These days, my blogging has the consistency of the Reds' starting pitching staff, something I'll lazily attribute to an on-air schedule that's been, um, herky-jerky.

Time management is not a strength of mine right now. Actually, I'm not sure what you could consider a strength of mine right now.  

Let's talk about the Bengals/Ravens tilt.

Ready for me to bring the fire?

Here goes.

May want to sit for this. 

I don't know.

That's my response to the question about who's going to win tonight.  

I can elaborate if you want.

OK, here goes.

There are a few factors I don't feel that sure of.

One if Joe Flacco. Last week, he posted arguably his best game since 2015. Is it because he's rejuvenated by the additions at wide receiver?  Is it the discomfort created by the drafting of Lamar Jackson?  Or was last weeks' performance primarily a function of playing against a really bad Buffalo team?

I kind of extend this to Baltimore's defense. They were dominant against the Bills, who ran out a bad quarterback behind a bad offensive line. Was last week's blowout a function of Buffalo being terrible or Baltimore re-discovering itself on D? 

I'm not yet sure what the Ravens are.

I feel the same way about the Bengals.  I was encouraged by the way they played last week against Indy, with the main things that stood out being their defensive depth, Andy Dalton not faltering after a poor start, and the offense's Joe Mixon-centric attack.

But it's not like they played exceedingly well, and they'll certainly need to clean things up to win what's likely to be a close one tonight. 

What does Baltimore do to limit Joe Mixon, and how do the Bengals counter? Can Bill Lazor scheme around the right side of the offensive line being a weakness against a team that wreaked havoc up front last week? And will the NFL's second-youngest be ready for a prime time game coming at the end of a short week against a divisional foe?

How will the Ravens use Lamar Jackson?  How will the Bengals counter the Ravens' usage of Lamar Jackson? 

And what difference will Justin Tucker, one of the NFL's best kickers from long distance, make in a game that just feels like it will be low-scoring.

I. Don't. Know.

It's too early in the season, the week has been too short, and there's too many unknown variables for me to feel really strong either way about both teams.  My gut  says pick the home team.  My heart says take the guys in orange and black.  But my head is too unable to come up with the answers I need to comfortably pick the Bengals. 

When uncertainty reigns, I assume the worst.

Ravens 20 Bengals 17 (Baltimore -1) 

We'll address of the weekend's tilts tomorrow.