The Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns will hook up for Thursday NIght Football's Week 4 matchup. I can confidently say that the question is not if the Ravens will win, but by how many points will they win?
The Ravens entered the 2012 season as one of the top teams in the NFL. Actually, they are one of my favorite teams in the AFC right behind the New England Patriots and Houston Texans.
This season, Joe Flacco is playing like an elite quarterback. He does not want anybody to question his abilities to win and, although you have to love the Ravens' defense, he wants to get a little more credit for his involvement in Raven victories.
Flacco comes into Week 4 as probably the second best quarterback behind Eli Manning. He is in second place in yards totaled through the first three games. Flacco has an average completion percentage, but is also second in yards per game. He is tied seventh with 5 touchdowns while only throwing two interceptions.
The Ravens take the battle at the quarterback position because I am not about to offend Flacco and compare him to the Browns' rookie Brandon Weeden, who has thrown the most interceptions in the league tied with Michael Vick and Jay Cutler with six.
Ray Rice's running game continues to excel every season. He is tied for first in the league with three rushing TDs.
Trent Richardson is just not seasoned enough and once again, this matchup goes to the Ravens in the battle of the running backs.
The question here is the Browns and Ravens defense. The Browns have allowed 25 points per game, ranking them 19 in the NFL. They are No. 25 in the league allowing 391.7 yards per game, 28 in the league allowing 269 passing yards per game and No. 23 allowing 122.7 yards on the ground per game.
The Ravens are right behind the Browns in passing yards allowed by their defense. They are No. 28 in the league giving up 289.7 yards in the air and have allowed a total of 401.3 yards per game. Their rushing defense is slightly better at No. 18 in the league giving up 111.7 yards per game on the ground. Their defense has given up 22.3 points a game.
Because the Ravens' offense is so good, however, I have to give them the defensive advantage in this one.
They have faced tough teams in the past two weeks, which have their defensive totals slightly bloated. I do not think the Ravens will be on the weaker side of the defensive stats at the end of the season.
Score Prediction: Ravens will do it on the ground and air. Ray Rice will finish with his first 100-yard game of the season and score two touchdowns. Jay Flacco will go for 300-plus yards and get three touchdowns as the Ravens will beat the Cleveland Browns 41-17.
