The Baltimore Ravens will face the Cincinnati Bengals for the second-straight week, this time in the playoffs for Wild Card Weekend. Baltimore will look to avenge their Week 18 loss to the defending AFC champions, sending them home in the process while they themselves advance to the Divisional Round.
Cornerback Marlon Humphrey told the media after Sunday’s bout that the Ravens are treating this most recent loss as a scrimmage of sorts, and that Baltimore’s familiarity with the Bengals’ offense could pay dividends when it matters most. The two teams will match up for the third time this year, with plenty being picked up by both sides on their opponents.
“It’s kind of exciting,” Humphrey explained of the rematch. “We kind of just studied them, so as Chuck [Clark] said, ‘We just had a scrimmage.’ It was a scrimmage we wish we would have won, obviously, but to play them again, they’re pretty familiar with us, [and] we’re pretty familiar with them. So, it’s just going to be who’s a better team. I think when you play a team three times, the better team should usually show.”
While the Ravens surely could have used momentum from a win as a wind at their back heading into the playoff elimination games, the team seems determined to prove they won’t be an easy out when their chips are down. With their season on the line, Baltimore will look to upset the Bengals on the road this weekend in what should prove to be one of the more compelling games on the AFC Wild Card schedule.
