Since the Ravens are simply the old Cleveland Browns founded by Paul Brown and ever since Marvin Lewis brought the Lombardi Trophy he earned in Baltimore to Cincinnati as the long-time head coach of the other NFL franchise Brown founded, Bengals-Ravens has always had the air of a simmering, salty sibling rivalry.
Maybe never more so than Sunday's latest edition (1 p.m.-Cincinnati's Local 12) at Paycor Stadium.
For one thing, two of the bigger chess pieces on the board are brothers.
While the Bengals' Dax Hill is making a rather smooth and quick transition from starting safety to starting cornerback in his third season, Ravens running back Justice Hill is having a breakthrough year in his fifth season.
For another, a former Raven who made the biggest play during the Paycor game last season is now giving Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow tips after safety Geno Stone's end-zone interception out of Baltimore's dizzying scheme turned the game on what would have been a go-ahead touchdown pass.
Then you've got Bengals assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons in his biannual grudge match with Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. Before Harbaugh became the Ravens head man in 2008, he and Simmons duked it out as two of the best special teams coaches in the game.
"I've always treated it like a prove-it game for us a little bit, where we're fighting for respect," said Simmons before Thursday's practice. "I want to play well against them. That's always been a huge goal of ours."
Suffice it to say it's like that in all phases, given that since Bengals head coach Zac Taylor arrived in 2019, he and Harbaugh have each led his team to the AFC North title twice.
Joey Franchise said it best this week.
"We know what our record is. We know the opportunities we have going forward, but it's our first divisional opponent. We're 1-3. We need to get this one, it's a big game for the Bengals," Burrow said.
The Ravens' 0-2 start is a distant memory after The King (running back Derrick Henry) and Czar Lamar (quarterback Lamar Jackson) blew apart a Super Bowl contender when they drilled the Bills Sunday night, 35-10, with one of those 271-yard nights on the ground. The Ravens, who lead the NFL in rushing this year, this decade, and this century, added a former NFL rushing champion last offseason in Henry and his 199-yarder against Buffalo is proof his old-school power game still thrives.
Plus, they did all that damage with Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews not making a catch and understudy Isaiah Likely looking like the Pro Bowl tight end. And then there's wide receivers Zay Flowers and Nelson Agholor averaging 16.5 yards per catch between them.
And …
But Geno Stone, who spent the previous four seasons in Baltimore, says don't kid yourself.
"I've seen it where he didn't have a lot of weapons. A lot of guys were hurt, and the offense was still working at the same pace because he was there," Stone said. "That offense goes as he goes. He leads it. Derrick helps a lot, but that offense is not that offense without Lamar."
What can't Jackson do? He's a riveting athlete who runs like an All-Pro running back and throws well enough to have the ninth-best passer rating in the league. Stone realized this week he's never had to tackle him until Sunday.
"In practice, you can't touch him. All I can think about is how these guys tell me how hard he is to get on the ground," said Stone, a seventh-round draft pick of the Ravens in 2020. "I'm ready for that challenge. It's going to be weird. It's going to be different. But they're the opponents … I'm treating it like just another game.
"It helps a lot (practicing against the scheme.) I've been around him. I know everyone's strengths and weaknesses and they certainly know all my strengths and weaknesses as well. At the end of the day, they know me, I know them. The organizations know each other and it comes down to an AFC North game."
For that, Stone has one solution.
"You've got to live with Lamar throwing the ball, you don't want him and Derrick being able to run the ball," Stone said. "It's not how you stop him, it's how you limit him. You know he's going to make plays, he's going do what he does. But you have to limit how many plays he makes, how big of plays they are."
And throw in another weapon in this neighborhood rivalry. The kid next door. Dax's brother Justice.
"Out of the backfield. Running screens. They get him the ball as much as they can," Stone said. "He's making a difference. When he comes in, people are thinking more passing downs, but he's done a good job still being in the running game."
As Justice emerges from last Sunday night as the Ravens' most targeted (six for six catches) and leading receiver (78 yards), Dax quietly comes in as one of Pro Football Focus's top 38 graded cornerbacks with better coverage grades than the more highly ballyhooed and experienced Sauce Gardner, Greg Newsome II, and Devon Witherspoon.
And that's in his first four games as a starting outside cornerback after playing more than 1,000 snaps at safety the year before.
"He's very calm. Not up and down. He has the right temperament for that position," said Bengals cornerbacks coach Charles Burks. "He's been put in a position where he can be the best version of himself and you've seen the result."
Hill says he's looking at the mistakes he made the game before and tries to eliminate them the next time out. He thinks he did that last Sunday in Carolina.
Without Hill's alert play on second down on the goal line on Andy Dalton's fade to Carolina wide receiver Diontae Johnson, there is no fourth-down stand on the game's first series as Hill knocked it out of Johnson's hands while they fell to the ground.
"I feel like I was in a lot better (man-to-man coverage) position than I was in Washington. This past week I was in better position to make plays on balls," Hill said of the Monday night game against the Commanders. "I knew (on the fade) they were going to take a shot at him. They lined him up against me three or four times in that series. I knew they were going to try me. I caught up. That was my plan. I knew he had a chance to catch the ball and I knew I was going to be able to get it out."
Hill's consistency is what has fueled his rise. He ended up playing 91% of the snaps last Sunday, the most of the cornerbacks on a day No. 1 cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt's inconsistencies put him in a rotation with DJ Turner II.
"He's been really, really on top of all of his assignments," says Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. "He's been great that way. He has no miscommunication, so I'm really, really, really happy and pleased with that. And there's a play here or there where he's still getting a feel for the game when he's in zone, which takes some time when you're a new guy to the position."
Dax probably won't be asked to cover Justice Sunday, but he may end up tackling him, which he did last year a few times. Dax figures it's the only time he's tackled him. Except for a few practices at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Okla.
They may even talk before or after the game. "You can never tell with him," Dax said.
"He's making some plays for them. Catching the ball out of the backfield. A lot of big things," said Dax, who watched the Sunday nighter against the Bills. "I strictly just watch him. I support him. That's really it. A divisional opponent. You can't root for them. That's the the rivalry. That's the team we go against twice a year. You really root for him."
They talked the other night. It didn't sound like a lot of football. Dax admits it's a bit weird because he's been watching him on tape all day.
"We know we have to play each other. We talk about it, but not full depth," Dax said. "We make jokes and kind of talk about everything else. It's kind of surreal talking to him and then going against him."
What's no joke is that dastardly run game, Hill is in Stone's camp.
"Stopping the run. They pride themselves on it," Hill said. "If we do that, I feel like we have a good chance. They're the top running team in the league. Make them pass the ball."
Anarumo is stressing for Hill to tackle better, which has been a defense-wide issue. PFF has him for five missed tackles, with one each the last three weeks after missing two against New England in the opener. Hill senses he's getting better, saying he's adjusting to the different angles. At safety, it's usually a straight-on tackle. At cornerback, it's now from the side.
"He's getting better," Burks said. "Last week he tackled No. 30 (running back Chubba Hubbard) on the exact same play he missed against New England."
Burks says all three of his regular cornerbacks, Hill, Taylor-Britt, and Turner, embrace tackling and won't shy away. The trio knows poor tackling can't happen against the NFL's best rushing team.
"On the early downs against the Ravens," Burks said, "you have to have your best tacklers on the field."
Hill has heard the message.
"They're overemphasizing (the tackling)," Hill said. "Because they run the ball 20-30 times a game. We want to stop that early and make good solid tackles. Set the tone and see if they change the game plan and try to beat us in a different way."
Like Burks said, "You have to play a certain way to beat Baltimore."
During his 17 seasons in Baltimore, Harbaugh has gone to the playoffs 11 times on a model of highly-ranked defenses and special teams complemented by elite running games. In his 22nd season with the Bengals, Simmons, the most tenured kicking game coach in the league, has watched Harbaugh's Ravens win five AFC North titles while the Bengals have won four in a fiercely contested rivalry where the Ravens lead, 17-16, and the Bengals have won the only postseason game.
Put it all together and the Bengals lead the Ravens, 23-20, in Simmons' 21 previous seasons.
"I have great respect for Coach Harbaugh and what they do there and his coaching staff. Chris Horton has been there for a long time," said Simmons of the Ravens special teams coordinator in his ninth season on Harbaugh's staff.
"Each (game) is a battle. Not necessarily Harbaugh, but the Ravens in general."
Harbaugh has had three Pro Bowl kickers/punters, including future Pro Football Hall of Famer kicker Justin Tucker, who is still kicking.
But for the last two seasons and a quarter, the Bengals' Evan McPherson has outkicked Tucker. While Tucker has gone 10-for-21 from 50 yards and beyond since 2022, McPherson is 15-for-20 with an overall field goal percentage of 84.3 compared to Tucker's 84.1. McPherson's long is 59 yards, Tucker 58. McPherson has hit all three from 50 this year while Tucker has missed both his 50 tries.
For years the Ravens were blessed with an elite punter in Sam Koch and when they replaced him with Jordan Stout, Stout promptly set the club record last year with a 47.8-yard punting average.
But this year, the Bengals can answer with a big-footed rookie of their own in Ryan Rehkow and his record-breaking start. He doesn't have enough punts to qualify with only nine, but if he did his 58.4 gross yards per punt and 49.7 net would comfortably be in the NFL lead. He's got a four-yard net edge and six-yard gross edge on Raiders three-time Pro Bowler A.J. Cole III.
That's what it may come down to. Who can beat who in a different game?
"There's a little extra juice for this one," Simmons said, "and the fact it's our first division game."
