The Ravens play the perfect style of football to beat the Colts.  They have a good, physical defense and they can run the ball against anyone.  The Ravens have a huge edge against the front seven of the Colts and they will push them around tomorrow night.  The key will be keeping the ball away from Peyton Manning and his cohorts on the Colts’ offense and that job will fall to Ray Rice, Willis McGahee and Le’Ron McClain.  They had no problem beating up on the Patriots last weekend and frankly I see the same thing happening in this game.  The Ravens have to have success running the ball because Joe Flacco’s play is starting to go downhill fast.  He is getting little help from the rest of the skill players on offense.  The Ravens must pass the ball some, especially on first down, to keep the Colts’ defense honest.

Defensively the Ravens must get after Peyton Manning because the CBs and safeties can’t hold coverage long enough against the Colts’ WRs and TEs if he has time to throw the ball.  The Ravens’ safeties will have their hands full dealing with TE Dallas Clark likely leaving the CBs to themselves in dealing with Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie.  That means the Ravens must decided whether to drop say 8 players back in pass protection or send the linebackers after Manning on the blitz.  I would think they will mix those two scenarios up the whole game in a attempt to stay out of patterns.  The Ravens aren’t too worried about Joseph Addai or Donald Brown so they will likely defend the run on the way to the QB.

PREDICTION:  COLTS 23, RAVENS 20

The Ravens have a tough task ahead of them tomorrow in Foxboro.  The Patriots were 8-0 at home during the regular season while the Ravens were only 3-5 on the road.  The Ravens will likely try to control the clock with the running game and they should have some success.  The front seven of the Patriots don’t exactly strike fear into the hearts of Ray Rice and Willis McGahee.  After all, the Patriots have allowed 110.5 yards rushing and 4.4 yards per carry this season.  If the Ravens can control the game running the ball it will open up some play action passes down the field to Derrick Mason and Mark Clayton.  The Patriots will likely double Mason on almost every play forcing the action passing wise to Mark Clayton and TE Todd Heap.  Heap will cause problems for the Patriots’ safeties as he is tough as nails and he rarely drops a pass.  The Ravens also have a mis-match with Ray Rice and Willis McGahee going for passes out of the backfield.

Defensively the Ravens will have their hands full.  The Patriots will likely be more balanced than usual tomorrow with the play calling.  That is because Tom Brady is banged up physically and the Patriots will be without Wes Welker.  The Patriots will likely try to spread the ball around in the passing game as the Ravens will likely double cover Randy Moss from the second he steps on the field.  My gut feeling though tells me that Benjamin Watson, Julian Edelman and Kevin Faulk will have huge roles in the passing game. 

PREDICTION:  PATRIOTS 21, RAVENS 20

The Baltimore Ravens (8-7) control their own destiny when it comes to the playoffs, and just need to beat the Oakland Raiders (5-10) to get in.  It should be an easy win for the Ravens, but they need to come out and play like it is a playoff game or the Raiders could upset them and their playoff hopes.  The Ravens need to stop all of their penalties, as they lead the league in penalty yards (1,057 yards).  Flacco and the offense should not have any problem with the Raiders defense, but they cannot turn the ball over and keep them in the Raiders in the game.  If they can limit their penalties, take care of the ball, and limit the Raiders’ big plays they will find themselves in the playoffs.  If they don’t, the Raiders are capable of making some plays that could result in the Raiders losing.

Charlie Frye is likely the starting quarterback for the Raiders, and he can be awful at times.  If the Ravens defense can pressure Frye, he will turn the ball over.  The Raiders have some speedy receivers though, so the Ravens cannot get beat deep and give up big plays.  The deep ball is one of the few things the Raiders can do well and it is probably the only thing that can keep them in the game against the Ravens.  The Ravens have so much on the line that I think they will come out with intensity and will be on top of their game.

PREDICTION:   Baltimore Ravens 27, Oakland Raiders 13

The Ravens beat the Steelers 21-17 in OT last month when Ben Roethlisberger was out of action but they will have to now beat them with him if they want to make the playoffs.  If the Ravens were smart they would come out throwing the ball against the Steelers after watching how bad the secondary of theirs played last weekend against the Packers.  If the O-Line gives Flacco time to throw the ball he will have a lot of success which means that Derrick Mason, Mark Clayton and Todd Heap could be in line for big games.  Don’t think that the Ravens will abandon the run however as Ray Rice is the best player on the offense.

The Ravens must blitz as soon as they get out of the locker-room because Roethlisberger gets careless with the football after he gets punched in the mouth a few times.  Still, the Steelers have a impressive corps of WRs and Heath Miller at TE so they could cause some problems when they throw the ball.  Rashard Mendenhall has to be the Ravens’ focus when the Steelers run the ball and he will be the responsibility of middle linebacker Ray Lewis who is still at the top of his game.

PREDICTION:  RAVENS 21, STEELERS 20

The Baltimore Ravens (7-6) have the Chicago Bears (5-8) coming to town, and if they play like they did last week the Ravens should not have a problem.  The Bears don’t do very many things well, so the Ravens should attack Bears’ quarterback Jay Cutler as much as they can.  Cutler has been having a terrible season and has lost a lot of confidence, so if the Ravens can get some pressure on him they will likely force some turnovers.  The Bears are going to look to establish their running game because of this, but the Ravens should be able to shut down Bears’ running back Matt Forte like most other teams have done all season.

On offense, the Ravens should run the ball early and often.  The Bears do not have a good run-defense, and are giving up 129 rushing yards per game.  Ray Rice and Willis McGahee both had very strong games last week, so they should continue that success against the Bears.  Joe Flacco should have some success too, he just needs to make sure he doesn’t throw some interceptions like he did in their loss to Green Bay two weeks ago.  They need to win out if they want any chance of making the playoffs, and if they take care of the ball they will win this game.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Baltimore Ravens 28, Chicago Bears 14