WEEK 8 NFL PREDICTIONS

     Watching Justin Tucker's missed extra point last week felt painfully similar to watching Billy Cundiff crush the dreams of nearly everyone in the greater Baltimore area in late 2011.  We Ravens fans have, since 2012 at least, taken for granted that nearly everything Justin Tucker lines up for will be successful, and when the game was on the line last week, he failed.  Tucker, however, was not nearly entirely to blame for the loss.  That was not a superior New Orleans Saints team--though they are certainly talented. 

     So if not Tucker, who was the blame for last week's loss?  Two major factors came into play in deciding that game, the first of which was the situation at the cornerback position.  Not only was the team's top corner Marlon Humphrey out with a thigh injury, but Jimmy Smith also proved nowhere near ready to cover a #1 receiver the way he has for most of his career when healthy.  Maybe the dominant win over the Titans covered up much of Smith's inadequacy, but he was brutally exposed by Mike Thomas when the Saints came marching into Baltimore, and a critical scoring drive was kept alive literally because Mike Thomas wasn't covered on two major 3rd and 4th down plays.  In predicting a Ravens win, I erroneously thought Jimmy would be able to step in and mostly take Mike Thomas away the way he has in the past with Antonio Brown and a host of other receivers, but no such luck.

     The defensive issues weren't entirely to blame for the loss.  One rather unexpected announcement shortly before the game was that both Alex Lewis and James Hurst would be out leaving a backup at left guard and Orlando Brown at right tackle.  I actually would prefer to put Brown out at right tackle permanently and bring Hurst back in at left guard where he opened up running lanes quite nicely last year, but the Ravens offensive line coach Joe D'Allesandris apparently does not agree.  With that said, Hurst wasn't available either, and the Ravens ability to run the football, especially on first and second down continues to suffer.  After Alex Collins or Buck Allen find daylight and breaks open for a decent run, I hear many fans clamor for the Ravens to run the football more, but they always conveniently fail to acknowledge what keeps happening when the Ravens DO try to impose their will on the ground.  Time after time Collins takes a handoff and is buried behind the line of scrimmage as he waits for some kind of hole to open up.  It's not until the Ravens spread a defense out and force linebackers to drop into pass coverage that Collins and Allen are able to break off any serious runs.  The old hard-nosed Ravens run-first and then pass off of play action that we saw for much of the first half of Joe Flacco's career simply won't work with the current offensive line the way it's set up--especially not when they're short-handed as they were last week.

     Unfortunately for the Ravens, they're once again going to be without key personnel when they take on a Panthers team that has yet to lose a game at home this season.  Marlon Humphrey will once again be out as will James Hurst and Alex Lewis.  To make matters worse, Alex Lewis' backup Bradley Bozeman was a limited participant on Friday as he has continued to deal with a calf issue that sidelined him numerous times against the Saints.  With that said, the biggest obstacle to the Ravens stopping the Panthers would have been covering a speedy receiver, and Torrey Smith along with a handful of other players has been ruled out for this game.  Devin Funchess is the Panthers' leading receiver, but he possesses no type of speed to beat and of the Ravens healthy corners for big plays.  Christian McCaffrey is a talented running back, but he hasn't found the endzone once this season and it's difficult to imagine him doing so against this Ravens defense. 

    The Panthers aren't, however, to be taken lightly.  Cam Newton is a big, athletic threat to extend plays with his legs and gain tough yards on the ground.  Newton also has a big arm and has 11 passing touchdowns on the season thus far.  The Panthers were able to beat the Bengals at home, and that's no easy feat.  With that said, the Panthers have also allowed the likes of the Giants to put up 31 points on them in North Carolina, and the Ravens have an unquestionably better offense than the Giants regardless of the G-men possessing two top-tier weapons.  The Ravens shouldn't struggle to complete successful scoring drives with consistency today, nor should they struggle to cover Panthers receivers.  It is for these reasons that I have a hard time seeing Baltimore losing despite the absence of their top corner and two starting offensive linemen.

WEEK 8 NFL PICKS

BECAUSE OF THE LATE TIMING OF THIS POST, I WILL SIMPLY POST THE PREDICTED SCORES AND WINNERS OF EACH GAME.

EAGLES AT JAGUARS-   EAGLES 24-14

JETS AT BEARS-  BEARS 31-23

BUCCANEERS AT BENGALS-   BENGALS 28-14

SEAHAWKS AT LIONS-  LIONS 21-17

BRONCOS AT CHIEFS-  CHIEFS 42-21

REDSKINS AT GIANTS-   REDSKINS 34-20

BROWNS AT STEELERS-   STEELERS 27-16

RAVENS AT PANTHERS-   RAVENS 27-17

COLTS AT RAIDERS-   COLTS 30-27

PACKERS AT RAMS-   RAMS 33-24

49ERS AT CARDINALS-   CARDINALS 27-14

SAINTS AT VIKINGS-    SAINTS 35-27

PATRIOTS AT BILLS-   PATRIOTS 49-3


THIS IS A WEEK FOR REDEMPTION, RAVENS FANS.  THE RAVENS MUST BE ABLE TO PUT AWAY A TEAM AS FLAWED AS THE PANTHERS OR ELSE THEY WILL LIKELY STRUGGLE TREMENDOUSLY AGAINST MUCH TOUGHER COMPETITION GOING FORWARD.

NOW AND FOREVER
GO RAVENS!!!