Thursday Night Football throws up key AFC North battle

By Mark Eckel 

Remember back in the day when Thursday night was “Must-see TV’’? For NFL fans, it is again this Thursday night. Two of the hottest quarterbacks in the league will meet up in a key AFC North rivalry on Thursday Night Football.

Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson and Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, the two highest rated quarterbacks in the league as well, will be the prime time players when the Ravens host the Bengals on Thursday Night Football. It’s also a crucial game for both teams. 

The Ravens (6-3) need a win to keep pace with the first-place Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2) in the division. Pittsburgh is in Washington to face the Commanders (7-2), Sunday.

The Bengals (4-5) need a win to stay in the chase for an AFC wild-card berth. Currently, they are one game behind the Denver Broncos (5-4) for the third and final wild-card spot. The Indianapolis Colts are also 4-5. Denver is at Kansas City (8-0), Sunday, while the Colts host Buffalo (7-2). 

Jackson, the league’s reigning MVP, had the fourth “perfect’’ game of his career with a quarterback rating of 158.3 last week when the Ravens routed the Broncos. In the 41-10 win, Jackson completed 16 of 19 passes for 280 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. 

He’s the first quarterback since ratings were kept in 1950, to record four “perfect’’ quarterback ratings. His three previous “perfect’’ games came against Miami in 2023, Cincinnati in 2019 and Miami again in 2019. Four other quarterbacks — Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger — have had three “perfect’’ games in their careers.

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Last week’s performance just continued a hot streak for Jackson who is on a seven-game tear where his quarterback rating is 134.9. For the season Jackson leads the NFL in quarterback rating at 120.7 thanks in part to 20 touchdowns and just two interceptions. 

In the other huddle Thursday night will be Burrow, who is coming off a five-touchdown performance in Cincinnati’s 41-24 win over the Raiders last Sunday. 

Burrow, who doesn’t seem to get going until November, started the month off as he usually does. In his career he has engineered a 15-5 record in games played in November, or later. That’s the second-best record in the league. He also has a completion ratio of 69.7 percent in those 20 games (best in the league), has averaged 279.5 yards per game (second best), has thrown 42 touchdown passes to 14 interceptions and has a quarterback rating of 104.1. 

For the season Burrow has completed 70.2 percent of his passes for 2,244 yards with 20 touchdowns and four interceptions. His quarterback rating of 108.1 is second only to Jackson.

NFL WEEK 10 SCHEDULE

Thursday Night Football

MATCHUP	GAME DETAILS
Cincinnati Bengals @ Baltimore Ravens	8:15 PM AMZN	M&T Bank Stadium Baltimore, Maryland

Sun, Nov 10

MATCHUP	GAME DETAILS
New York Giants @ Carolina Panthers	9:30 AM NFLN	Allianz Arena Munich
New England Patriots @ Chicago Bears	1:00 PM FOX	Soldier Field Chicago, Illinois
Buffalo Bills @ Indianapolis Colts	1:00 PM CBS	Lucas Oil Stadium Indianapolis, Indiana
Minnesota Vikings @ Jacksonville Jaguars	1:00 PM FOX	EverBank Stadium Jacksonville, Florida
Denver Broncos @ Kansas City Chiefs	1:00 PM CBS	GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium Kansas City, Missouri
Atlanta Falcons @ New Orleans Saints	1:00 PM FOX	Caesars Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana
San Francisco 49ers @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers	1:00 PM FOX	Raymond James Stadium Tampa, Florida
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Washington Commanders	1:00 PM CBS	Northwest Stadium Landover, Maryland
Tennessee Titans @ Los Angeles Chargers	4:05 PM FOX	SoFi Stadium Inglewood, California
New York Jets @ Arizona Cardinals	4:25 PM CBS	State Farm Stadium Glendale, Arizona
Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys	4:25 PM CBS	AT&T Stadium Arlington, Texas
Detroit Lions @ Houston Texans	8:20 PM NBC, UNIV, TELX	NRG Stadium Houston, Texas

Monday Night Football

MATCHUP	GAME DETAILS
Miami Dolphins @ Los Angeles Rams	8:15 PM ESPN, ESPD	SoFi Stadium Inglewood, California