The Cincinnati Bengals face the Baltimore Ravens in Week 15 at Paycor Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on CBS/Local 12 (WKRC-TV).
Cincinnati (4-9) is coming off a 39-34 loss to the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore (6-7) is coming off a 27-22 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bengals beat the Ravens 32-14 in Week 13.
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Baltimore is favored by 2.5 points and the over/under point total is 51.5, according to BetMGM.
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Here are the keys for the Bengals to sweep the season series:
Bengals linebacker Cedric Johnson recovers a fumble by Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson in the Thanksgiving night game. It was one of five Ravens turnovers.
Win the turnover battle
While it’s unlikely the Bengals will get five turnovers like they did in the Week 13 win, they’ll need to win the turnover battle to get extra possessions for quarterback Joe Burrow and the offense. The Bengals lost the turnover battle in Week 14, which allowed the Bills to come from behind and win.
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The Bengals’ defense has steadily improved in the past four games, and will need to be opportunistic against the Ravens’ offense, which has turned the ball over 28 times this season.
The Bengals (24.2) and Ravens (23.9) rank 12th and 13th respectively in points per game this season, which adds even more emphasis to needing to win the turnover battle.
Tight end Tanner Hudson made this outstanding, one handed touchdown catch against the Ravens and will need to step up again without wide receiver Tee Higgins this week.
Run it back on offense
Burrow and the Bengals’ offense jelled in the second half of the Week 13 win over the Ravens, which was the franchise quarterback’s first game back after suffering a Grade 3 turf toe injury in the Week 2 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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The Bengals will be without wide receiver Tee Higgins who has twice been in concussion protocol the past two weeks. The Bengals beat the Ravens on Thanksgiving without Higgins and will need similar performances again from wide receiver Andrei Iosivas and tight end Tanner Hudson.
Wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase will draw plenty of attention from the secondary. Chase has played well against the Ravens with 65 catches for 1,072 yards and eight touchdowns in nine career games against Baltimore.
The Bengals will need another good performance out of Chase who already has 1,015 receiving yards and five touchdowns this season.
A successful day running the ball by Chase Brown will take the pressure off quarterback Joe Burrow and make the Bengals’ offense even more dangerous.
Pound the rock
Running back Chase Brown averaged 5.2 yards per carry in the Week 13 win at Baltimore. Brown didn’t find the end zone that game, but his 15 carries were effective enough to keep the Ravens’ defense honest and not be able to continually pressure Burrow.
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The Bengals play mainly out of the shotgun with Burrow, which isn’t generally advantageous to having a dominant run game. The Bengals don’t need to be the league’s best running offense, but having an effective run game will help keep Burrow upright.
Brown is averaging 4.2 yards per carry this season. The Bengals’ offense doesn’t need him to be prime LaDainian Tomlinson in order to be effective in the running game, but they’ll need another 5+ yards per carry on Dec. 14 to control the game again.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What the Bengals need to do to beat Ravens, sweep the season series