Trey Hendrickson's revenge game has massive AFC North, playoff implications

The Cincinnati Bengals will come out of the bye week with an opportunity to beat the Baltimore Ravens and take control of their position in the AFC North.

On the Ravens is former Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, who was able to recover from a hand injury and make his presence known in their Week 6 loss to the Cleveland Browns. Hendrickson recorded a sack and eight pressures in the defense's effort to hold the Browns to just 13 points.

Hendrickson's unceremonious departure from the Bengals organization after spending 79 games as one of their top defenders adds some extra volatility to the matchup. There's no love lost between Trey and head coach Zac Taylor, that's for sure.

Trey Hendrickson and the Baltimore Ravens defense will allow them to compete for the AFC North title

While the Ravens couldn't get it done against the Browns, it is important to note that they were without star quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is still day-to-day according to head coach Jesse Minter.

While he's officially day-to-day, a Jackson return would mean the Bengals will have to find ways to put points on the board against Hendrickson and the Ravens defense. Even if the Bengals defense is much improved, Jackson has given them enough trouble in the past to know they can't afford to sputter on offense.

The Ravens and Jackson know the importance of this game and its divisional implications. After the loss to the Browns, every AFC North team has two losses. The Bengals sit in last place with the early bye week and just three wins instead of the four wins everyone else in the division has.

A top-heavy division does not bode well for AFC North teams in a conference that will have a lot of teams vying for a wild card spot. That means this Ravens-Bengals matchup could have huge implications for how the playoff picture for the AFC pans out.

A Bengals win keeps them out of the basement, but with the Pittsburgh Steelers playing the 2-4 New Orleans Saints and the Browns playing the 1-5 Tennessee Titans, a first-place jump is unlikely. A loss puts the Bengals on the outside looking in with a division-high three losses and two divisional losses.

Cincinnati Bengals tackles need to have a big game to mitigate Trey Hendrickson's revenge efforts

The enormous divisional implications are what make Hendrickson's performance crucial. While Hendrickson hasn't quite performed to his typical standard this season, it seems as if he and his fellow defensive linemen have started to find their groove against the Browns. They collectively had five sacks and held the Browns to 13 points, three of which came after a Derrick Henry fumble put them in a tough spot.

Other than the fact that Hendrickson might have some extra emotional investment in this game, one huge factor in his play is the return of fellow defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike. While the Browns game was his fourth game back from injury, he began to look like his old self with a season-high five tackles and his first mark in the sack column.

If the Ravens defensive line can continue to perform at a high level, especially with extra juice from Hendrickson, Bengals tackles Amarius Mims and Orlando Brown Jr. will have their work cut out for them.

Mims is in the midst of a breakout season and is performing at an All-Pro level thus far. He has allowed the second-lowest pressure rate of any tackle through five games.

Brown, on the other hand, has struggled against high-level pass rushers this season. He personally allowed three sacks and had two penalties when going up against the elite Houston Texans pass rush of Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter in Week 2. Despite struggles, Brown entered the bye week after his best performance of the season, allowing just one pressure in the win over the Miami Dolphins.

While there may be some bad blood between the two parties, Brown said he's not putting much emphasis on the matchup in an article from Yahoo Sports.

 "I don't want to look too deep into that necessarily. It'll be a lot of fun. I've got a lot of respect for him," Brown said. "Obviously, everything he did here, helping us win games. He's got a wide variety of abilities to get after the passer. ... He's elite at what he does."

Season-defining games like this are why Brown has a $32 million contract. They are why you take someone like Mims with your first-round pick. If they can mitigate an emotionally charged elite pass rusher and allow quarterback Joe Burrow to operate cleanly, they can pave the way to a Bengals season they actually have control of rather than an end-of-season scramble to sneak into the wild card.

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