Darin McCann prediction:
The Ravens drilled an undermanned and ill-prepared Miami Dolphins team last Sunday to the tune of a 59-10 shellacking that has sent all of Ravensdom into a tizzy. Expect that excitement to only multiply this weekend after the Ravens take care of another overmatched opponent in their home-opener against the Arizona Cardinals.
Cardinals rookie quarterback Kyler Murray is exciting. He has terrific mobility, is a great all-around athlete and has an accurate arm. He also showed heart in his debut last week, rallying his team back from a big second-half deficit to salvage a tie against the Detroit Lions. But he’s not going up against the Lions this weekend, and the Ravens have a history of obliterating rookie quarterbacks at M&T Bank Stadium.
Plus, and this is significant, the Ravens are a far superior all-around team to the Cardinals, from their coaching staff to their position players to their special teams. Will they win by seven touchdowns again? Probably not. But the guess is that they are pretty comfortable going into the fourth quarter, and defensive coordinator Don Martindale will let the “dogs eat” when Murray tries to stage another comeback.
The biggest challenges the Ravens look to face on Sunday are the four- and five-receiver sets the Cardinals will trot out with regularity, and the efforts of Cardinals edge players Terrell Suggs and Chandler Jones. But the strength of the Ravens defense is still their secondary (despite some bumps and bruises), and the strength of the offensive line, outside all-world guard Marshal Yanda, is the tackles and tight ends, who should be able to at least control some of the damage from Suggs and Jones.
Bold predictions:
- The Ravens will run for 275-plus yards against the Cardinals.
- Rookie running back Justice Hill will have more total yards of offense than Cardinals back David Johnson.
- Lamar Jackson will hit on another long pass (40-plus yards) this week, this one to rookie Miles Boykin.
- Tim Williams notches 1.5 sacks
Final score prediction: Ravens 34 Cardinals 9