Close finish expected in Baltimore Ravens vs Cincinnati Bengals game this Sunday – NFL Preview
The Baltimore Ravens are playing their last road game against the Cincinnati Bengals at the sellout Paul Brown Stadium into Week 17 of the National Football League (NFL) this Sunday.
Both teams are in a must win situation with plus and minuses of their own. The game is however more important for the hosts the Bengals as a win will help them avail last wild card into playoff, which will be their second berth in last three years.
Having played 15 games the Bengals are with the score of 9-6. Their road game wins record with five wins and three losses is better than their home games victories status with four wins and three defeats.
The Ravens meanwhile have maintained 100 per cent record in their home game victories by playing eight and winning all of them. The side is rather shaky in their road games and has lost four of them while claiming victories in three of the total seven they
played this season.
A win on the weekend will help the Baltimore Ravens to claim the American Football Conference (AFC) north title and a certain place in the playoff.
This can also be achievable by the side in case their archrivals the Pittsburgh Steelers lose their game against the Cleveland Browns irrespective to the results from the Ravens-Bengals game.
The Ravens hold the tie breaker while having beaten the Steelers twice earlier in the season and can comfortably qualify for the playoff berth.
This is the Ravens’ fourth consecutive berth into playoff. However, they had not been able to get it through to Super Bowl in all previous attempts.
In an other scenario, if the Ravens win and the Steelers lose their game, it will help them to finish as the second seed team on the league’s points table and confirm them a bye in the first round of playoff.
A bye in the playoff will help their case by scoring a home game into the second round for them. The Ravens are rather weak at road games and winning of a home game in the playoff will serve well into their hopes of getting it through to the playoff phase
successfully.
"Playing at home can help us get closer to the prize," middle linebacker Ray Lewis said. "That's the real incentive right now. We're in the dance. We'll go where we have to go. But playing at (home) for any game would be a good, good thing."
A win by the Bengals in the meantime will serve their chance for the last wild card into playoff. Besides, the win they will also need to monitor results from the games of other wild card contestants and hope the standings on the points table becomes favourable
to their cause.
Before going into the last game the Bengals have a good news on the fans front as the team management has confirmed a sellout for the weekend.
The attendance of spectators at the Paul Brown Stadium in last couple of the Bengals game lower than seating capacity had become a sign of worry for the team.
However, the incentives such as free-of-cost refreshments and free tickets seem to have worked out into their efforts for attracting people to fill the stadium.
Tags: