Week Ten Crystal Ball - Thursday: Two Rivals Meet in Maryland
"The Ball is the program." - P.J. Fleck
My friends, all of DC has been buzzing this week and for good reason: the hometown Washington footballers are hotter than TOMMY BIRD on a subway platform in July.
But there’s another team, just up the Beltway, that demands - commands? - your respect: the Baltimore Ravens, led by perennial MVP candidate Lamar Jackson, the most unique quarterback this league has ever seen.
Jackson is having another otherworldly season and certainly gets amped when his Ravens (6-3, 3-1 home) face the rival Bengals (4-5, 3-1 away). Kickoff is at 8:15 pm on Amazon Prime Video.
It’s a big deal when these teams square off but that wasn’t always the case. In their first 14 meetings, spanning 1996-2002, the Bengals won just four games vs. Charm City, including three shutouts in one five-game stretch. Then Marvin Lewis came to town to coach the Cincinnatians.
Lewis quickly made his mark, beating Baltimore in his first try and ripping off seven wins in the first 10 matchups. A rivalry was born and, during his 16 years leading the Bengals, Lewis was an excellent 19-13 (.594) against his one-time employer1.
Some remember Lewis for his 0-7 playoff record in Cincinnati but consider this: the Bengals only made seven postseason appearances - total - in the 35 seasons before his arrival. Simply put: the man legitimized the franchise, putting it on the football map.
Overall, Lewis won 131 games in his 16 seasons, more than double the total of the second winningest coach in franchise history, the late Sam Wyche (64). He also registered a winning percentage of .518, which ranks third in team annals, trailing only Forrest Gregg (.561) and Bill Johnson2 (.545). Well done, sir.
THE GURU’s picks are rarely well done. In fact, they’re usually half-baked. But I’m riding a bit of a hot-ish streak right now, including Week Nine’s 10-5 effort, which pushed the season mark to 81-55 (.595).
I’ll take the Ravens tonight in a tight one and will try to make more hay this weekend when the full slate arrives. Be well and God bless!
Lewis was defensive coordinator of the Ravens from 1996-2001, capturing a Super Bowl XXXV title in a beatdown of the Giants.
Johnson’s claim to fame? Owner Paul Brown named him head coach over a rising coaching star named Bill Walsh in 1976. Walsh worked his way to the 49ers job three years later and the rest is history.