Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens had a tough time getting things going on a frigid day in Cincinnati, but they found their groove in the second quarter.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson ran for 14 yards and hit wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins for 32 yards to get the Ravens into Bengals territory and then he beat a blitz by flicking a short pass to running back Rasheen Ali. Ali turned upfield and sprinted into the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown to put Baltimore up 7-0 with less than five minutes to play in the first half.

The Ravens only picked up nine yards on their first two drives and their third ended when Bengals safety Jordan Battle picked off a Jackson pass.

That interception came after a high pass by Joe Burrow to wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase went off Chase’s hands and into the mitts of Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey, so both teams have been struggling to put it together thus far on Sunday.

The Bengals badly need a win on Sunday, in order to maintain their razor-thin playoff hopes. They have a secret weapon, who really isn’t a secret.

Receiver Ja’Marr Chase averages 115.6 yards per game against the Ravens. That’s the highest average for any player against one opponent, including postseason, in NFL history, with a minimum of 10 games.

On Thanksgiving night, Chase had seven catches for 110 yards against Baltimore, in a loss.

Baltimore’s defense will be able to pay extra attention to Chase today, given that receiver Tee Higgins is out due to a concussion.

If Joe Burrow isn’t having fun playing football today, he won’t be alone. The fans at Cincinnati won’t be having fun when they get to their assigned locations for the game.

The Bengals didn’t remove the snow from the seats. The relevant rule clearly requires them to do so.

From the NFL’s playing field specifications: “Each home club is responsible for having a snow removal plan in place and ensuring that its stadium has adequate snow removal equipment available. Snow and ice must be removed from the stadium before all games. This applies to the playing field, sidelines, seating bowl, aisles, pedestrian ramps, walkways, parking lots, etc. This also applies to the sidelines; snow may not be pushed into piles and remain against stadium walls so that it interferes with standard game or sideline operations.”

The attached photo was taken from the field, before the game. Obviously, no one paid for the seats at Paycor Stadium to be de-snowed.

Said the Bengals, when reached for comment by PFT: “Seat aisles were prioritized and are in good shape. Seats are easily wiped off and ushers are equipped to help there.”

Regardless, the rule says what it says. We’ll see what the NFL has to say about the failure of the Bengals to fully comply with the snow-removal rules.

The Bills will be missing a key defensive piece as they try to keep the Patriots from clinching the AFC East in New England on Sunday.

Cornerback Christian Benford is inactive for the game. Benford was added to the injury report on Thursday with a toe issue and he missed practice on Friday before being listed as questionable.

Benford had a big hand in each of the Bills’ last two wins. He returned a fumble for a touchdown and had an interception to help them beat the Steelers in Week 13 and he returned an interception for the go-ahead score against the Bengals in the fourth quarter last Sunday.

Bills at Patriots

Bills: CB Christian Benford, LB Terrel Bernard, WR Gabe Davis, S Darnell Savage, OL Tylan Grable, DT Phidarian Mathis, OL Chase Lundt

Patriots: LB Bradyn Swinson, OL Marcus Bryant, DT Eric Gregory, TE C.J. Dippre, WR Efton Chism, QB Tommy DeVito

Ravens at Bengals

Ravens: WR Rashod Bateman, CB Keyon Martin, OL Joseph Noteboom, DT Aeneas Peebles, QB Cooper Rush

Bengals: WR Tee Higgins, QB Jake Browning, S PJ Jules, DT Jordan Jefferson

Jets at Jaguars

Jets: QB Tyrod Taylor, QB Justin Fields, WR Tyler Johnson, EDGE Braiden McGregor, DL Mazi Smith, TE Mason Taylor, LB Kiki Mauigoa

Jaguars: LB Yasir Abdullah, OL Walker Little, TE Hunter Long, DL Emmanuel Ogbah, DL Austin Johnson

Chargers at Chiefs

Chargers: WR Quentin Johnston, S Elijah Molden, WR Derius Davis, CB Nikko Reed, LB Kyle Kennard, OL Trey Pipkins, WR Dalevon Campbell

Chiefs: CB Trent McDuffie, WR Hollywood Brown, OT Jawaan Taylor, TE Jared Wiley, G Trey Smith, RB Elijah Mitchell, DT Zacch Pickens

Cardinals at Texans

Cardinals: CB Max Melton, WR Marvin Harrison Jr., S Jalen Thompson, S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, OL Evan Brown, OT Paris Johnson, WR Xavier Weaver

Texans: OL Jarrett Kingston, WR Braxton Berrios, RB Nick Chubb, QB Graham Mertz, CB Ameer Speed, LB E.J. Speed, DE Solomon Byrd

Browns at Bears

Browns: CB Denzel Ward, RB Dylan Sampson, G Zak Zinter, G Wyatt Teller, T Jack Conklin, TE David Njoku, DT Adin Huntington

Bears: QB Tyson Bagent, RB Travis Homer, WR Jahdae Walker, LB Ruben Hyppolite, DE Dominique Robinson, DT Jonathan Ford

Commanders at Giants

Commanders: QB Jayden Daniels, DE Drake Jackson, OL George Fant, CB Jonathan Jones, OL Trenton Scott, RB Chris Rodriguez

Giants: EDGE Kayvon Thibodeaux, WR Ryan Miller, P Jamie Gillan, OL James Hudson, WR Gunner Olszewski, DL Rakeem Nunez-Roches, QB Russell Wilson

Raiders at Eagles

Raiders: QB Geno Smith, CB Greedy Vance, RB Zamir White, OL Jordan Meredith, TE Ian Thomas, WR Alex Bachman, DL Leki Fotu

Eagles: LB Josh Uche, QB Sam Howell, CB Mac McWilliams, RB A.J. Dillon, OT Lane Johnson, DT Jalen Carter

If there was any doubt (and there shouldn’t be) that Derrick Henry’s football journey will conclude with a bust in Canton, here’s another reason to requisition the bronze for it.

With 10 rushing touchdowns this season, Henry needs only two more in the final four games for his seventh 12-touchdown season.

Of all the great running backs who have ever played the sport, only one has had seven seasons of twelve or more rushing touchdowns: Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson.

Henry is also 291 rushing yards away from leaping Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett for No. 10 on the all-time list, at 12,739 yards. Depending on how long Henry keeps playing, he could still pass Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson (13,259), Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis (13,662), Tomlinson (13,684), and Hall of Famer Curtis Martin (14,101).

Henry needs another 2,471 rushing yards to crash the all-time top five, passing Adrian Peterson at 14,918. It’s a prospect that really isn’t that crazy, given that Henry keeps going strong even as his 32nd birthday is just three weeks away.

From the moment the league office overturned two key fourth-quarter rulings in the Week 14 Steelers-Ravens game, the countdown started for Sunday morning. What would NFL officiating messenger Walt Anderson say, or not say, on NFL Network about the Aaron Rodgers “catch” and the Isaiah Likely “non-catch”?

And, more importantly, would Anderson be given enough time in the four-hour show to address all of the controversial calls from the game, including the unnecessary roughness penalty on a field-goal attempt that the league privately told the Ravens was a mistake?

As to the last question, the answer was no. Despite the importance of the issue to the actual and perceived integrity of the game, Anderson spoke for fewer than two minutes of the 240-minute show, addressing only one of the three very controversial calls from Pittsburgh at Baltimore.

Here’s what he said about the decision to reject the real-time ruling from the on-field officials that Likely had completed the catch process, for what would (should) have been a go-ahead touchdown with 2:47 to play.

“There’s three elements that have to be satisfied,” Anderson said, “Control of the football. And then two steps or a body part. And so he gets control, he takes two steps. What are we now looking for? And the rule is very specific. After those first two, you’ve got to have that third element. And the most common element for receivers that are running is a third step with control of the ball. As you can see here, before that third step gets down, the defender is able to punch the ball out. That’s why the pass is incomplete.”

If we’re only focusing on a third foot as the way to satisfy the third element, Anderson isn’t wrong. The problem is that, as we explained at the time, the replay process has focused on three feet down to the exclusion of the other ways to perform an act common to the game: “extend[ing] the ball forward, . . . tuck[ing] the ball away and turn[ing] upfield, or avoid[ing] or ward[ing] off an opponent.”

Anderson did not address, and was not asked to address, whether Likely had extended the ball forward or warded off an opponent. To overturn the ruling of a touchdown, the replay process requires (as the rules are written) clear and obvious evidence that Likely had done neither of those things.

“We can keep arguing about this for a long time,” Steve Mariucci said after Anderson explained the Likely ruling. “What is a football move?”

And then there was no discussion whatsoever about the other side to the argument. No mention of whether Likely had, or hadn’t, made a football move/act common to the game. More importantly (and more on that in a second), there was no reference to whether Likely had possession of the ball long enough to do so.

Anderson also made no effort to reconcile the replay ruling on the Aaron Rodgers “catch” with the Likely ruling, probably because Anderson and the rest of the league office know that the decisions cannot be reconciled. If Rodgers caught the ball, then Likely did, too.

Anderson instead addressed a play from Thursday night’s Falcons-Buccaneers game. The catch and fumble by Falcons running back Bijan Robinson.

“These plays are very, very similar, except for that third element,” Anderson said. “And so what you can see here is Bijan Robinson gets control of the ball, he gets two steps, and then what he’s able to do, because that left is one, the right is two, the left foot comes down again. That’s the third step, and then he loses the ball. So he’s completed all three elements of the catch process. That’s why this is a catch and in this case a fumble. Had Likely got that third step down while he maintained control of the ball because he was in the end zone, it would have been a touchdown because by rule then the ball would be dead in the end zone.”

Again, they’re focusing only on the third foot and ignoring the rest of the rule, both as to performing an act common to the game and having the time to do so.

Consider this, and watch the Robinson play at full speed, not in slow-motion. If Robinson had possession of the ball long enough to perform an act common to the game (by rule, take a third step among other things), didn’t Likely have possession of the ball long enough to perform an act common to the game?

Even if we ignore the fact that Likely was extending the ball and/or warding off an opponent (and it’s not clear and obvious he wasn’t), Likely had it long enough to, for instance, “tuck the ball away and turn upfield.” But Likely had no reason to do that, because: (1) he was in the end zone; and (2) he was trying to keep the ball away from a defender who was literally attached to his back and trying to knock out the ball.

Here’s the bottom line. Whoever is making the decisions about replay review in the league office (and many throughout the league don’t know who that is at any given moment) has decided to hinge the catch decision on getting three feet down, and to disregard the rest of the rule as it relates to performing an act common to the game, or having enough time to do so.

That’s the inescapable message, both from last week’s ruling and Anderson’s Sunday morning explanation of it. The league office has gone rogue as to the catch rule (and the replay standard), ignoring language that was adopted by a 75-percent supermajority vote of ownership.

At this point, the only way to fix the problem will be for the owners to take control of the situation, if necessary reminding the employees of the league office who writes the checks — and who cashes them.

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is looking to have fun again. On Sunday in Cincinnati, it’ll be zero fun, sir.

It’s currently below zero there.

Reporting from Cincinnati on NFL Network’s GameDay Morning, Bridget Condon said it’s currently minus-1 there. She also said that today’s game will be the coldest in Ravens’ history.

Temperatures at kickoff could warm up to 11.

It obviously won’t be the coldest game in Bengals’ history. That happened in January 1982, when the Bengals hosted the Chargers for the AFC Championship. The temperature at kickoff was nine below, with minus-23 wind chills.

The Ravens have activated a pair of defensive players in advance of Sunday’s game against the Bengals.

Outside linebacker Tavius Robinson has been activated off of injured reserve and safety Ar’Darius Washington has been activated off of the reserve/PUP list.

Robinson suffered a foot injury in October. He’s recorded 2.0 sacks with two tackles for loss, four QB hits, and a forced fumble in six games this year.

Washington will be making his season debut after being sidelined by a torn Achilles in May. He appeared in all 17 games with 10 starts for the Ravens last season, recording eight passes defensed, two interceptions, a forced fumble, and a sack.

When Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson returned to action after missing a month with a hamstring injury, he threw four touchdown passes in a 28-6 win over the Dolphins. In the five games since then, Jackson has thrown a total of two: one, none, none, none, and one.

Per NBC Sports research, Jackson’s five-game stretch without multiple touchdown passes is the longest of his career.

Regardless of that statistical reality, Jackson looked more like his normal self last Sunday against the Steelers, from the standpoint of his speed and acceleration. And he would have had a second touchdown pass against the Steelers, if the touchdown catch by tight end Isaiah Likely hadn’t been overturned by replay review (erroneously, in our view).

The larger problem for the Ravens is that they’ve now lost two games in a row, with their record ping-ponging from 1-5 to 6-5 to now 6-7. They face the Bengals in Cincinnati on Sunday, where game-time temperatures could be close to single digits.

Another loss to Cincinnati will make it much harder for the Ravens to win the AFC North — especially since they finish with games against the Patriots, Packers, and Steelers.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson and tight end Mark Andrews are off the final injury report for the Ravens.

Jackson sat out Wednesday’s practice for a rest day, but he has no injury designation after a pair of full practices to close out the week. Andrews was added to the report as a limited participant on Thursday due to a glute injury and also has no designation.

Running back Keaton Mitchell (knee) and cornerback Nate Wiggins (foot) are also good to go for the Ravens.

Wide receiver Rashod Bateman (ankle), linebacker Tavius Robinson (foot), and safety Ar’Darius Washington (Achilles) are all listed as questionable. Robinson and Washington remain on injured reserve and will need to be activated by Saturday at 4 p.m. ET to play against the Bengals on Sunday.