It’s a quick turnaround this week as the Baltimore Ravens host the New York Jets on Thursday night. Though the rest of the AFC North plays on Sunday in Week 15, Baltimore’s early game will help set the tone for the division.
The Ravens can lock up the AFC North this week, guaranteeing them a top-4 seed in the AFC playoff picture. But it’s some other key division games that can pay even bigger dividends for Baltimore in Week 15.
Let’s take a look at how Week 15 shapes up for the AFC North.
New York Jets (5-8) at Baltimore Ravens (11-2)
The Jets travel to take on the Ravens in a game that features a bunch of former faces. But that’s about where the intrigue ends in this game.
New York is in the beginning stages of a rebuild and it shows both on the field and on the stat sheet. With an ever piling number of injuries to key players, the Jets have gotten kicked while already down, losing to the then lowly 1-11 Bengals in Week 13 before bouncing back to barely edge out the Miami Dolphins last week.
For their part, Baltimore hasn’t exactly looked the same either and some small cracks are starting to appear. While much of that can be attributed to poor weather, the Ravens have shown a few defensive holes that are a little concerning. But few things cure what ails a team like beating up on a bad opponent.
Oddsmakers rightfully view this game as a blowout in waiting and it makes plenty of sense. This is a chance for Baltimore to finetune any issues they’ve seen in the last two weeks and walk into the final two games against division rivals with their confidence surging.
New England Patriots (10-3) at Cincinnati Bengals (1-12)
It’s that time of the year when division rivals start rooting for one another and it’s that week this week. The Ravens are hoping the Bengals are able to take down Tom Brady and the Patriots as they quest to lock up a top-2 seed early. But New England is coming off a loss, don’t lose often and very rarely to 1-12 teams.
The Bengals are no slouch though and certainly have enough offensive talent to surprise the Patriots. Running back Joe Mixon finally found his groove last week against the Cleveland Browns, busting for 146 yards and a touchdown on the ground while catching three passes for 40 yards. But against a tough New England defense, Mixon, Andy Dalton and company will need to have an amazing game to keep it close enough to win.
On the flip side, the Patriots are struggling right now in a way we haven’t seen very often over the last decade-plus. In spite of still having the eighth-most points scored this season, New England can’t run the ball well and Brady is under serious pressure with few big weapons to bail him out.
It’s a more winnable game than many will give Cincinnati credit for but they’re going to need to be at the top of their game and hope the Patriots are off theirs.
Cleveland Browns (6-7) at Arizona Cardinals (3-9-1)
The Browns are still in the hunt for the postseason, albeit pretty low down on the list. They’ll need to not only win out this season but they’ll need other AFC teams to falter to find themselves in the postseason this year. But it all starts with winning on the road in Week 15.
In spite of their record, the Cardinals are a pretty dangerous team seemingly on the verge of far better. They took the surging Pittsburgh Steelers to the final whistle in Week 14, fought hard against the San Francisco 49ers and made the Week 2 game against the Ravens a close one.
Cleveland might be one of the most confusing teams in the league right now. They have a wealth of talent everywhere but have struggled to live up to their self-propelled billing. They’re undisciplined and aren’t consistent in any phase of the game, so you never know which version of the team you’ll see each week.
Buffalo Bills (9-4) at Pittsburgh Steelers (8-5)
The Bills have an unenviable position of facing two AFC North teams in back-to-back weeks. But this week is perhaps an even bigger game for Buffalo, just as it is for Pittsburgh. Neither team is locked into a postseason spot and as the two wild card teams currently, this game will be a key tiebreaker.
The Steelers are surging largely thanks to their defense. Pittsburgh has been playing opportunistic football, notching 31 takeaways since trading for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick 10 games ago. The Steelers offense hasn’t been particularly good but have been just good enough to eke out close wins each week against some more questionable opponents than they saw early in the season.
Buffalo had come into Week 14 with plenty of questions surrounding just how good they really were. Against the Ravens, the Bills answered the question and put themselves in the thick of the AFC’s race to the Super Bowl, even in a loss. Buffalo’s defense is legitimate and should make life difficult for Pittsburgh. The question is if quarterback Josh Allen can be more on target in Week 15 so he doesn’t kill the Bills’ chances.
