Will the Ravens stumble in Glendale?
One thing you can count on week after week in the NFL is that there are always surprises! Last week, for example, four of the five teams that had only one win so far this season were victorious. The only team not to do so was the Arizona Cardinals, who lost to the Seattle Seahawks 10-20 at Lumen Field.
Now they are back at home in Glendale, where they celebrated the only success so far. At the time – against the Dallas Cowboys – it was at least as surprising as a win in the upcoming match would have been. And so NFL worlds collide when the Arizona Cardinals host the Baltimore Ravens. A bet on the hosts, who will start the game as clear underdogs, sometimes brings odds beyond the 4.00 mark.
The game against the division rival from Seattle was a mirror image of Arizona’s season. Once again, they held their own in the first, but eventually lost by a wide margin. And once again, because nothing worked offensively in the second. Now they are the last remaining team with one win in six losses, making them currently the second worst franchise this season.
The Ravens, on the other hand, made a statement last week that was not expected with such clarity. They beat the Lions 38-6, one of the best teams in the National Football Conference, and with a 5-2 record at the latest, they are one of the absolute top teams in the American Football Conference. Under these circumstances, it is not at all surprising that Baltimore is the favorite in Glendale for the match between the Cardinals and Ravens. The maximum odds for the visitors, however, are a less attractive 1.27.
Arizona Cardinals – statistics & current form
The Cardinals’ season is going as many experts predicted in advance. After the loss of important personnel in the offseason and the upheaval in the coaching staff, small rolls were baked in Arizona. Before the duel of the Cardinals vs. Ravens to dare to predict that these rolls will become bigger in the course of the season, seems to be daring and closely linked to a personnel: Kyler Murray. He is back on the training ground and is even training limited again to some extent. However, there is no date yet for his return to the pitch and therefore he will again be represented by Joshua Dobbs in the fourth home game of the season.
On track for top 5 draft pick
Targets set low from the start this season likely ensure the Glendale franchise will be cautious when it comes to the playmaker’s recovery. Ranked 15th in the NFC and having just lost six games, their playoff chances are only theoretical anyway. Even with Dobbs giving the offense some baseline in the passing and run game, the drop-off to a top playmaker like Murray was for years is increasingly evident.
Add to that, of course, the injury to James Conner, and the running game is no longer functioning at the level it did in the early games. 127 rushing yards against a good rushing defense, like that of the Seahawks, are by no means bad, but in the end it was not enough to score enough points. That can certainly be attributed to only 150 passing yards.
On defense, a key personnel returned last week in Budda Baker, but overall the defense is allowing too much. Averaging 368.3 yards and 26.0 points to opponents, they rank in the bottom third of the league in both stats.
Key Players:
- QB: Joshua Dobbs
- RB: Emari Demercado
- WR: Marquise Brown
- TE: Trey McBride
- K: Matt Prater
Baltimore Ravens – statistics & current form
The team from Baltimore, on the other hand, is so far taking exactly the expected development and is therefore quite rightly now treated as a contender. How before the duel between the Cardinals and Ravens the betting odds stand for a possible Super Bowl victory of the franchise, you can find out here. That they have what it takes to make it big with a quarterback like Lamar Jackson was impressively underlined last week.
The offense is put together perfectly
Jackson is playing at an absolutely elite level so far this season. He has finally put together a plethora of reliable receivers, all of whom are good at getting away from their defenders. The box score from last game day shows 21 passes to nine different pass receivers, only four of which were to the wide receiver unit. In addition, there were passes to running backs or just tight end Mark Andrews, who has been one of Jackson’s most popular and reliable targets for years. Against the Lions, for example, he caught four passes for 63 yards and two touchdowns.
Incidentally, in the last meeting with Arizona, Andrews recorded eight pass catches for 112 yards and a touchdown. Will he have another successful end zone visit for Baltimore when the Cardinals host the Ravens? A prediction on that is not at all far-fetched, because he is the undisputed number one within the team – with five touchdowns already.
The offense is built around the run game, of course, but it suffered a major setback early in the season with the loss of J.K. Dobbins. In addition to playmaker Jackson getting designed run plays time and time again, Gus Edwards had a strong game against the Lions. The upcoming opponent’s run defense will certainly cause Baltimore to do some damage on the ground again.
Stealthily, quietly, the defensive unit molted into one of the best in the league. They now stand at just 13.6 points allowed per game, which is tops in the league. In five of their seven matches – as well as their most recent four games – they have not allowed 20 points to opponents.
Key Players:
- QB: Lamar Jackson
- RB: Gus Edwards
- WR: Zay Flowers
- TE: Mark Andrews
- K: Justin Tucker
Arizona Cardinals – Baltimore Ravens Direct comparison / H2H balance
That the home side, of all teams, will now manage to reach the 20-point mark against Baltimore seems almost impossible under the current circumstances. This recommendation would bring plenty of value in the duel of the Cardinals vs. Ravens, but we do not dare a tip in this regard. Also because the franchise from Glendale managed this only three times in the previous seven direct duels.
Ravens playmaker Lamar Jackson also has an almost flawless record against teams from the NFC so far and so he stands – including last week’s win – at 16 wins and only one loss when the opponent belongs to the other conference.
Arizona Cardinals – Baltimore Ravens Tip
Despite playing away from home, Baltimore is seen as having as much as a 9.5-point advantage in some markets, and that’s despite the Cards losing only one of their three home games by eight or more points. Predicting the visitors to win is redundant between the Cardinals and Ravens. The odds are too clear for anyone to expect or guess otherwise. However, we do not expect the Ravens to celebrate the next “blowout win” and advise not to underestimate the home side.
It also seems absolutely possible to bet on the “double result” and there, of course, we tend to the option that the visiting team, led by John Harbaugh, will have the upper hand at halftime and at the end of the game.
