A win in New Orleans may not have seemed particularly impressive given the Saint's poor record this season. Drew Brees and company, after all, had just lost to the 49ers and Bengals in the Big Easy in consecutive weeks--how good could the Saints actually be? The Saints are not a good football team. They are a bad football team. They have one quality win on the season over the Green Bay Packers, and they have otherwise been frighteningly disappointing for their fans. What the Saints have, however, is a high octane offense. The Saints rank 3rd in the league in passing yards per game and 8th in the league in rushing yards per game. That might have meant a lot more if the Saints weren't 27th in the league in yards allowed and 25th in the league in points allowed per game. The Ravens executed the same game plan as the Bengals and 49ers before them, and they stay in the playoff race for yet another week.
As we've discussed before, the Ravens have a favorable schedule as compared to every single other AFC playoff contender. Yes, they technically will face a pair of teams that also boast 7-4 records, but the games against each of those teams will be in Baltimore. The Ravens gear up to face the 7-4 Chargers this Sunday. The Chargers are far worse at this point than their record would suggest. San Diego, for example, is down to its 4th center for this season after their 3rd starting center was recently placed on injured reserve. The Chargers will be starting a rookie center in front of the Ravens D line...good luck, young man. The Chargers simply aren't scaring anyone at this point. San Diego has won 5 of its last 8 games, but their 5 wins came against the Raiders (two games), the Jets, the Jaguars, and the Rams. Those 5 teams have a combined 8 wins--that's 4 teams that combine for one more win than the Ravens. Against winning teams during the last 8 games, on the other hand, the Chargers are 0-3. Most importantly, in their last trip to the east coast, the Chargers were throttled by the Dolphins 37-0.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time on why I believe the Ravens will beat the weakest 7-4 team in the league. The Chargers' statistics are skewed because of the sheer number of bottom-feeder teams they've faced. It, for example, is easy to appear to have a good pass defense against the Jaguars, Jets, and Raiders. The Ravens, on the other hand, have had to play five games thus far against teams with top ten offenses, and they've managed to remain 5th in points allowed per game. I realize that every team is capable of a letdown game, but this simply isn't a game I think anyone expects Baltimore to lose.
The Ravens and Chargers play on Sunday, but there is plenty of football to watch on Thanksgiving. Thusday will bring three divisional match-ups, and each game has big potential playoff implications. At 12:30 the Bears face the Lions in a game that could help or hurt the Lions' chances of securing a wildcard spot or even possibly tying the Packers for the division lead depending on how the Patriots perform in Green Bay on Sunday. The 4:30 game will feature the Eagles and Cowboys in a battle for the division lead as both teams stand 8-3. The 8:30 primetime game will feature one of the fiercest rivalries in football over the past few years, but neither one of these teams is nearly as dominant as in the last two seasons. The Seattle Seahawks travel to San Francisco to face the 49ers, and the winner will improve to 8-4 while the loser will fall to 7-5 as both teams currently stand at 7-4. I doubt either of these franchises is Super Bowl-bound this season, but this should certainly prove a violent contest filled with physicality and hatred. Ok, let's take a look at the pics!
WEEK 13 NFL PREDICTIONS
BEARS AT LIONS- The Bears just don't have it this year. The Lions got blasted last week against the Patriots, but the Patriots are probably the strongest team in the league at the moment. Only the Jaguars have allowed more points this season than the Bears. LIONS 35-14
EAGLES AT COWBOYS- This game is nearly impossible to predict. The Cowboys haven't impressed me in their divisional games thus far with a loss to the Redskins and a recent narrow victory over the awful Giants. This should be an utter shootout. I believe the Eagles will simply be able to score too quickly and too often for the Cowboys to keep up. EAGLES 42-38
REDSKINS AT COLTS- COLTS 33-17
TITANS AT TEXANS- The Titans' offensive line will be out 3 starters against the Texans. The Texans already beat the Titans 30-16 on October 26th. I don't expect a starkly different outcome on Sunday, but I'm anxious to see how Ryan Fitzpatrick looks against the 11th ranked pass defense in the league. This game could possibly be fairly competitive since the Texans pass defense ranks near the bottom of the league. The Texans, however, will also likely get Arian Foster back, and he's liable to run all over the bottom ranked run defense in the NFL. TEXANS 24-14
BROWNS AT BILLS- It's difficult to know what to expect from week to week from the Buffalo Bills. The Bills are hot off of a staggering 38-3 Monday night win over the Jets. The Browns, on the other hand, barely beat a rather pathetic Atlanta Falcons team last Sunday. I know that Josh Gordon is back, but the Bills have the 5th ranked pass defense in the league and the 8th ranked run defense in the league. The Browns lost two of their starting linebackers a couple of weeks ago, and that should be enough to allow the Bills to keep the ball moving. The Browns can't stop the run very well and Fred Jackson is returning to the field to give the Bills a much-needed boost at the running back position. The Browns looked good against a team with no defense last week, but the Bills will put up a fight. BILLS 27-23
CHARGERS AT RAVENS- The Ravens don't typically lose many games and November and December. I expect a strong ground-and-pound rushing attack to set up Flacco for some fireworks through the air to Torrey and Steve Smith. The Ravens should be able to get to Philip Rivers early and often. I expect another multiple sack game from Elvis Dumervil, and at least one sack from Terrell Suggs. The Chargers rookie center won't be able to handle the likes of Brandon Williams and Timmy Jernigan. Ryan Matthews is a decent running back, but he's nuts if he expects to have success running the football against THIS Ravens run defense. The Ravens have held much more talented running backs under well under 80 yards this season. Let's hope Will Hill continues his progress back to his elite form of last season. RAVENS 38-17
GIANTS AT JAGUARS- I don't know if anyone even cares who wins this game as neither of these teams could possibly make the playoffs. At this point the Giants should probably just play for a good draft position. GIANTS 24-21
BENGALS AT BUCCANEERS- I expect the Bengals to lost at least 2 of their final 5 games. This game will not be one of them. BENGALS 45-23
RAIDERS AT RAMS- The Rams defense is too strong in St. Louis to lose this game to the worst team in the NFL. The Raiders' celebration after their first win will be short lived. RAMS 27-19
SAINTS AT STEELERS- I don't believe the Steelers are a Super Bowl caliber team because they struggle on the road, but they've been thoroughly impressive at home. The Steelers will be able to execute the same game plan that the Ravens, Bengals, and 49ers did before them: run the football to keep Drew Brees off the field, and hit Drew Brees early and often. The Steelers looked shaky at times last week against the Titans, but they'll play better from start to finish in Pittsburgh. STEELERS 30-24
PANTHERS AT VIKINGS- This is another game that simply doesn't mean anything. Neither of these teams has a prayer at making the post-season, and neither is fun to watch for any particular reason. Because of this, I'll just go with the home team, but who really knows or cares what will happen. VIKINGS 21-20
CARDINALS AT FALCONS- The Falcons can't play defense and the Cardinals have held some fairly high-octane offenses to 20 points or less. I think Larry Fitzgerald will find a way to play, but this one will be closer than the Cardinals want it to be. CARDINALS 24-21
PATRIOTS AT PACKERS- I'm sure plenty of people will pick the Packers at home. Not me. I hate the Patriots, but they run the football well and the Packers can't stop the run. The Patriots have all the offensive firepower of the Packers, but they also have a solid defense. If Aaron Rodgers can find a way to spread the ball out and pick apart the Patriots secondary, then I'll give the Packers my nod as the favorites to win the Super Bowl, but I don't see that happening. This should, nevertheless, be quite an exciting game. PATRIOTS 34-28
BRONCOS AT CHIEFS- Peyton Manning has not had any issue beating the Chiefs since he has played for Denver. BRONCOS 28-20
DOLPHINS AT JETS- The Jets are bad, oh so very bad. DOLPHINS 35-13
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family, food, and FOOTBALL!
AS ALWAYS
GO RAVENS!!!
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