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Posted at 11:30 AM EST.  

CINCINNATI +10 -110 over Baltimore

1:00 PM EST. When a team kicks ass on Sunday Night Football as the Ravens did in Week 9, the market usually takes notice. When you smash the previously unbeaten Patriots, well, your stock price soars like the fireworks on the Fourth of July. Add to that high profile performance the fact we have a first versus worst situation and you are no doubt going to pay a premium to back the AFC's flavor of the month. With the Chiefs down their star QB and the Pats having just got whacked 37-20 by these Ravens, red hot Baltimore is getting a ton of Super Bowl hype after four straight wins. However, where it counts most, at the window, the Ravens have not been cashing tickets at nearly the clip you might think. On deck for the Ravens is not a prime time game or a big division showdown, but they do play the Texans in what will be a potential showcase of the future of the position with DeShaun Watson visiting Lamar Jackson in Charm City. The NFL will play up that QB matchup and Lamar Jackson might be eating it up already. We aren't going to gush over the Ravens like the media and market is and there is no chance of us getting behind this overrated pivot spotting points like this on the road. Jackson is a great runner but he’s not a great QB and cannot win games on his own with his arm or his decisions. We suggested very early on in the year after Baltimore beat Miami 94-0 or something like that in Week 1 that there was going to be a great time to fade the Ravens and this is finally that week.

On the surface, at 0-8, there is very little reason to think the Bengals can compete here, but we can think of one, the benching of one Andrew Gregory Dalton. In a move that was a long time coming, the "Red Rifle's" muzzle has likely fired its last shot in the Queen City. Dalton took his demotion like any delusional quarterback would and expressed an interest in being traded in the offseason, as he has one year and is owed $17.5 million next season. With much offense intended, who the f**k does this idiot think is going to trade for him and pay him that when the Bengals would be glad to cut him just to get him off the books and out of the building. On second thought, Matt Nagy might be inquiring as we write this. In any case, Dalton was a Marvin Lewis guy and just as the Bengals hung onto Lewis far too long, Lewis showed that same stubborn loyalty to an average pivot. First year bench boss Zac Taylor gave Dalton more than enough leash to hang himself and now that he's done it, Taylor can move on with Ryan Finley, who the Bengals drafted in the fourth round of last April's draft. Finley starred at N.C. State and was first team All-ACC in 2018. He was also named to the All-ACC Academic team after posting a 3.9 GPA. He's a smart kid that has been sitting on the sidelines for nearly three months, taking it all in and his football I.Q. is off the charts. The Bengals are nearly unbettable at this point, but that's the point. Finley looked great in the preseason and was hitting his targets all over the field. The kid was so good in the preseason that the local beat writers suggested he earned the right to start the opener. 

Some new blood should revitalize this team and the home crowd, who have been frothing at the mouth for a look at the future. It's important to remember that the Bengals were a double-digit dog in Baltimore with Dalton at the helm (a game they covered by the way 23-17) and now they are a similar price at home here without him. That cannot be.

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