There aren’t many NFL teams that look more formidable at the moment than the Baltimore Ravens. They have seemingly been running through everybody, and hold a commanding lead in the AFC North.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Rams have not come close to the form they showed last year when they romped to the Super Bowl. Yet they are certainly right in the middle of the playoff race.
We’ll see an extremely intriguing matchup on Monday night. At the recently-renovated L.A. Coliseum, the Rams and Ravens do battle. Game time is 8:15 PM ET. And while BetAnySports customers watch it on ESPN, they can place wagers in real-time. They have two options to do it – Sports Betting Ultra and Live Betting Extra.
Ravens on a roll
The Ravens started out 2-2, and since then have won six in a row. In these last four, they have been particularly dominant. In beating Cincinnati, in addition to playoff contenders Seattle, New England and Houston, they have outscored these opponents by a 157-56 margin.
Lamar Jackson, in his second year in the NFL, has established himself as a legitimate contender for the MVP Award. He’s completed 66% of his passes with 19 touchdowns. But what might be even more impressive is that he has 781 rushing yards, which lands him in the league’s top ten. This is unprecedented. Mark Ingram has averaged almost five yards per carry. It’s no wonder that the Ravens have run the ball more often (percentage-wise) than any other NFL team.
The “McVay” image
About a year ago, there wasn’t a hotter name in the coaching profession than Sean McVay. After all, he had taken a tired and stale Rams team and brought it to the Super Bowl rather quickly. And his assistants were suddenly very hot properties on the market. Matt LeFleur was scooped up by Green Bay.
Zac Taylor was hired by the Cincinnati Bengals. Admittedly these two McVay “disciples” have had quite different maiden voyages into head coaching. But the fact is, they have one of just 32 jobs available. And that can be attributed to their association with what the Rams had accomplished.
But suddenly McVay isn’t the “hot” guy anymore, and his team doesn’t seem the same after they were held to just three points in the Super Bowl against New England. This season they are basically middle of the pack as far as their average gain per drive. And Jared Goff looks like anything BUT a Pro Bowl quarterback. That has left some discussion as to whether he’s just a guy who paints by the numbers, so to speak.
Here are the numbers…..
Monday Night Football betting odds posted on this game, the Ravens are favored
| Team | SP/RL | TOTAL | ML | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ravens | -3 (-118) | 46½ (-108) | -170 |  |
| Rams | +3 (-102) | 46½ (-112) | +148 | |
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How the Ravens work
Jackson is going to have some designed runs; that’s for sure. And when he’s facing a pass rush, he often has the ability to avoid it. That’s not to say he is immune from sacks. But he can drive a secondary crazy as he buys himself extra time.
What’s kind of interesting about all this is that three of Baltimore’s top five receivers are tight ends. And Jackson has completed 73% of his passes to them. So you know what the Ravens’ plan of attack is. And it is up to the opposing defense to defend these relatively short routes.
How the Rams work
The Los Angeles passing game is largely predicated on play action. And that means they have to be able to run the ball effectively. Last year they were able to run with a lot of authority, at least until Todd Gurley’s mysterious knee injury. And even after that, CJ Anderson did a yeoman’s job filling the vacuum. But Gurley has not produced anywhere near what he did in 2018. And CJ Anderson is not around. Neither Malcolm Brown nor Darrell Henderson has been anything for opposing defenses to fear.
The effect on Goff is that he has thrown 10 interceptions to go with just eleven TD’s. And his quarterback rating is 82.1, which is well below Jackson’s (106.3). Don’t associate this edition of the Rams with last year’s.
In conclusion…….
We’d love to be able to make a case for the defending NFC champs getting a field goal at home. Fundamentally, however, it is difficult.
On the surface, you can see that the Rams are giving up just 3.5 yards a rushing attempt. That’s a good thing against a very strong rushing team. But those other teams don’t have a quarterback who can do what Jackson can do with his legs.
It is true that if a shutdown corner like L.A.’s Jalen Ramsey can take out one primary receiver by himself, it might make it easier for the Rams to handle the shorter routes.
But shutting a team like Baltimore is less likely than it would be for the Ravens, who have added ex-Ram Marcus Peters to their secondary, to make things difficult for the underachieving Goff. So John Harbaugh’s team deserves serious consideration, even as the road favorite.
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