BOLD PREDICTIONS: Ravens at Giants

The Baltimore Ravens (8-5) visit the Meadowlands to face the New York Giants (2-11) at MetLife Stadium. Baltimore, which sits two games back of the 10-3 Steelers in the AFC North, is coming off its Week 14 bye. The Ravens are 4-3 on the road this season, while the Giants are seeking their first home victory (0-7 thus far).

The Ravens are 4-3 against the NYG in all-time regular season play, including a 2-3 mark under John Harbaugh. These teams last met in 2022 at MetLife Stadium, where the Giants won, 24-20.

• Betting Line: Ravens by 16; over/under at 42.5 points
• Kickoff Time: 1:00 PM EST
• Weather Forecast: 41 degrees, mostly cloudy, average winds ENE 5 MPH, 8% chance of rain
• Officiating Crew: Brad Allen (Allen’s crew averages 10.92 accepted penalties per game, the 2nd-fewest while averaging 77.33 penalty yards per game which is the fewest)
• On The Call: Andrew Catalon (PBP); Tiki Barber (analyst); Jason McCourty (analyst); A.J. Ross (sideline)

The Ravens lead the all-time head-to-head series between these clubs, 5-3 which includes the 34-7 win over the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV. Will the Ravens push that number to 6-3?

[Related Article: Lamar Jackson v. Tommy DeVito for the 1st time]

Tony Lombardi

The Giants are decimated by injuries while the Ravens are as healthy as they’ve been in many years at this point in the season. Maybe most of the Giants injuries are for real. Some are business decisions while their team plays poor for Shedeur, as in Sanders, the Colorado Buffaloes’ coveted quarterback. This game will look like a preseason game by the second half.

• Lamar Jackson connects on 17 of 19 passes for 245 yards and 3 TDs for a perfect 158.3 passer rating before he leaves the game midway through the third quarter.

• Derrick Henry rushes for 110 yards on 10 carries and adds his 16th TD on the season. He’ll walk off the field for the day with Lamar.

• The Ravens will out-gain the Giants 485 yards to 210; win the turnover battle 2-0; and post 5 sacks.

• There will be a Keaton Mitchell sighting. He’ll carry the ball 10 times, 9 of which only go for 20 yards. But it’s that other one that we’ll remember, a TD scamper from 45 yards out.

• The Giants will score the game’s first points when Tommy Cutlets connects with Darius Slayton from 25 yards out. Unfortunately for the boys in blue, it will be their only score of the game.

The Ravens win by almost the identical score from Super Bowl XXX, while the Steelers fall to the Eagles setting up an AFC North showdown next Saturday at The Bank. The producers from HBO’s Hard Knocks will be drooling.

Ravens 35 Giants 7

Rob Shields

The Ravens are coming off a much needed bye, heading into what should be one of the easiest games of the season, as they travel to play the Giants. While the Giants are one of the two NFC teams that has beaten Lamar Jackson, this isn’t a game that should be close.

The Ravens are very healthy and the Giants are starting Tommy Cutlets.

Kyle Hamilton came out yesterday and talked about the losses to Cleveland and Las Vegas as reasons why they can’t overlook the Giants and that is absolutely the right attitude to have. The Giants have a good defensive line and they can get pressure on the QB. They also have some pieces on offense that can hurt you, but they aren’t getting much production in the middle of the field and between that and their QB situation, the Ravens should be able to shut them down.

I feel like the Ravens need a statement game here. It feels like Justin Tucker needs to make some field goals. They start a stretch of three games in 11 days, the same as Pittsburgh, that will decide the division, and starting things off right with a dominant win where you can rest some starters in the fourth quarter should be the goal.

Run the ball, make some plays in the passing game and let the defense dominate.

Ravens 38 Giants 9

Tanner George

Following a tough loss to Philadelphia, the Ravens reloaded over the bye and look ready to roll as we hit the final stretch of the regular season.

Playing the Giants in their first game back should help them ease back into the swing of things—but, as games against the Raiders and Browns have proven, nothing’s ever 100% certain with this team.

I foresee Lamar Jackson continuing his historic success against the NFC. Believe it or not, New York is the only other team in that conference #8 has lost to, and he’ll be looking to get that one back on Sunday. His postgame presser after the Eagles game gave shades of the “locked in Lamar” we saw at the end of 2023, and I think he’s geared up for a dominant run in the final month of the season. He’ll top 250 yards through the air and, after a week of rest, will show more willingness to use his legs, adding 50+ on the ground. Derrick Henry will have one of his better games of the year, rumbling into the end zone twice on 100 yards rushing. Zay Flowers will have a big first half (5 catches, 75 yards, TD) before disappearing in the second. Mark Andrews will be on the receiving end of another Jackson touchdown throw.

The defense will continue the nice run it’s been on as of late, holding an admittedly lifeless New York offense to under 17 points. Kyle Hamilton will step in front of a late ball from Tommy DeVito for his first pick of the season, and Marlon Humphrey will pick up a pair of PBUs. Odafe Oweh will continue his resurgent season, adding 1.5 sacks to his already-impressive total. EDC’s decision to pick up his fifth-year option has proven to be a wise one. Justin Maduibuike will also be disruptive, picking up a sack of his own. Zach Orr’s unit will loosen up a bit in the fourth quarter, giving up some easy yards, but overall it’ll be another good day for this group.

Despite his recent struggles, I expect Justin Tucker to rebound in this game, knocking in a field goal from 50+. Lately, he has the look of a man that’s gotten little to no sleep over the past few weeks, and I’m sure he’s feeling all the pressure in the world. But sending that one through the uprights will serve as a good confidence boost for the struggling kicker, jump-starting a return to his former self.

It’s shaping up to be a dominant day in East Rutherford for the Ravens, who are favored by a whopping 15 points. Although we have seen them lose these games before, I’m feeling confident.

Ravens 31 Giants 13

Derek Arnold

If the Ravens aren’t resting starters in the fourth quarter in this one, something has gone terribly wrong. In fact, that needs to be the goal, with a potentially AFC-North deciding clash with Pittsburgh looming on short rest. Yeah, yeah, any given Sunday and all that – but these Ravens should come into MetLife with the goal of being up by four touchdowns after three quarters. Lamar Jackson against Tommy DeVito is a mismatch to end all mismatches, the G-Men have nothing to play for while the Ravens have everything, New York’s injury report is several pages long while Baltimore is freshly rested and healthy…this just has to be a blowout. There’s no excuse for it not to be.

— Lamar tosses three touchdowns, hitting Rashod Bateman and Isaiah Likely in the first half, and Mark Andrews in the third quarter. He throws for 195 yards and rushes for 45.

— Derrick Henry finds the end zone himself in the first quarter, en route to 75 yards in three quarters.

— Keaton Mitchell gets in the action with a touchdown from outside the red zone early in the second half.

— Justin Tucker is 5/5 on extra points and adds two field goals from inside 40.

— Much of the fireworks are due to short fields produced by the defense, which intercepts DeVito twice (Roquan Smith & Kyle Hamilton) and forces punts when they aren’t taking the ball away. They sack Tommy five times (Van Noy, Mads x 2, Oweh, Humphrey).

Ravens 41 Giants 6

Chris Schisler 

This is the type of Ravens game that makes me irrationally worried. The Giants are terrible and the Ravens at worst are a bit frustrating. This should be a dominating victory on the road. This should be a get right game. It has the charm of a trap game though and I could see it going poorly.

I’m going to resist the urge to paint a season dooming loss on the Ravens. I don’t think the Giants will be able to keep up with the Ravens’ offense even on a slow day. I don’t think even Zach Orr’s defense can make the Giants look like a well oiled machine. I think the Ravens will win. Based completely on logic, give me the Ravens by single digits.

• Derrick Henry rushes for 125
• Mark Andrews has two touchdowns
• Zay Flowers has 6 catches
• Justin Tucker misses another extra point
• Malik Nabers has 6 catches for 125 yards.
• Slow start makes this game harder than it has to be.
• The Ravens win but we don’t feel great about it.

Ravens 26 Giants 20

Nick Polinsky

The Ravens are one of the most successful teams coming off the bye, and their opponent has had just about everything go wrong this year. The Giants limp into Week 15 having cut their original starting QB, and now Drew Lock is unlikely to play.

It will be Tommy Devito against a Ravens defense that has seemed to catch its stride. They held Philadelphia to just 24 points last week even with the great starting field position the Eagles were handed drive after drive. This should be an opportunity for the Ravens to stack another solid defensive performance against a rather terrible offense.

The one man that would have had a real opportunity to wreck the Ravens offense was Dexter Lawrence, but with “Sexy Dexy” now on injured reserve I expect an offensive outburst from Lamar and company.

I feel like this is a game some will pick to be close, because the Ravens just seem to make it that way a lot of the time, but the Giants are far and wide worse than any other opponent the Ravens have faced this year; even the Raiders have some fight to them.

• Derrick Henry will rush for 2+ TDs for the first time since Week 9
• The Ravens will force 3 turnovers, 2 interceptions and one recovered fumble. Nate Wiggins will finally intercept his first NFL pass and he will return it for a touchdown
• Lamar Jackson will be responsible for 3 touchdowns on the day, 2 passing and 1 rushing
• Zay Flowers will score after he was held down in the second half against the Eagles

This game really has no reason to be close unless the Ravens really, really try to blow it.

Ravens 38 Giants 10

Kevin McNelis

With four games to go in the regular season slate, the Ravens are coming off of a BYE and treating every game like a playoff matchup because of the potential postseason implications. The AFC North crown is a long shot, but not outside the realm of possibility. Meanwhile, they face the New York Giants, who have lost eight in a row, are on their third QB of the season, and have yet to win a game at home this year.

Put it to you this way: Baltimore damn well better win this game.

— The weather outside has been frightful in New York, with the projected forecast for Sunday’s game hovering just under 40 degrees with winds expected. I’d expect that you see a heavy diet of Derrick Henry, who punishes the Giants on the ground to the tune of 100+ and multiple scores. Beyond that, though, the game script means that the G-Men get desperate to make something happen through the air, and you see it result in something that hasn’t happened much this year: the Ravens force multiple picks. One of them gets returned for a touchdown, and I’ll say Marlon gets it.

— With a bit of a focus on the future, the Ravens do some things on offense simply for the purpose of putting them on film for their future opponents to have to worry about. I’m talking weird stuff, pitch plays on a fake handoff that ends up in Pat Ricard’s hands, a jet sweep play with motion from Keaton Mitchell, all kinds of wacky maneuvering. Some of it will work, but some of it will mean that drives stall and the Ravens leave points on the table. The score is within two possessions at halftime.

— Justin Tucker will nail a kick from 50+ that makes us all feel good for a little while. Later, he misses one from inside the 45, and we all lose the warm and fuzzies again.

It doesn’t have to be pretty. They just need to get the job done and (with all of my fingers and toes crossed) continue to keep that injury report short.

Ravens 27 Giants 10

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