Ravens Playing Toss-Up Game Against Bengals

For the first time in over a month, the Baltimore Ravens are preparing for the sort of game that's perplexing professional pickers.

They'll be hosting the Cincinnati Bengals in Baltimore to wrap up the loaded Thanksgiving Day slate of games, their first high-stakes divisional matchup after a long string of less-intimidating opponents. Teams like the Cleveland Browns, Minnesota Vikings and the New York Jets have helped the Ravens come back from the dead, in the form of their 1-5 record, as they've now won five straight games at the expense of some of the NFL's less-impressive squads.

Though they've experiences some positive strides, they haven't totally looked like themselves in surging back to positive relevance, and that's holding evaluators back in predicting that they'll simply carry the momentum through a Bengals team that's only got half of the Ravens' wins. After all, they'll be finally welcoming star quarterback Joe Burrow back from his months-long toe injury, and that may be enough to seriously challenge Baltimore's own out-of-sync offense.

Going with the Numerical Favorites

The experts over at Bleacher Report saw the -7 DraftKings line set in favor of the Ravens, and ended up leaning only slightly in the rolling Ravens' favor.

"Going with the Bengals in Joe Burrow's return was tempting, but I'm backing the Ravens here. Lamar Jackson and the offense have struggled since the QB returned from injury, but if they're going to get right, then this is the spot for it," Ian Hanford wrote.

"The Bengals have been gashed on the ground all year, and if Baltimore can do anything, it can still run the ball right at you. I'm worried about the push here, and the Bengals should come out flying with the return of their QB, but I like Jackson to have a big game and the Ravens to cover."