Week 15 Baltimore Ravens vs. New York Giants Preview: Ravens Try to Get Back to Winning Ways

A Chance to Reset:. Baltimore Ravens @ New York Giants

The Baltimore Ravens are back in action this week, taking on the New York Giants in an inter-conference matchup at 1pm on CBS. After last week’s disappointing lost to the Eagles, Baltimore will look to bounce back against another NFC East team. The Ravens are fully in the mix for the AFC playoff race. Currently, they sit as the number 5 seed, the top wild card spot, tied with the Chargers and Broncos, who they each beat in head-to-head matchups. The Ravens are also 2 games back of Pittsburgh (10-3) in the AFC North, with a huge matchup coming to Baltimore following week.

The New York Giants limp into the matchup riding an eight-game losing streak. They are in complete free fall, having released starting QB Daniel Jones earlier in the season. Along with the Las Vegas Raiders (2-11), the Giants have the worst record in the NFL. The Giants have nearly 20 players with an injury designation this week, as their disastrous season gets worse. Head Coach Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen are fighting for their jobs, as the Giants have been one of the leagues’ most embarrassing franchises this past decade. They are currently 16 point home underdogs, the highest spread for a home team this NFL season.

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Ravens Stay Fairly Healthy So Far, But There is a Tough Road Ahead

The Ravens are coming off a late and much needed week 14 bye, able to rest and get key players healthy. DT Michael Pierce and rookie CB T.J. Tampa are eligible to come off the injured reserve list. LB Kyle Van Noy and WR Rashod Bateman were both full participants in practice this week after missing the previous game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Health is going to be paramount in this game. The Ravens have a ridiculous schedule coming up. After facing the Giants on Sunday, the Ravens will come back home to face the Pittsburgh Steelers on a Saturday afternoon game, then travel to Houston for a Wednesday Christmas game against the Texans. 3 games in 10 days has never been scheduled in at least the Super Bowl era. It’s absurd that the Ravens have to go through this, but at least the first game against the Giants should be an easy one. Although it must be said that Baltimore will have to take this seriously, since “Any Given Sunday, a team can win and a team can lose.” 

Ravens Offensive Line Struggled Against Top Philly Defense, Has Baltimore Fixed Some Issues Over the Break?

The Ravens seem to go as their offensive line goes this season. When the big boys up front can give MVP QB Lamar Jackson time to go through his progression, or carve running lanes for Jackson and RB Derrick Henry, there is not a team in the universe who can stop these Ravens. We saw in the Eagles game what happens when the Ravens can’t just run over teams. Henry found some holes when there were none, but was mostly held in check. Jackson struggled to find open receivers, and was constantly thrown off balance by great interior pressure by the Eagles, as seen below

Jackson openly admitted after the game that he missed reads and running lanes, his mom apparently “cussed him out” about his performance. Jackson lost starting WR Rashod Bateman to injury early on and new acquisition Diontae Johnson bizarrely refused to go into the game when asked. Johnson is currently serving a 1-game suspension for his ridiculous behavior, and he’s lucky he still has a chance to be on the team. But it doesn’t matter how good your receivers are if the QB isn’t given protection.

The Giants are impressively bad this year, but the one strength they do have is their pass rush. Outside rushers Brian Burns (7 sacks), Azeez Ojulari (6), and Kayvon Thibodeaux (3) can all wreak havoc at times. The star on defense for New York is nose tackle Dexter Lawrence (9 sacks), who is probably the best interior lineman in the league now that Aaron Donald has retired. Lawrence is a space eater who will command a double team on every single snap. He opens up the rushing lanes for everyone else by simply being an absolute beast in the trenches. I would expect him to target guards Patrick Mekari and Daniel Faalele, who were both awful against Philly. They each showed sloppy footwork, missed blocks, and got bullied time and time again. The whole line did not have a great game overall, but the Eagles interior lineman exposed the Ravens badly.

The easiest path to victory is the same every week, get Derrick Henry and the running game going early, which then opens up the whole offense. The offensive line needs to get their mean streak back, and a few big runs from King Henry early should get them going. Jackson can hopefully get back to winning ways against NFC opponents. After the loss to the Eagles, he is now 23-2 against his opposite conference. Once the run game gets going, Jackson can fire off a few passes to WR Zay Flowers. Despite some quiet games over the past month, Flowers’ 863 receiving yards are tied for 11th in the NFL. Jackson was disappointed when he missed an open Flowers on a crucial third down in the game 2 weeks ago. Expect those two to get back on track.

Giants Are Massive Underdogs, Do They Have a Chance?

The short answer is no, not really, but since it is technically possible, let’s see how they could win. As mentioned, their pass rush is the strength of the team. If Dexter Lawrence can manhandle the Ravens offensive line like Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis did, it could be a long afternoon for Baltimore. However, the Giants are bottom 5 in rushing defense and passer rating allowed. The Giants special teams certainly aren't anything special, but Justin Tucker has left points off the board consistently. The Giants also have star rookie WR Malik Nabers, who has 80 catches (6th in NFL) for 819 yards and 3 touchdowns on the year. The Ravens secondary has struggled for most of the year, and another LSU receiver torching them could give Ja’Marr Chase PTSD flashbacks. That’s about all the strengths this team has, they earned their 2-11 record so far.

Unfortunately for Nabers, the QB room in New York is a catastrophe. Incumbent QB Daniel Jones was run out of town by the organization in the middle of the season.. Jones had underperformed his contract over the past few years, and the team had an opt out after the season, as long as Jones was healthy at season’s end. The Giants cut Jones after a confusing saga in which they benched Jones and then he ended up as scout team safety in practice. Big Blue did not want to pay him his injury guarantee, so they asked Jones not to come to the facility. DJ was not interested in this tomfoolery, and was granted his release. Eventually, he was picked up on waivers by the Minnesota Vikings, who are a lock for the NFC playoffs. Jones was the best option over backups Drew Lock and Tommy “Cutlets” DeVito. DeVito is more famous for his celebration, which Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield mocked when he ran for a touchdown in MetLife Stadium a few weeks ago.

New York’s offensive line is another big weakness, they already lost LT Andrew Thomas for the season, and a few more are hurt. The Ravens pass rush should be able to pin their ears back and hit the QB often. Jones, Lock, and DeVito have all been injured at some point this season, and the current starter DeVito is the last man standing. The offensive line is the main culprit behind the injury woes.

The Giants mistreatment of Jones was another misstep in a long series of embarrassments under owner John Mara. Since their 4th Super Bowl win in 2011, they have just 2 playoff appearances and 1 win. The Giants press conferences have had horrendous vibes for weeks, with team leaders openly questioning the effort and direction of the organization.

However, this Ravens squad does have a bit of Jekyll-and-Hyde energy. They lost a home game to the Raiders in week 2, and Vegas is now on a 9 game losing streak itself (they did lose their QB and traded away Davante Adams to the Jets) the Giants dumpster fire is too hot for just a couple sloppy plays by Baltimore to make a difference. It would be a historical upset if the Giants can somehow win this.

Prediction: Ravens Run Away in Get Right Game, Leave Coal in New York’s Stocking

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, the Ravens need this game in a bad way. Weak showings over the past month against Pittsburgh and Philly were masked by an exciting win at LA in the Harbaugh Bowl. With difficult tests coming over the next few weeks, and playoffs on the horizon, Baltimore needs to take care of business on the road. The Giants are an abysmal team, the only thing they are competing for is the number 1 pick. Anything less than a win by 3 scores would be a disappointment. But the most important thing, besides winning, is to get out of the game healthy in preparation for the Ravens’ busy Christmas calendar.

Prediction Ravens Win, 34-10