Two weeks ago, on Thanksgiving, the Cincinnati Bengals visited the Baltimore Ravens in a game that saw the return of Joe Borrow at quarterback for the road team. After a rocky season start, punctuated by injuries, the Ravens were on a five game winning streak that saw them recover from a one and five record to catch the Pittsburgh Steelers for the top spot in the AFC North Division.
The Bengals also were down this season based to a great extent on the injury that sidelined Burrow for ten weeks.
The Ravens were favored by 6½ points when they hosted Cincinnati two weeks ago, and nearly two-thirds of the wagering dollars were expecting Lamar Jackson and company to continue on their winning ways and win by a touchdown or more.
Didn’t happen.
After the game the buzz in the media was that Burrow makes the Bengals defense better. Okay, Burrow is a galvanizing factor on the fate of the Bengals prospects, but improve a defense that is on their way to giving up possibly more points than any team in NFL history? I don’t think so. That is on a par that has us thinking our car is running better after we washed it.
Still, it can be argued with some empirical evidence that with Burrow the Bengals are a Super Bowl threat, and without him, they hover around the Cleveland Browns in the standings.