NFL Game Odds: Commanders vs Ravens | Two former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks will square off on Sunday when the Washington Commanders visit the Baltimore Ravens.
Washington’s Jayden Daniels won his award just last year with LSU and has entered the NFL with almost no learning curve needed, guiding his team to a 4-1 start, with a one-game lead on the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East.
Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson won his back in 2016 with the Louisville Cardinals, and both of their college careers were marked by an ability to torch opponents with their arms and their legs.
Daniels has been compared to Jackson for their similar styles, but he wants to be known for his uniqueness and not as the next Lamar Jackson.
So far he leads the league with a 77.1% pass completion rate, and his team didn’t have to punt in Weeks 2, 3 or 4.
This will be the toughest test so far of Daniels’ young NFL career. Can the Commanders keep rolling?
If so, they’ll have to find a solution for Baltimore’s stout running game. Read on to get our sports betting insights on this Sunday afternoon showdown.
NFL Game Odds: Commanders vs Ravens in Week 6 | NFL 2024/25 Season
When: Sunday, October 13, 2024, 1:00 pm ET
Where: M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore
TV: CBS
Radio: WBIG 100.3 FM Washington / WBAL 1090 AM Baltimore
Live Stream: NFL Sunday Ticket
Opening NFL Game Odds Subject to Change: Baltimore -6.5 / O/U 51.5 // Washington +220 / Baltimore -280
Why should you bet on the Commanders?
You wouldn’t know it from the 34-13 final score of Washington’s Week 5 win over the Cleveland Browns, but Jayden Daniels actually struggled for much of the game. He went just 14 of 25 on the day, with his 11 incompletions totaling almost as many as he threw in Weeks 2-4 combined, but he threw for 328 yards and ran for 82 more. Along with Daniels, Jeremy McNichols, Austin Ekeler, and Brian Robinson Jr combined for 211 rushing yards. Robinson ran for a pair of touchdowns, and McNichols ran for one more. Through the air, Daniels found Terry McLaurin on a 66-yard bomb and then hit Dyami Brown for a 41-yard touchdown, the longest of his career. McLaurin would end up with four catches for 125 yards, a season high.
Wednesday injury report#WASvsBAL | #RaiseHail
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) October 9, 2024
The Defense
The improvements for Washington’s defense were even more impressive than what they were able to do on offense. They came into the Cleveland game with the worst third-down defense in the NFL, but they only allowed the Browns to convert 1 of 13 third downs. They sacked Deshaun Watson seven times and forced him to fumble once. Furthermore, they limited him to 125 passing yards, and the touchdown pass that he threw came in garbage time. Some of Watson’s incompletions came from throws that were simply bad, missing fairly open receivers, but for many of his incompletions, pressure from the Washington front seven played a crucial role. If you like Washington, you think their defense will learn from how Cincinnati bottled up Derrick Henry and use similar methods, and you think their pass rush will be able to contain Lamar Jackson and harass him into rushed decisions.
Leaders
Washington leads the league in scoring with 31.0 points per game. Much of this has to do with Daniels’ success – he has 21 or more completions in three of Washington’s last four games. Austin Ekeler has at least 48 rushing and receiving yards in his last 36 games coming after a win, and Brian Robinson has at least one touchdown in eight straight Sunday road games.
^NFL Game Odds Why should you put your money on the Ravens?
The Ravens needed all the offense they could muster last Sunday in Cincinnati. Jackson and Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow kept reading touchdown passes, but in the end it was a bad snap on a Cincinnati field goal attempt in overtime, a huge run from Derrick Henry, and an easy Justin Tucker field goal that gave the Ravens a 41-38 win. Tucker had also tied the game from 56 yards with 1:35 left in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime. Jackson and Burrow combined for over 700 passing yards and nine touchdown passes.
Last Game Review
The Ravens, who had crumbled against Las Vegas, blowing a double-digit fourth-quarter lead in Week 2 and then almost given away a huge lead in Dallas in Week 3, found their mental strength this time around, coming back from three different ten-point deficits in the second half to get the win. As late as the 8:54 mark of the fourth quarter, the Bengals led by 10 (38-28), but the Ravens kept coming back. On their next drive, Baltimore scored on a six-yard touchdown pass that saw Jackson drop a shotgun snap, pick it up, stiff-arm a Cincinnati pass rusher, and then find Isaiah Lively in the end zone.
Wednesday's injury report: pic.twitter.com/sB6i1aMSm9
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) October 9, 2024
Lamar Jackson & Derrick Henry
Jackson ended up going 26 of 42 for 348 yards with four touchdown passes, and he ran for 55 more yards. He and Henry are both playing at the elite level that Baltimore fans anticipated when the team brought in the veteran running back. Henry had been putting up elite rushing numbers before Week 5, but the Bengals were able to bottle him up for most of the game. He had 14 rushes for 41 yards, and the Bengals even corralled him for a safety in the second quarter.
However, he had his big moment in overtime, rumbling for 51 yards on the first play after Cincinnati’s missed field goal and setting up the game-winning kick. If you like the Ravens, you see their offense continuing to produce at a high level, but you should have some concern about the Ravens’ defense, which really had no answers for the Bengals until Joe Burrow threw an interception late in the fourth quarter.
Baltimore has a 10-game winning streak going against NFC opponents, and in their last 11 games against NFC East teams, they have scored the first touchdown. They’ve also won the first half in nine straight home games against NFC East teams. Also, they are 4-0 against the spread in games coming after an AFC North contest. Washington has a four-game losing streak against the spread against teams with records above .500. They’ve also lost 15 of their last 16 Sunday contests against teams that came in on a winning streak. The Ravens also lead the league in total yards per game (447.6) and rushing yards per game (211.2), so despite the fact that Washington leads in scoring, the Ravens are generating a lot of offense themselves.
^Final Score and Prediction
Washington comes in with a four-game winning streak while the Ravens have won three straight, so one streak will come to an end (unless there’s a tie, in which case both streaks would end).
The Commanders have beaten Arizona, Cincinnati, the Giants, and Cleveland, putting up 38, 42, and 34 points in the last three wins, respectively.
Baltimore has beaten Dallas, Buffalo and Cincinnati, scoring 28, 35 and 41 points respectively in those games. I see both offenses continuing to roll. The Ravens have the better running game, which will help them avoid third-and-long situations, so I see them sustaining more drives.
I predict a final score of Baltimore 34, Washington 23.
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