Any win in the NFL is a good win. Any ROAD win in the NFL is a GREAT win. I, however, must remind Ravens fans not to get too high off of any one win or too low off of any particular loss. We all had great fun watching the Ravens blast the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48-17, but none of those points carry on to the next week's game. Fortunately for Baltimore, the Ravens will play a struggling Falcon's team at home this week. I've heard some rather outlandish predictions about the upcoming Ravens-Falcons game. One such prediction was that the Falcons would put up 28-30 points on the Ravens in a shootout. Ha.
I get it. The Falcons still get credit for being a good team for the first 5 years of Matt Ryan's career. This, however, is his 7th season, and the Atlanta Falcons have been one of the worst teams in the league for almost a season and a half now. To make matters worse, the Falcons have lost each road game they've played, and two out of three of the road teams they've faced are rather weak. Never mind the fact that the Falcons have scored 27.33 points per game this season. The Falcons have ALLOWED 28.333 points per game, and the only truly relevant statistics are those collected during road games. On the road the Falcons have scored an average 19.33 points per game and allowed an average 31.667 points per game.
Matt Ryan is a still a talented quarterback, and the Falcons still have a pair of impressive wide receivers, but their offensive line simply can't give Matt Ryan enough protection to make effective enough use of his weapons. To make matters worse, even with solid offensive production, the Falcons have a defense ranked near the bottom of the league. If the Ravens were able to hold the NFL's top ranked Colts offense to 20 points on the road, I haven't the faintest idea of how commentators believe the Ravens would give up close to or over 30 points to the Atlanta Falcons at home.
The Ravens, meanwhile, have quickly re-established themselves as one of the league's top defenses. They currently ranked 3rd in scoring defense with only 16.16 pounds allowed per game. Baltimore also has a great chance to get a big boost to its secondary with the possible return of one of best safeties in the NFL last season, Will Hill. Timmy Jernigan may also return to the field to give the Ravens a boost on their defensive line.
It's not the the Ravens haven't ever suffered a let-down game, but there is simply nothing the Falcons have done this season to suggest to me that they're capable of coming into Baltimore and beating a Ravens squad that has more wins than all but 3 teams in the NFL. The Ravens continue to fine-tune their offense that already ranks in the top 10 in the league, and their defense continues to get stronger with the return to form of Lardarius Webb and the rise of C.J. Mosley. The Ravens, in fact, should realistically be able to win at least 3 of their final four games before their bye week...but let's just take this one week at a time,and let's get to the picks!
WEEK 7 NFL PREDICTIONS
FALCONS AT RAVENS- This is a Falcons offense that can't find success on the road, and a Falcons defense that can't stop poor teams on the road...let alone dominant teams. Ravens have a top 10 offense and a top 3 scoring defense. RAVENS 38-14
TITANS AT REDSKINS- This should be one of the brief moments Redskins fans will enjoy this season. The Titans are bad--so very bad. REDSKINS 21-17
SEAHAWKS AT RAMS- The Rams will make this a game, but the Seahawks are still the stronger team. SEAHAWKS 23-21
BROWNS AT JAGUARS- The Browns have shown they can compete with tough NFL teams. The Jaguars are not a tough NFL team. BROWNS 31-16
BENGALS AT COLTS- Without A.J. Green the Bengals simply won't be able to win this game. COLTS 33-24
VIKINGS AT BILLS- The Vikings have been poor on the road this season. BILLS 27-21
DOLPHINS AT BEARS- I know the Dolphins have only won 2 games this season, but they've also played some tough teams and nearly beat a quality Packers team last week. The Bears have been bad at home this week. I'm going against the grain and picking Miami to win this is a close one. DOLPHINS 28-27
SAINTS AT LIONS- The Saints are bad at football. They're even worse at football on the road. LIONS 38-17
PANTHERS AT PACKERS- The Packers have really begun to heat up and the Panthers still have yet to claw their way up to mediocrity. PACKERS 33-21
CHIEFS AT CHARGERS- The Chargers have an elite offense and an elite defense. The Chiefs can't pass and they can't stop the run. The Chargers may be the best team in the league at the moment. CHARGERS 28-21
CARDINALS AT RAIDERS- Who would pick the Raiders to beat anyone other than the Jaguars right now? CARDINALS 30-14
GIANTS AT COWBOYS- DeMarco Murray is on pace to rush for 2093 yards this season. The giants just lost Victor Cruz and got throttled by the Eagles. COWBOYS 35-23
49ERS AT BRONCOS- The 49ers will be without Patrick Willis this week...as if they didn't already have enough defensive injuries. BRONCOS 28-20
TEXANS AT STEELERS- The Texans lost their last two games, but they did so against to of the league's best teams by razor thin margins. The Steelers have totally fallen apart. Defensive injuries have taken their toll, and this offense simply hasn't show the ability to put significant points on the board each week. TEXANS 28-17
This week features far fewer impressive match-ups than last week, but I'm still looking forward to Joe Flacco having a good laugh at all those who have been vocal about wishing the Ravens had found a way to draft Matt Ryan instead of Joe Cool in 2008. For me, the playoff wins and Super Bowl ring have been more than enough justification for years.
The first six weeks of the 2014 season have given me a level of optimism about the the remainder of the Ravens' opponents. Many teams that I originally presumed would be difficult opponents have recently shown themselves to be rather weak. The Ravens have still to face the Falcons, Bengals, Steelers, Titans, Saints, Chargers, Dolphins, Jaguars, Texans, and Browns. Of those ten teams, only the Bengals, Chargers, and Texans strike me as possible losses, and even then I doubt the Ravens will lose to a broken, struggling Bengals team or the Texans. That leaves a big match-up against the Chargers as a looming potential loss. I am by no means suggesting that the Ravens will lose only one game going forward. There are often occasional losses to lesser teams, but the better teams tend to win more games over the course of a full season. I, instead, am saying that the Ravens have a host of extremely beatable teams ahead of them, and this might just be the weakest strength of schedule the Ravens will have enjoyed in a long time. For now, however, let's enjoy watching the Ravens take on the struggling Falcons tomorrow.
AS ALWAYS
GO RAVENS!!!
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