Baltimore Ravens Week 16 Preview
The Baltimore Ravens (9-5) will play their last home game of the regular season when they welcome the New York Giants (5-9) to M&T Bank Stadium for an interconference matchup at 1 p.m. ET on FOX.
The Ravens still need some outside help to making the postseason even if they win out, however, their odds are getting increasingly higher each week as they continue to stack wins down the stretch with a very favorable remaining schedule.
The Ravens notched their third straight win in Week 15 with a dominant 40-14 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars where they owned the line of scrimmage and imposed their will at the point of attack on both sides of the ball.
The Giants were held to just a pair of field goals in a 20-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday Night Football last week. Even though they were able to move the ball well times, they couldn’t capitalize on three trips to the red zone including a pair of turnover-on-downs in the first half.
Here is a detailed breakdown of the matchup including potential X factors, injuries to monitor for each team, and a final outcome prediction.
What’s at stake:
While the Ravens have certainly looked like the best team in the AFC North as of late, they won’t be able to repeat as AFC North champions for the third year in a row, but are still very much alive for one of the three wildcard spots in the new playoff format if they win out and get some help.
With a win, Baltimore would improve to 10-5 overall and still sit at 6-5 in AFC conference play. They are still currently sitting on the outside looking in on the current playoff picture in a tight wildcard race, but that could change with a win paired with a loss by either the Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns, or Indianapolis Football Team.
If the Giants were to win, they improve to 6-9 overall and keep their playoff hopes alive as well since their only path to the postseason is winning the much-maligned NFC East.
New York swept the Washington Football Team in the regular season but are still a game back for the division lead with two games left to go.
Injuries to monitor:
The Ravens have 10 players listed as questionable and have ruled another out with the three biggest injuries to monitor is the health of a trio of veteran defenders in defensive end Calais Campbell and cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Jimmy Smith.
Smith was the lone Raven to be declared out after not practicing this week and will miss his fourth game of the season due to rib and shoulder injuries.
He has performed at an elite level this season and throughout his career when healthy, but he has played a full 16-game regular-season slate just twice in his 10-year career.
Despite not practicing all week either with a lingering calf injury that held him out of last week’s lopsided win over the Jaguars, Peters is listed as questionable and is reportedly going to be a game-time decision.
Campbell sat out last week as well and missed an opportunity to make his former team regret trading him this offseason because of a calf strain that he suffered in Week Nine and has caused him to miss three games this season.
The six-time Pro Bowler sat out Wednesday’s practice, was a limited participant on Thursday, and practiced fully on Friday. It marked the first time that he was a full participant in practice since the week before he got injured.
As for the Giants, their biggest injury to monitor is whether second-year quarterback Daniel Jones will be under center this week. The former first-round pick has been dealing with multiple lower extremity injuries but was listed as questionable to play on the final report with hamstring and ankle injuries.
If Jones doesn’t start then the Giants will turn to veteran Colt McCoy for the second week in a row and for the third time this season. McCoy is 1-1 as the spot starter for New York this season with the winning coming in a stunning upset of the Seattle Seahawks in Week 13.
Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh told reporters earlier in the week that they are preparing for either eventuality.
“We’ll prepare for both quarterbacks,” Harbaugh said. “Both of those guys have done a good job for them this year. They’re both experienced quarterbacks. Daniel Jones is obviously a little bit younger, but he was one of the top picks in the draft. [He’s] a super talented guy. Colt McCoy has done a great job, too, over the years. We’ve played him before, and we know how good he is. So, we’ll be ready for both those guys.”
The other two notable injuries to monitor for the Giants are veteran wide receiver Golden Tate who has been declared out with a calf injury and starting linebacker Blake Martinez who is listed as questionable after being a late addition to the report with an ankle injury that limited him in Friday’s practice.
Potential X factors:
WR Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown
The second-year speedster has come on very strong for the Ravens in December with a touchdown reception of 20 or more yards in three of the last four games and has recorded 272 total yards receiving during that span after logging just 55 yards in the previous four games in November.
Despite some struggles with the occasional concentration drop, Brown has been consistently showing the field stretching and big-play potential that the Ravens envisioned when they selected him with the 25th overall pick in last year’s draft out of Oklahoma.
He is averaging 14.3 yards per reception and his chemistry with starting quarterback and reigning league MVP, Lamar Jackson, appears to be getting stronger down this crucial stretch of the season.
The Giants’ pass defense is ranked in the bottom half of the league so fully expect Jackson and Brown to hook up early and often off of play-action and on improvisations after the original play breaks down.
DE Yannick Ngakoue
The Pro Bowl pass rusher is coming off his best statistical game since joining the Ravens via trade ahead of the midseason trade deadline. After recording just one sack in his first seven games with Baltimore, Ngakoue exacted revenge over his former team with a two-sack performance in last week’s win over Jacksonville.
He will be leading the Ravens suddenly resurgent pass rush against a porous Giants offensive line that has given up the fifth-most sacks this year with 42 in 14 games.
Even before Ngakoue ‘broke out’ against the Jaguars, he had been consistently getting pressure in opposing quarterbacks and has had several close calls for near sacks in all of his previous games with the Ravens.
Recent history of the matchup:
The Ravens hold a 4-2 lead in the all-time series between these two storied franchises including the playoffs where have met just once which came in the Superbowl following the 2000 season.
Baltimore won that game 34-6 to secure their first championship in team history and in in their second Superbowl winning season in 2012, they beat New York 33-14 in the regular season.
During the Harbaugh era, the Giants actually have a winning record against the Ravens at 2-1 with the last meeting in a 27-23 for New York in 2016.
Since these two teams only face off every four years barring a meeting in the postseason, the point differential and margin of victory have been historically unpredictable.
Final prediction:
I predict that the Ravens will extend their win streak to four in a row with another commanding victory over another inferior team by using a well-balanced attack on offense and aggressive defense that will be led by a pass rush that I believe will feast for the second week in a row no matter who New York has under center.
Final outcome: Ravens beat Giants 41-9
