The Raiders finally got a dubbya for the first time since they narrowly defeated the lowly Cleveland Browns in Week 4. But let’s face it, the Arizona Cardinals are terrible, so the victory isn’t saying much for capabilities of the Silver and Black. In fact, the clash Sunday is expected to be such a one-sided affair that some of the top betting sites on SBR already have the Ravens listed as favorites with the point spread set at 12. Read their reviews to find which outlet suits you better.
Ravens In The Hunt
Right now there is a foot race between five teams to see who can snatch up that No. 6 seed in the AFC. In the hunt are the Baltimore Ravens, the Indianapolis Colts, the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Miami Dolphins.
The Ravens lead the pack with the highest probability of getting a berth based on remaining schedule and team power ranking. Although their record doesn’t reflect it, the Ravens are rated as the No. 6 team in the league by the predictive algorithms at TeamRankings. Baltimore has a 43.8% chance of getting the last wildcard spot, the highest of all of the five teams in the hunt.
- Baltimore 43.8%
- Tennessee 25.3%
- Indianapolis 23.9%
- Cincinnati 20.3%
- Miami 10.5%
The Colts host the Dolphins this week so one of them will be basically eliminated from the playoff race. Tennessee faces a rolling Texans team and could also be taken out of the hunt. The Ravens, on the other hand, get the Raiders.
Key Matchup Stats
Gruden’s men are only averaging 15 points of offense on the road while allowing 25.80 points —which is actually better than their overall defense at 29.30 ppg. The Ravens overall offense has tapered off to a little over 23 points per game, but they are still scoring a healthy 27.40 at home on average.
The Ravens have the No. 1 ranked defense in the league. They also have the best home defense, allowing just 17 points per game. Baltimore’s defense is No. 1 in scoring, No. 2 in passing yards, and No. 4 in rushing. The Silver and Black are ranked 30th in scoring offense. It is pretty easy to pick an outcome when you are putting the third-worst scoring offense in the league against the No. 1 defense. Surprisingly enough, the Raiders are 17th in passing, putting up over 244 yards through the air per game. But they fall completely flat once the field shortens.
Here are a few more situational stats to consider.
— The Raiders have lost seven of their last eight road games.
— Oakland is just 2-12 over their last 14 games overall.
— The Ravens have beaten the Raiders in seven of their 10 meetings (5-1 in Baltimore).
— Baltimore has covered the point spread in six of the last seven games while playing the Raiders.
Can the Ravens Win By Double Digits?
A 12-point spread is huge in the NFL. We’ve mentioned before that even the worst NFL team is still an NFL team. But this is a situation where we could see a score similar to that of the Raiders vs. the 49ers or Raiders vs. the Chargers, 34-3 and 20-6 respectively. The Ravens defense is going to keep the Raiders anemic offense out of the end zone. With that said, Lamar Jackson and company could even play below their home averages and still cover the 11 or 12 points.
The Ravens win by two touchdowns or more.
