01-07-2023, 10:41 AM
With their injury issues, it kind of sucks for the Ravens that this game became a must-play.
If the WC home field was determined by division champion status and no coin flip was involved, Baltimore could have tried to take a week to rest guys and possibly regroup.
Nobody knows where Lamar is in his recovery, and Huntley, who's likely to play was very questionable this week. Now Huntley has to play in what's going to likely be a very physical football game. If Lamar isn't coming back next week, Sunday's game could very well put them in a situation where they have to start Brown in the WC round.
If WC home field was determined by pre-Hamlin incident rules, the Bengals would have needed to play starters to potentially get the 2 seed in case the Bills lose to NE. Baltimore would have seen a full game of the Bengals real-deal offense. IMO it would have been a big advantage to them. The Bengals would know a lot less about the offense they'd face in the WC round vs the Ravens if it came to that.
I know this: It sucks to play even a decent team two weeks in a row. That's a lot of time for a quarterback to figure out a defensive scheme. Same for defense vs offense, to an extent. I feel like given that Burrow is already the best in the league at manipulating defenses and recognizing coverages pre-snap, the Bengals will have a major advantage in playing 2 straight. The Ravens don't have a Joe Burrow, and they might not even have the same player under center for both games.
If the WC home field was determined by division champion status and no coin flip was involved, Baltimore could have tried to take a week to rest guys and possibly regroup.
Nobody knows where Lamar is in his recovery, and Huntley, who's likely to play was very questionable this week. Now Huntley has to play in what's going to likely be a very physical football game. If Lamar isn't coming back next week, Sunday's game could very well put them in a situation where they have to start Brown in the WC round.
If WC home field was determined by pre-Hamlin incident rules, the Bengals would have needed to play starters to potentially get the 2 seed in case the Bills lose to NE. Baltimore would have seen a full game of the Bengals real-deal offense. IMO it would have been a big advantage to them. The Bengals would know a lot less about the offense they'd face in the WC round vs the Ravens if it came to that.
I know this: It sucks to play even a decent team two weeks in a row. That's a lot of time for a quarterback to figure out a defensive scheme. Same for defense vs offense, to an extent. I feel like given that Burrow is already the best in the league at manipulating defenses and recognizing coverages pre-snap, the Bengals will have a major advantage in playing 2 straight. The Ravens don't have a Joe Burrow, and they might not even have the same player under center for both games.
