This is the game where the Ravens might finally destroy a team.  The Ravens are winning by an average of 6.3 points per game but this is likely to be a blowout in their favor.  The Bills are 0-5 on the year and they get outscored by an average of 14.8 points per game.  The only thing the Bills have going for them is that they have had 2 weeks to get ready for the Ravens.  Here is a look at the match-ups in this game:

When the Ravens have the ball:  Ray Rice and Willis McGahee have to be excited about tomorrow’s game after watching game film of the Bills’ D all week.  The Bills are giving up 182.4 yards rushing and 4.8 yards per carry so Rice and McGahee should face very little resistance tomorrow.  Joe Flacco also has to be excited about this game as opposing QBs have a 114.8 QB Rating against the Bills who only have six sacks and 1 interception so far this year.  Flacco will likely be playing a game of catch with Anquan Boldin, Derrick Mason and T.J. Houshmandzadeh in this game.  

PREDICTION:  RAVENS 34, BILLS 10

The Ravens are 2-1 on the road this year while the Patriots are 2-0 at home (outscoring the opponents 76-54).  The Ravens rolled into Foxboro last January and they destroyed the Patriots 33-14 as they pushed them around all day long.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Ravens have the ball:  The Ravens are going to probably run a very balanced offense against a very poor Patriots’ D.  This could be the game that Joe Flacco really breaks out as the Patriots are giving up 272.3 yards passing per game and opposing QBs have a 91.2 QB Rating against them so far this year.  I fully expect Ray Rice to have another monster game too against a Patriots’ D that is allowing 112.3 yards rushing and 4.4 yards per carry so far this year.

When the Patriots have the ball:  The Patriots will likely try to be balanced against the Ravens in a attempt to control the football.  BenJarvus Green-Ellis has been really solid so far this year and he’s a bigger back like Peyton Hillis who gave the Ravens’ D trouble earlier in the year.  The Patriots will likely keep the passing game short to nullify the Ravens’ pass rush.  That means that Wes Welker, Julian Edelman, Aaron Hernandez and Deion Branch will all likely be in on the action.

PREDICTION:  RAVENS 23, PATRIOTS 20

Both of these teams are coming off huge road wins last week as the Broncos beat the Titans and the Ravens beat the Steelers.  With the Steelers being a bitter division rival they probably had more taken out of them last weekend than the Broncos did.  This has trap game written all over it.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Ravens have the ball:  The Ravens have passed the ball 56.6% of the time this year and they would likely want to be more like 50/50.  This could be the week that happens.  Ray Rice finally looks healthy and the Ravens are going to likely get him the ball a lot both running and catching passes out of the backfield.  The outside linebackers of the Broncos are converted DEs so they will likely have big issues trying to cover Rice on pass patterns.  The Broncos have a good, veteran secondary but the Ravens shouldn’t have a lot of problems moving the ball through the air because the Broncos only have 4 sacks so far this year.  If Joe Flacco has time to throw the ball one of the talented WRs or TEs of the Ravens will be open.

When the Broncos have the ball:  The Broncos suck at running the ball as they are only averaging 55.0 yards rushing and 2.2 yards per carry.  The front seven will be responsible for stopping the run game of the Broncos on the way to the QB.  Kyle Orton already has 1,419 yards passing and 6 TD passes this year so it’s no secret what they are going to attempt to do this weekend.  He has been sacked 11 times this year so look for the Ravens to attack the pocket.  Because if Orton has time to throw the ball the Ravens could be in trouble as Jabar Gaffney, Demaryius Thomas, Brandon Lloyd and Eddie Royal are all having good years.

PREDICTION:  RAVENS 23, BRONCOS 20

The Ravens are 4-12 all-time at Heinz Field but this visit has a different feel because Ben Roethlisberger will be nowhere to be found.  The Ravens and Steelers split last season’s series which each team winning at home and scoring 40 total points.  That’s as even as it can get.  Here is a look at the matchups this Sunday:

When the Ravens have the ball:  The Steelers are only allowing 59.7 yards rushing per game and 2.6 yards per carry this year.  But, Ray Rice played really well against the Steelers last year as he carried the ball 49 times for 229 yards (4.7 ypc) and he also caught 6 passes for 81 yards (13.5 avg).  Rice is a tad banged up but he practiced today and seems ready to give it a go this Sunday.  Willis McGahee will be ready to carry the load if Rice can’t this Sunday.  The Steelers have 10 sacks this year already but the Ravens have only given up 3 so something has to give.  If Joe Flacco has time to throw the ball this Sunday the Steelers will be in big, big trouble as he has a lot of nice targets in Anquan Boldin, Todd Heap, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Derrick Mason.

When the Steelers have the ball:  The Ravens are giving up 127.7 yards rushing and 4.7 yards per carry so far this season so look for the Steelers to try to get Rashard Mendenhall going against them.  That will be easier said than done as the Ravens hate Mendenhall.  He has talked a lot of trash about the Ravens in the past only to have no luck at all.  Mendenhall carried the ball 41 times for 131 yards (3.2 ypc) with 1 TD run last year against the Ravens.  The Steelers like to throw the ball deep but their offensive line won’t likely give Charlie Batch enough time to throw that kind of pass.

PREDICTION:  RAVENS 20, STEELERS 13

The Ravens offense has been awful so far this season as they are only averaging 270.5 yards per game and 10 points per contest.  But this weekend will give the Ravens a chance to get things going back on the right track.  The Ravens swept the Browns by a combined score of 50-3 last year.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Ravens have the ball:  The Ravens will likely come out trying to establish a running game with Ray Rice against a Browns’ D that is allowing 129.5 yards rushing per game but only 3.8 yards per carry.  Then after establishing the running game the Ravens will turn to the air in an attempt to get Joe Flacco going in the right direction.  The Browns are a heavy blitzing team that has 4 sacks and 3 interceptions already this season so Flacco will have to be smart with the football.  Flacco did have a lot of success against the Browns last year as he completed 38 of 53 passes (71.7%) for 497 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs.  Look for the Ravens to try to spread the Browns out with Anquan Boldin, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Derrick Mason and Todd Heap to open up things in the passing game.

When the Browns have the ball:  The Browns offense has been turning the ball over a lot so look for the Ravens to be trying to strip the ball a lot.  Peyton Hillis and James Davis will probably take aim at the Ravens run defense which has allowed 105.0 yards per game and 4.0 ypc so far this year.  The Ravens have to be very aware of where Josh Cribbs is on every play as he is the lone real gamebreaker on the team.  Seneca Wallace will be starting at QB for the Browns and while he is mobile….he doesn’t scare anyone with his arm.

PREDICTION:  RAVENS 21, BROWNS 13

This game amounts to a backyard fight between two bullies.  The Bengals swept the Ravens last season by a combined score of 34-21 in two ugly games for the Birdies.  The Ravens won on Monday Night against the Jets but it was a hard fought, hard hitting game and the Ravens have a quick turnaround in the Jungle.  Here is a look at the match-ups:

When the Ravens have the ball:  The Ravens threw the ball 38 times and they ran it 35 times last week as they had possession of the football for a stunning 38:32 on Monday Night against the Jets.  They will likely try to run a balanced offense again this week against the Bengals.  I think the Ravens will try to get Ray Rice going early in this game to take some pressure off of Joe Flacco.  But, make no mistake the Ravens are going to challenge the Bengals’ pass defense.  The Bengals have a great set of corners in Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall but they don’t have much of a pass rush as they had no sacks last week.  That means that Flacco should have time to survey the field before deciding to where to go with the football.  Look for him to spread the ball around to Anquan Boldin, Todd Heap, T.J. Houshmanzadeh, Derrick Mason and Ray Rice in the passing game.

When the Bengals have the ball:  The Bengals are likely going to throw the ball first to open up running lanes for Cedric Benson who rushed for 237 yards in the two games against the Ravens last season.  It will be up to Ray Lewis to handle him.  The Ravens will have to get after Carson Palmer this week because the secondary is a tad thin right now.  That could be bad news for the Ravens because they aren’t playing Mark Sanchez this week.  Chad Ocho Cinco and Terrell Owens will be a tough test down the field for the Ravens’ corners.  But, Palmer also likes to throw to rookies Jordan Shipley and Jermaine Gresham which is going to put a lot of pressure on the safeties and outside linebackers of the Ravens.

PREDICTION:  BENGALS 24, RAVENS 21

This game is going to be a slobberknocker as this is going to be an epic defensive battle on Monday Night.  The Ravens and Jets are two of the favorites to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.  Here is a close look at the match-ups in this game:

When the Ravens have the ball:  I look for the Ravens to come out running the ball with Ray Rice which won’t be easy against NT Kris Jenkins and inside linebackers David Harris and Bart Scott.  They are also going to pop a lot of passes to Rice out the backfield and I think TE Todd Heap is going to get some action over the middle.  Anquan Boldin, Derrick Mason and T.J. Houshmandzadeh all have great hands and little fear so I think the Ravens would be best served to be aggressive throwing short passes to that trio attacking the strength of the Jets’ D which is corners Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie and rookie Kyle Wilson.  If the Ravens protect Flacco he will have some success throwing the ball.

When the Jets have the ball:  The Jets keep saying that they want to be more balanced in 2010 but I think they will try to outslug the Ravens on the ground.  Shonn Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson are likely to get a lot of work so look for some high impact collisions with Ray Lewis, Haloti Ngata and Kelly Gregg.  I fully expect the Jets to use play action to throw to TE Dustin Keller who appears to be Sanchez’ go to man when things get hairy.  Braylon Edwards and Jerricho Cotchery will attempt to go deep a couple of times in this game so free safety Tom Zbikowski is going to have to step up with Ed Reed out of action.

PREDICTION:  RAVENS 17, JETS 13

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