Second Thursday Night Football: Ravens vs. Bengals

Today marks the second date of the NFL, with the traditional Thursday Night Football, which this time plays the Raven of Baltimore visiting the Bengals of Cincinnati, a duel that will start the 7 at night, Central Mexico time.

The Cincinnati Bengals took advantage of their home turf and will fight for the Northern Division, following their home win over the Baltimore Ravens at TNF.

The Cincinnati Bengals had a great first half and it was enough to achieve a very important victory by 34-23 over the Baltimore Ravens, with which they are placed as leaders of the North Division of the American Conference.

The pair between Andy Dalton and AJ Green combined for three touchdown passes in the victory.

As usual, all the games that are played at night have some extra meaning, the only one who knows exactly what day will be played at some point of the season is the current champion, since he will be forced to inaugurate the season with the first Thursday Night, outside of that, normally, the games of Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night are about historical rivalries, duels of great hobbies, or meeting between teams of the same conference.

The latter is the case of this second game on Thursday night since Baltimore and Cincinnati belong to the north of the American, so, undoubtedly, it will be a duel that will bring sparks since, in American sports, matches between rivals from the same area always add more.

Andrew Luck 'is happy to be sent back by Suggs

A nervous Andrew Luck, as he himself admitted, did not play "very well" in this Monday's NFL pre-season game against the Baltimore Ravens. 

Luck's performance was a reminder that chemistry and magic will not return simply by osmosis after more than a year away from American football. More important to Luck than statistics or performances during the preseason, will be how the body and your shoulder will react after each and every day of work. "I'm very, very encouraged," Luck said. "How I feel? I feel great. "

The quarterback struggled in his first game after injuring me his right shoulder. The Colts' 12 shirts hit just 6 of 13 passes for 50 yards, suffering an interception and two sacks. While the Colts looked "sloppy" on Monday night, rookie coach Frank Reich was pleased with Luck taking the next step on his return. "We turned the ball, and my experience tells me that protection was sometimes not good," Reich commented. "We just did not find a rhythm for it. I felt maybe there were one or two pitches that were not your best pitches, but overall, it's not as bad as you think or as good as you think. "

This is good news, and certainly the first of the conditions for a return to the highest level. Yet the statistics and releases show that much work remains to be done.

The head coach himself, Franck Reich, recognizes that Andrew Luck is making progress and is encouraging: 

"We lost possessions, and my experience tells me that the protection was sometimes not very good. " did he declare. "We did not find a rhythm for him. I think one or two throws were not his best throws, but overall, it's usually not as bad as you think, or as good as you think. I am always confident in our offensive course. "

The speech is reassuring, however, just a few weeks before the start of the regular season, the Colts give the impression of going very slowly.