Baltimore Ravens Week 9 Preview

The Baltimore Ravens will be looking to rebound from their narrow 28-24 loss to their archrival Pittsburgh Steelers last week when they head to Indianapolis in Week Nine for the first of their two-game road stint.

This matchup with the former Baltimore football franchise will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium at 1 PM eastern standard time on CBS.

Indianapolis is coming off a commanding 41-21 victory over the Detroit Lions thanks to a strong defensive effort and two explosive quarters where a Phillip Rivers led offense put up 20 or points in the second and fourth quarter.

Here is a detailed breakdown of the matchup including potential X factors, who will likely be out with an injury for each team, and a final outcome prediction.

What’s at stake:

Following last Sunday’s second-half collapse, the Ravens now find themselves two games behind the undefeated Steelers in the race for the AFC North division crown with Pittsburgh holding the head to head tiebreaker and a more favorable schedule down the stretch.

With a win, Baltimore would improve to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in AFC conference play which would keep them within striking distance of the Steelers and in the top wildcard spot for the time being.

If Indianapolis were to win, they would improve to 6-2 overall and 2-2 in AFC conference play and leapfrog the Ravens for the top wildcard spot in the current playoff picture.

Who might not suit up:

The Ravens are entering this matchup following a physical battle with the Steelers last week where they lost their starting left tackle for the remainder of the season and placed their starting right guard on injured reserve for at least three weeks.

However, of their players currently on the active roster, the only player who will likely not suit up for Sunday’s game is veteran running back Mark Ingram who hasn’t practiced in three weeks and is listed as doubtful due to his high ankle sprain.

The biggest health-related question marks hovering over the Ravens heading into this game pertains to six of the seven players currently on the Reserve/COVID-19 List.

Starting cornerback Marlon Humphrey is the only player on the list that has been declared out for this week’s game since he tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday morning

The six others, all of which are defenders, have a shot to play if they all continue to test negative by Saturday’s deadline per the intensive protocol.

Outside linebacker Matthew Judon was on the list earlier this week but was activated from it and was a full participant in practice every day since.

All six defenders on the list that could be available to play Sunday include cornerback Terrell Bonds, safety DeShon Elliott, outside linebacker Tyus Bowser, and inside linebackers Patrick Queen, L.J. Fort, and Malik Harrison.

There were two Ravens listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report but are expected to suit up versus Indianapolis. Veteran defensive back Jimmy Smith, who is expected to start at outside corner with Humphrey out, didn’t practice on Friday with a back issue and rookie wide receiver Devin Duvernay was limited on Friday is a thigh injury.

The only other Ravens listed on the injury report that might not play this week is veteran wide receiver and special teams ace Chris Moore who is listed as doubtful with a thigh injury that limited him on Wednesday, kept him out Thursday and Friday.

As for Indianapolis, they have several players listed on their injury report for non-injury related reasons but do have some players, especially at the wide receiver position, that are dealing with some physical ailments that threaten their availability for Sunday.

Wide receiver Marcus Johnson and tight end Mo Ali-Cox are both listed as questionable with knee injuries and wide receiver Ashton Dulin has been ruled out with a knee injury.

Four-time Pro Bowl wideout T.Y. Hilton is listed as doubtful to play after being held out of practice all week with a groin injury. He’s their leading receiver in targets and yards and still one of the premier deep threats in the league when healthy so not having him in the lineup would be a tough blow and good news for an equally banged up and razor-thin Ravens secondary.

Potential X factors:

WR Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown

The Ravens speedy second-year wide receiver was not happy with his lack of targets and direct involvement in last week’s loss to the Steelers where he was just targeted twice and caught one pass for a three-yard touchdown.

After he took to Twitter voice his frustrations following the game, quarterback Lamar Jackson, Head Coach John Harbaugh, and Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman all sounded off throughout the week about their desires to want to get the ball in his hands going forward.

Baltimore will still want to establish the run and dominate on the ground, especially coming off their best rushing performance of the season where they racked up 265 yards on Pittsburgh defense with a reshuffled offensive.

However, when Jackson rolls out on play-action and drops back to pass against Indy, he will likely have play calls where he can get the ball to Hollywood at any and every level of the field where he can unleash his elite speed to create big plays in the passing game.

OLB Jaylon Ferguson

The second-year outside linebacker has steadily improved as the season has gone along and has been playing his best football as of late. While he has flashed the pass-rushing potential that made him the all-time sack leader in college football history, he’s made his greatest strides as an edge setter against the run.

As a rookie last year, he was a liability on the edge that opposing teams would run stretch and zone right at. He’s showed tremendous, almost night and day improvement as a run defender who uses his length and increased strength to force opposing running backs to cut back inside and make plays in the backfield.

Ferguson had his best game of the season to date against the Steelers as both an edge rusher against the pass and setter against the run. He recorded two solo tackles, both of which were for loss, a pair of quarterback hits, and his second sack of the season. Against Indianapolis this week, he could carry over that confidence and momentum and have another strong performance.

Recent history of the matchup:

Indianapolis holds the 10-5 advantage in the all-time series between the two teams, however, the vast majority of those wins came during the Peyton Manning era when the future first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback won a whopping eight of his 10 meetings versus the Ravens with all eight victories coming after dropping the first two.

Dating back to the 2011 season the Ravens have won three of the last four and have outscored Indianapolis 71-35 in those wins and lost by just seven points in the loss that came 20-13 in the 2014 season.

It’s going to take a while for Baltimore to tie and overtake the lead since the two teams don’t nearly as often as they used to but can at least start inching closer win on Sunday.

Final prediction:

This is a battle between two 5-2 teams with one win over a winning but neither has a signature win over a true championship contender. The Ravens have gone up against two in the Steelers and the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs and came up short both times.

One of these two teams will emerge from this matchup 6-2 and will boast a winning record in conference play while the other will fall to 5-3 and .500 or worse in the case of Indy, against AFC opponents.

I believe that the Ravens will be the team to come away victorious in this game. While Baltimore has never won a game in Indianapolis (0-6 all-time) in franchise history, they have been lights out on the road dating back to last season going 14 months without a road loss and are a perfect 9-0 since Week Three of 2019 when they fell to the eventual champions.

I predict that the reigning league MVP, Jackson, will rebound from his horrid four turnover outing last week that essentially sealed his team’s fate against the Steelers and will lead his team to victory this week.

I foresee another big day for the running game with rookie J.K. Dobbins leading the backfield charge, followed by a healthy serving of Gus ‘The Bus’ Edwards, and topped off with few dashes from Jackson but not nearly as many carries as he got against Pittsburgh where he tied for the most on the team.

Hopefully, the aerial attack can get back on track but not at the expense of the rushing attack if it’s dominating and dictating the pace of the game. If the Ravens can take the air out of the ball, salt the time of the clock, and score points in the process while their defense takes care of business on their end then so be it.

Final outcome: Ravens beat Indianapolis 28-13