Baltimore Ravens vs. New York Giants: Week 16 Q&A

The Baltimore Ravens are about to take on the New York Giants. Here are questions submitted via Twitter. Here are my answers:

@parham_russ asks: You mentioned the play of the Giants linebacker corps. How can they possibly disrupt the Ravens run game? What can the Ravens do to offset there play

Answer: Well Russ, Blake Martinez is a really good football player. He has 73 solo tackles on the season and has 128 total tackles. 10 of those tackles are for a loss. While this is his first season with the New York Giants, the former Packer has four straight seasons with over 100 total tackles. He’s a downhill player who always finds his way to the football.

The Giants linebacker corps has some talent around him, but he’s really the crown jewel in the middle of the defense. Jabrill Peppers isn’t a linebacker, though he’s one of those safeties who almost counts as one in run defense. Peppers has 77 total tackles and 8.5 of them are for a loss of yards.

With two downhill players attacking the football, in front of an impressive defensive line with Dexter Lawrence, Leonard Williams, and Dalvin Tomlinson in front of them, this defense isn’t bad. The Giants give up the sixth-fewest rushing yards per game in the NFL.

The key for the Giants is to play gap sound football and have Martinez and Peppers attack the football. If the Giants are going to win this game (which I don’t think they are) Martinez and Peppers need to rack up some stats. They’re going to have to be involved and lead the charge.

What the Ravens need to do in this game is to establish a strong play-action passing game. They need to make Peppers have to cover more than simply hunting the football. They need to make the Giants pay if they sell out to stop the run. It should be interesting. The way the Ravens are running the football I wouldn’t think it would be a problem.

@ScullyLifeMafia asks: My question is…. should the Ravens allow Miles Boykin and Marquise Brown to develop with Lamar Jackson since they are still young players in the NFL? I love their skill set because they are two different receivers. I think Boykin could develop into a GREAT RECEIVER, just need a little more time.

Answer: Well, we’re talking about the Ravens so don’t get too excited for the development of young wide receivers. If your question pertains to the future, I think they can find an upgrade at the wide receiver position than Miles Boykin. I’m not sure he’s ever going to be anything but a solid player. If he had the potential to be a number one receiver at some point, he’d show a little faster progress in the early years of his career.

Boykin is a receiver who is turning on the jets a bit. He has had a touchdown reception in two of the last three games. He’s kind of an enigma because he has all the tools and so little of the production. He needs to keep playing well, we’ll see what happens. Right now, I’d rather the Ravens keep going to the Dez Bryant well and seeing what Devin Duvernay has to offer as a receiver.

@_db_7 asks: How do you think the pass rush will fair this week? Does Ngakoue build on last week’s performance?

Answer: I think this will be a great game for the Ravens in the pass-rushing department. This is the kind of game the Ravens seem to play the best in. According to Ian Rappoport, the Giants should have Daniel Jones back as the starting quarterback.

Jones has taken 37 sacks this season. Colt McCoy has played in four games this season and has been sacked five times. It doesn’t really matter who the Giants are playing at quarterback, they get sacked. The Giants don’t have a great offensive line and the Ravens eat against bad pass blocking teams, look what they did against the Jaguars and the Bengals.

As far as Yannick Ngakoue, I think we underestimated how long it would take to get his groove after being traded to the Ravens. I think he’s getting more comfortable in the defense. I think that makes a huge difference. He’s an incredibly talented pass rusher. Pressures are starting to turn into more lucrative results. If the Ravens make the playoffs, Ngakoue could be a game-changer in those all-important games.

@Sports_Guy52 asks: At the moment the spread is BAL -10.5 are you taking them to cover?

Answer: Okay, so we don’t really talk about this kind of thing on here, but I’m totally going to answer this. The Ravens should be trusted to win this game by two or three scores. The Giants aren’t great. Their most impressive win was against the Seattle Seahawks, but they got the Seahawks at the right time, in the middle of a tough stretch for them. The Giants are a five-win football team.

I have some reservations about this simply because the Giants have been competitive in most of their games. The thing is the Ravens have gotten hot. Not only are they winning, but they’ve started to figure some things out. The run game is cranking back up and so is their MVP quarterback. So give me the Ravens by three or more scores. The Ravens have earned that trust in recent weeks.