The Ravens need this game on Sunday.  Hopefully they watched the Steelers/Browns game last night so that they don’t take the Lions too lightly this Sunday.  The Ravens will likely come out really physical on offense running the ball a lot with Ray Rice, Willis McGahee and Le’Ron McClain against a Lions’ D that is allowing 113.4 yards rushing and 4.1 yards per carry.  The Lions’ secondary really sucks as the Lions are allowing 274.8 yards passing per game this season and opposing QBs have a 108.5 QB Rating against them.  That should be good news for Joe Flacco who has been pretty bad lately.

The Ravens will likely key on Kevin Smith of the Lions as they will try to make the Lions’ offense one-dimensional this Sunday.  Daunte Culpepper will be starting at QB for the Lions so the Ravens will likely blitz often to force him into making some big mistakes.  Still, the Ravens should be worried about WR Calvin Johnson especially because of the problems the Ravens have at corner.

PREDICTION:  RAVENS 23, LIONS 6

A lot of “experts” are picking the Ravens to win this game but I am not one of them.  The Packers are a very underrated team that is better than the Ravens on both sides of the football and it will show on the scoreboard Monday Night.  The Ravens would probably like to run the ball a lot on Monday Night but it won’t be easy as the Packers are only allowing 89.1 yards rushing per game and 3.6 ypc.  That means that Ray Rice and Willis McGahee will have to earn every yard they get on the ground.  Joe Flacco has padded his stats this season with short throws to his backs but the Packers have the linebackers to match up with them.  Flacco will have to be very careful when throwing the ball down the field as Derrick Mason will likely be shadowed by Charles Woodson who already has 7 interceptions this year.

The Packers probably won’t have a lot of success on the ground against a Ravens’ D that is only allowing 97.6 yards rushing per game and 3.5 yards per carry this season.  But, if Aaron Rodgers has the time to throw the ball he will likely have a field day against a Ravens’ D that is allowing 211.3 yards passing per game.  Rodgers has been sacked 44 times this season but the Packers will likely have the WRs and TEs run shorter patterns to protect him.

PREDICTION:  PACKERS 24, RAVENS 16

The Baltimore Ravens (5-5) are hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4) Sunday and they are still waiting to hear whether or not Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is going to play.  Roethlisberger has a pretty bad concussion last week, but was expected to play this week until reports surfaced Friday that their is a good chance that he will sit out for precautionary measures.  This would be great news for the Ravens and their defense, because that would mean that the inexperienced Dennis Dixon would start.  If Dixon does start, it will really limit the Steelers’ offense and the Ravens defense will be able to pressure the young quarterback into a lot of mistakes.  The Steelers will probably limit Dixon and that means the Ravens can key in on Rashard Mendenhall and Willie Parker.  They are holding opponents to 92 rushing yards per game, and if Dixon starts they should be able to keep the Steelers under that.

On offense, Joe Flacco needs to step it up for the Ravens.  The Ravens have lost two of their last three, and Flacco is one of the main reasons why.  He has not thrown a touchdown pass in those three games and has three interceptions.  The Steelers’ run-defense is one of the best in the league (69 rushing yards per game), so the Ravens really need Flacco to get the offense going.  If Roethlisberger starts, the Ravens may be in trouble.  If Dixon starts, it should be a definite win.  Either way, I’m going to go with the the Ravens in a close win.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Baltimore Ravens 20, Pittsburgh Steelers 13

The Colts are coming off a miracle win over the Patriots last week and a lot of experts expect them to be flat this week.  I am not one of them however as this is a good matchup for the Colts’ offense.  The Ravens are giving up 208.9 yards passing per game which is the strength of the Colts’ offense as they are averaging 315.1 yards passing per game.  Peyton Manning has only been sacked 8 times this season and the Ravens will be without Terrell Suggs in this game meaning that he will likely be comfortable in the pocket.  If he has time to throw the ball he will pick the Ravens’ secondary apart.  Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark will likely both have big games this week.  The Ravens can’t double either of those guys or Manning will go to Pierre Garcon and rookie Austin Collie who are both having good years.  The Colts’ running game has been weak this season so the Ravens’ strength of defending the run will be negated.

The Ravens will likely be more conservative than usual as they don’t want to get into a fire fight with the Colts.  That means that Ray Rice and Willis McGahee will likely get a lot of carries this week in a attempt to control the clock.  The Colts are giving up 108.7 yards rushing per game (4.3 ypc) so the Ravens should have some success on the ground.  But, the Ravens need Joe Flacco to play well especially if the Colts bring extra players in the box to defend the run.  That means that Derrick Mason and Mark Clayton will have to have good games for the Ravens to win on Sunday.  Another issue could be how much time that Flacco has to throw the football with DEs Dwight Freeney (9.5 sacks) and Robert Mathis (8.5 sacks) attacking from the edges of the pocket.

PREDICTION:  COLTS 30, RAVENS 17

The Ravens pounded the Browns 34-3 week #3 of the NFL season but they have been 1-4 since then.  The Ravens have a tough schedule the rest of the season so this game is a “must win” situation for them if they want to make a playoff run.  The good news here for the Ravens’ offense is that they should be able to do whatever they want against the Browns.  The Browns are allowing 170.5 yards rushing per game and 4.9 yards per carry.  Ray Rice will likely have a huge game against the Browns who have lost their top two inside linebackers to injury.  Willis McGahee will also likely get in on the fun late in this game for the Ravens.  Joe Flacco has slumped as of late but he will likely rebound against a Browns’ pass D that is allowing 238.6 yards per game through the air.

The Browns are turning back to Brady Quinn at QB in this game and that is a good thing.  If the Browns were smart they would come out throwing the ball on Monday Night against a Ravens’ D that is allowing 225.8 yards passing per game.  For that to work though the Browns’ receivers have to catch the football which they have not been doing to well this season to date.  Mohamed Massaquoi and Jerome Harrison will likely be the main weapons in the passing game for the Browns on Monday Night.  Also look for Josh Cribbs to run the Wildcat Formation a lot in this game for the Browns.  Jamal Lewis will be starting the last game of his career against his old team so he should be motivated to get into some high impact collisions with his old pal Ray Lewis of the Ravens.

PREDICTION:  RAVENS 35, BROWNS 13