Well, we were expected to see an legendary clash of competing groups on Thursday Night Football. Instead, mostly thanks to Joe Burrow’s wrist injury, we got a 34-20 car in favor of the Baltimore Ravens, who are sealing themselves as a top-tier AFC group.
It’s mid-November now, so that implies playoff chasesafter will quickly start to heat up in earnest. That likewise suggests it’s time to start taking stock of what the Cincinnati Bengals can still achieve (with or without Burrow) and where the Ravens may be headed in the coming weeks, in January, and possibly even February.
Let’s unpack the winners and losers from a strange and significant night in Baltimore.
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
We puton’t requirement to mince words.
If Joe Burrow’s injury is considerable sufficient for him to missouton more videogames, then the Bengals’ dreams of winning Super Bowl 58 are over. Full stop. Right now, they are dealingwith an utter catastrophe, and it’s simply the worst luck.
Joe Burrow trying to throw pic.twitter.com/04F1zc7HH0
— CJ Fogler account might or might not be noteworthy (@cjzero) November 17, 2023
Without Burrow, the Bengals cannot makeitthrough a season straddling around .500 as a member of the AFC North — the NFL’s most competitive department. As a genuine top-five quarterback, Burrow is just too essential as the engine of the Bengals’ offense. With all due regard to Jake Browning (or any quarterback the Bengals may include in the coming weeks), this Cincinnati attack is not a “system” plan with plug-and-play signal callers. It does not work without Burrow. It is entirely broken without him. We currently saw this shown in the early season as Burrow hadahardtime with a calf disorder, and we’ll mostlikely see it onceagain if he doesn’t play moving forward. Someone still has to capably get the ball to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. No one does it muchbetter than Burrow. He’s one of the just individuals that can.
I hate to inform homeowners of the Ohio River this, however it may be time to start looking at and recalibrating for2024 The Bengals are mostlikely done till next fall.
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
I’m still not totally offered on Lamar Jackson being the clear MVP frontrunner, however Thursday night’s (quiet?) electrical efficiency was another action in the right instructions. It’s difficult to argue versus 300 all-purpose backyards versus Lou Anarumo’s Bengals, who have one of pro football’s more underrated defenses. Ja