themselves in that position, but it's been a disappointing year for them overall.
And frankly, it hasn't been the greatest year for Lamar Jackson overall, even when he's been on the field.
What we're all interested to find out is whether or not Joe Burrow is going to be activated and play. What reason do the Bengals have for subjecting him to getting hurt yet again? They don't really have one. They could be villains in the second half of the NFL season with Burrow on the field, but even if they run the table at this point, nine wins probably won't be enough to get you to the playoffs in the AFC.
The Ravens have been winning ugly, but that's okay. There's nothing wrong with winning ugly when you're winning, especially because a team like this could get hot for the playoffs. They've been there before.
Especially if Burrow plays, this game will be a lot of fun. Right now, that doesn't appear to be the expectation of the oddsmakers as the early line has the Ravens as 7-point favorites at home. That line would undoubtedly change if Burrow was named the starting quarterback for the game.
As it stands, we don't really have enough data to make a great prediction for this game, so we'll have to make two.
Non Joe Burrow Prediction: Ravens win 31-23
Joe Burrow Prediction: Ravens win 31-30