The Baltimore Ravens have already played their Week 15 game, defeating the New York Jets 42-21 on Thursday night. That gives them and all Ravens fans a chance to sit down on Sunday and watch the rest of the league.
With the playoffs getting sorted out, Baltimore has quite a few teams to root for this week. From who they could see in the postseason to potentially locking up the No. 1 seed this week, it’s a great week to watch football.
Here are the three teams you should be rooting for in Week 15
New England Patriots (10-3) at Cincinnati Bengals (1-12)
Rooting for: Bengals
This is a tall order to ask a team that has won just one game this season to dethrone one of the best teams in the league. But we’ve seen odder things happen before and Baltimore could really use this game, so we’re stuck rooting for Cincinnati.
A New England loss would guarantee the Ravens a top-2 seed. But it’s also just one part of what Baltimore needs to lock up the No. 1 seed. Not to mention, seeing the Patriots drop yet another game right before the playoffs is never a bad thing. It could help give the Ravens more positive game film to base any potential rematch on.
New England’s offense has been pretty cold this season, failing to get much momentum going on the ground or through the air. The Patriots have yet to see one of their running backs top 100 rushing yards in a game. Meanwhile, quarterback Tom Brady has seen 29 drops from his targets this season, topping last year’s total already.
The Bengals might not have a lot going for them, but they seem to have a better hold on what talent they do have. Finally switching back to Andy Dalton at quarterback, Cincinnati topped 450 total offensive yards last week and could be a good test against the Patriots’ defense.
Denver Broncos (5-8) at Kansas City Chiefs (9-4)
Rooting for: Broncos
Much like the previous matchup, this is a tough sell to actually see happen. But for Baltimore to clinch a top-2 or No. 1 seed this week, it’s what needs to happen. So, just like Cincinnati, we’re left rooting for Denver today.
The Chiefs have shown some holes since beating the Ravens in Week 3 but still remain plenty dangerous. However, after beating the New England Patriots last week, they could be in for a bit of a letdown against the Broncos this week.
It’s worth noting Denver is surging behind new quarterback Drew Lock. They’re fresh off beating the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans in back-to-back weeks and could be hitting at the right time to take down a capable foe.
Buffalo Bills (9-4) at Pittsburgh Steelers (8-5)
Rooting for: Bills
While Baltimore has beaten both Buffalo and Pittsburgh and those two teams don’t have a shot of dethroning the Ravens for a playoff seed, you might think this is purely out of spite. But this is the time of the year where we start looking at potential playoff matchups and I’d much rather Baltimore didn’t have to try to take down a division opponent for a third time in a season.
There’s no guarantees that a loss this week by Pittsburgh would ultimately kick them out of the postseason but it doesn’t hurt to still root for it. A loss and Tennessee Titans win would have the Steelers fall out of the playoffs at this time, forcing them to hope for some help in the final two weeks of the season to get back in.
Meanwhile, a Buffalo win and Patriots loss would tie those two teams for the top of the AFC East and make Week 16’s game between them arguably the most important pre-playoff game in the AFC. Seeing New England potentially lose their division stranglehold and have to fight through the wild card round would put a dent in their Super Bowl hopes.
