Ravens Showing More Than the Run Game
By Charles Jay
Those BetAnySports patrons engaged in Monday Night Football betting will be looking at two squads coming in on a high note.
The Indianapolis Colts experienced a bit of good news last week as they chalked up their first victory. But that was against an opponent much less formidable than they will be facing on Monday night.
The Baltimore Ravens will be awaiting them, with a three-game winning streak and more confidence in the run game after having suffered quite a few injuries at the position in training camp.
These teams will get together at 8:15 p.m. Eastern time at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. It’s obviously an ESPN game, and you’ve got numerous options if you want to stick with the action, including Super Lines, Ultimate Lines and Premier Lines.
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Ravens vs. Colts — Running back recovery
You are probably aware that things just coincidentally happened to running backs for Baltimore as training camp wound down. Gus Edwards, JK Dobbins and Justice Hill were all eliminated with season-ending injuries. So this backfield core had to be rebuilt on the fly.
What the Ravens have come up with is another committee that includes Ty’Son Williams, who is averaging six yards a carry, Latavius Murray, the wily veteran, and Devonta Freeman, a former Pro Bowl performer in Atlanta. They have outrushed the opposition by 315 yards. And of course the guy who triggers the run game is the quarterback.
Ravens vs. Colts — Jackson’s not on the injury report
QB Lamar Jackson, the former MVP, has been bothered by a back injury. That might be the reason he carried the ball only seven times last week. On an overall basis, he’s got 279 yards on the ground.
It’s not just his legs that make an impact on this offense, obviously. Jackson has 11.6 intended air yards per attempt, which is almost five yards more than his counterpart, Carson Wentz. So Baltimore does stretch the opposing defense. They’ve got 19 different passing plays of 20 or more yards, and seven different runs of 20-plus.
We can assume that Jackson’s back is not an issue because he is not on the injury report. As to how head coach John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman might limit his load, that’s another matter entirely.
Ravens vs. Colts — Here are the numbers…..
In the Monday Night Football betting odds posted on this game by the folks at BetAnySports, the Ravens are the favorites:
Baltimore Ravens -7
Indianapolis Colts +7
Over 46 points -110
Under 46 points -110
Ravens vs. Colts — Wentz behind a banged-up line
Carson Wentz has been dealing with two sprained ankles, but we suppose every week that goes by without him aggravating the situation he gets closer to getting better. Last week against Miami he completed 24 of 32 for 228 yards, which are modest numbers.
You know, the Colts have been dealing with injury issues on the offensive line, and recently had to place Quentin Nelson on injured reserve with an ankle sprain. Nelson, an All-Pro guard, may be the best run blocker in the NFL. So the perception is that this would hurt Indy’s run game. But they got 103 yards out of Jonathan Taylor against the Dolphins. Still, the Colts have run the ball just 41% of the time, so that is not the bread and butter.
Ravens vs. Colts — The meaningful factors
Jackson has demonstrated that he can go down the field, and Indianapolis may not have the secondary depth to deal with it. It really is impressive that the Ravens have had to start from square one in the backfield and have managed to rank fourth in the NFL in rushing, with 5.2 yards per carry and 164.5 yards per game.
We don’t see the Colts duplicating that kind of performance, even though we admire Taylor. But Roman, the coordinator, just has too strong a concept going in Baltimore. It’s amazing he’s not a hotter head coaching candidate.
Another thing to consider are the special teams edges for Baltimore, which has the top punt returner in the league (Devin Duvernay, averaging 18.9 yards) as well as record-setting kicker Justin Tucker. No, there’s nothing automatic about this one, but between these two sides, we like the home team.
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