Favored Ravens Set to Embrace Darkness

You’ve heard the term “trap bet” before. When a bet seems like a walk up to an ATM with someone else’s card and they tell you to take what you want. The bet seems too good to be true. And usually, it’s fool’s gold. That’s how I see the Ravens v. Bills on Sunday night, when darkness takes over.

The Ravens are currently 2 ½ point favorites over the Bills. But these numbers tell a different story.

As of late, playing at home is not that strong of an advantage for the Ravens. Clearly it wasn’t against the Raiders, and you can certainly expect a bigger visiting fans presence from Bills Mafia than the spattering of Raiders fans in attendance during the home opener.

The logical bet is to take the Bills and the points. And that my friends, is why they call bets like this a trap. That said, I took the points anyway. Here’s to me losing!

Ravens Get The Shaft

Baltimore ranks last in the league in penalties with 31 flags amounting to 278 yards through 3 games. Sure, they’ve been jobbed on a few, but the Ravens are too talented to be so undisciplined. But then again, these are the kind of problems that surface when there’s such a high rate of turnover in the coaching ranks. It’s time to clean things up, right John?

That said, in the heat of battle, things might not go as planned and if a player is flagged, he has a right to ask the officials for some clarification so that he can avoid the same infraction going forward. Odafe Oweh did exactly that and instead of a proper response from referee Ron Torbert, he gets a smirk as if to say, “WTF are you going to do about it?”

That’s flat out unprofessional. That’s today’s NFL.

Odafe Oweh said he didn’t get clarification on his roughing the passer call on Dak Prescott

“[The ref] was just smiling at me the whole game to be honest. Whenever I would ask [what] the call was and stuff like that, he would just smile at me and give me a little weird smirk” pic.twitter.com/BTc7MgBqlC

— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) September 23, 2024

If a player hits a quarterback with his shoulder and in the process, the QB ducks his head and hits the defender’s helmet, flags will fly in favor of the offense. Hit the QB below the knee, it’s considered a dangerous tackle, and it too is flagged for 15 yards. So, the strike zone should be the thighs in order to avoid both of these commonly flagged infractions for roughing the passer, right?

Well, maybe not.

Odafe Oweh was called for roughing the passer on this play pic.twitter.com/apnDF7zsnB

— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) September 22, 2024

Overpaid!

Marcus Williams has flashed at times for the Ravens during his 2+ seasons with the team. Injuries have prevented him from being the player GM Eric DeCosta ponied up $70M for back in 2022, with $17M in guarantees.

This season, Williams is healthy, but the results still aren’t there. One could say that he’s played worse this season than during his previous two injury-plagued campaigns.

Here’s a look at a 13-play sequence as the Cowboys mounted a comeback against the Ravens. Pay attention to No. 32.

Marcus Williams (No. 32 on your scorecard) has some explaining to do, shout out to @ryanmink for this 13 play sequence. pic.twitter.com/tW4VAqN3tT

— Tony Lombardi (@RSRLombardi) September 25, 2024

Williams made absolutely ZERO impact during the sequence above. Now in his defense, we don’t know what his assignments were during those plays. But too often, he gets turned around, doesn’t explode towards the ball and looks like an uninterested tackler.

Marcus’ cap number in 2024 is $18.7M, the team’s third highest cap. His cap number in 2025 is again, $18.7M. Parting ways with Williams in 2025 saves the Ravens $5.3M with a pre-June 1 designation, but the team will take on $13.45M in dead money. That’s two big safety signings in a row that DeCosta has missed on. The other of course was Earl Thomas who signed a 4-year, $55M contract in 2019 that included $32M in guarantees, per OverTheCap.com.

That’s $49M guaranteed, paid to underachieving safeties, if you’re keeping score.

Help Wanted: Pass Rush

The Ravens are currently ranked 14th in sack rate (7.8%) and 29th in pressure rate (26.7%). And maybe that’s why the team recently signed edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue to their practice squad.

Zach Orr’s defense allowed the Raiders and Gardner Minshew to overcome a 10-point 4th quarter deficit. And they allowed the Cowboys to get back in the game after the hosts fell behind the Ravens, 28-6 in the fourth quarter. Despite making their opponents one-dimensional on offense during each of the past two games, forcing them to throw the ball, the Ravens struggled to protect double-digit leads, a regular problem during the post-Ray Lewis Harbaugh administration.

Maybe Ngakoue’s second tour of duty in Baltimore will be better than the first. We can only hope.

All four Yannick Ngakoue sacks from last season with the Bears. pic.twitter.com/GMEDEGPiBV

— Ryan Mink (@ryanmink) September 24, 2024

The Ravens are obviously willing to sink money into the safety position and a big chunk of change in a WR who was paid $457,142.86 per catch in 2023 (Odell Beckham, Jr., $16M for 35 catches). But they continue to ignore the offensive line and edge.

Ravens Locker Room

Not sure if you watched John Harbaugh in the locker room at Dallas handing out game balls following the 28-25 win. Not sure if you heard Lamar Jackson’s postgame frustrations, suggesting the Ravens need to keep the pedal to the metal during games. He also wasn’t keen on Marlon Humphrey videoing him on the plane ride home, obviously frustrated despite the win.

Now look at the body language of the players during the game ball presentations. It isn’t good.

Go inside the post-game locker room as Coach Harbaugh hands out the game ballspic.twitter.com/aoYgUh9bIZ

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 23, 2024

If Harbaugh goes conservative again and they lose, look out for locker room issues.

Meanwhile in Seattle

They aren’t sleepless. They are resting comfortably thanks at least in part to the guidance of rookie head coach Mike Macdonald. Adversity is inevitable, but so far, so good for one of the game’s rising coaching stars who is 3 for 3 as a head coach.

Here, Macdonald explains a bit of defensive strategy, describing the pros and cons of two-high and single-high safety alignments. I can’t recall John Harbaugh ever being so schematically eloquent.

Go hawks pic.twitter.com/sqDOK0zocJ

— Spencer Schultz (@ravens4dummies) September 25, 2024

Unitas

For years the Unitas family has tried to cobble together a film about the legendary John Unitas. Now, they are getting closer but the project is seeking investors. I’m told that the producers have reached out to 20 NFL owners including Steve Bisciotti, for $1M investment increments – to no avail. That’s 0-20 for a man who arguably, through his on-the-field heroics, propelled the NFL into television and subsequently wealth for the league’s owners.

One. Million. Dollars.

That’s chump change for the NFL’s 32 Godfathers. What a shame.

Be that as it may, here’s the trailer for the movie.

Unitas, the movie, is about the man, Johnny U, and his pursuit of a goal while managing family life. Hopefully soon, it will be available for our viewing pleasure. pic.twitter.com/aXgvtjNNNx

— Tony Lombardi (@RSRLombardi) September 25, 2024

Waiting All Day for Sunday Night!

Sunday night games in blacked-out Baltimore are always a blast and the Ravens success rate during such games is outstanding! In Prime-Time games under Harbaugh the Ravens are 20-3, an NFL best. During those games the Ravens have averaged 27.1 PPG while yielding 16.8. Can the Ravens move that number to 21-3 against the Bills?

The 12th man is important and to get things started there’s always the Jimmy’s Famous Seafood TailGOAT!

One of the best parties in town, the TailGOAT has been bringing it for 26 years for enthusiastic tailgaters. For details and tickets, click HERE.

Be sure to check out the Jimmy’s Famous Seafood Big Crab Cake each week, celebrating the game’s unsung hero.

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