Every Ravens fan knows that if the Ravens win on Sunday they are in the playoffs. What many fans do not know is the Ravens are 2-5 on the road this year. In strong contrast to last year when they were 5-3 on the road, the Ravens just have not won outside of the confines of their own stadium that often. This Sunday the Ravens will compete in their final road game of the regular season when they travel to Oakland.
Oakland Raiders they have been largely inconsistent this year. They have suffered embarrassing defeats from decent teams many times this season but they have also defeated some of the best teams in the league. In week 6, we saw the Raiders beat the playoff bound, high scoring Philadelphia Eagles 13-9. They played spoiler and beat their division rivals the Denver Broncos two weeks ago in Denver with some last minute heroics. We also saw them get humiliated by the Cleveland Browns (the same Browns that the Ravens shutout) by losing 23-9 in Cleveland.
This game is an example of the classic trap game. The Ravens know there is some talent on the team of their opponent but they know they have more talent. Because the starting quarterback of the Raiders will be Charlie Frye this week, there is not too much to worry about in terms of the pass defense. The key to victory will be to not give the win away and not look past the team across the field from them regardless of what record they hold.
As long as the Ravens eliminate turning the ball over, beat the man in front of them and limit the penalties they should be ok. For some reason last week in Pittsburgh they failed to complete any of these tasks, hence the loss.
Just keep in mind that the Raiders are the 29th ranked rushing defense in the league. Look for Ray Rice to run over the Raiders in a dominant fashion, maybe not quite like he did versus Detroit but on a little smaller scale.
The Raiders are also averaging 152 passing yards/game. Look for the secondary to have a good day especially Domonique Foxworth.
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