The Battle of The Beltway: Washington Redskins vs. Baltimore Ravens Preview

The Ravens rank second in pass defense, giving up only 175 yards through the air. This number is particularly impressive when taking into account the fact that the Ravens also have the largest margin of victory in the NFL this year at 19 points per game.

Despite the fact that opponents are quick to abandon the run in an attempt to play catch up to the Ravens in the third and fourth quarter, the banged up Ravens secondary and front seven have been excellent in defensing the pass. 

On offense, the Ravens are a rapidly improving unit and Joe Flacco holds the highest passer rating in the NFL over the last eight games. I'll let you think about that for a second before I continue. 

In a league with Kurt Warner, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, and Drew Brees, Joe Flacco is the highest rated passer over the last eight games. That is not something I thought possible with this Ravens team going into this year. The Ravens are third in the league in Rush Offense averaging 143.8 yards per game, and are 27th in the league averaging 179 yards in the air per game.  The Ravens are 11th in total scoring at 24.3 points per game.

For the sake of clarity, and to help wrap your heads around the numbers, here's a chart:

Category             Ravens Rank(Average Per Game)    Redskins Rank(Average per game)

Rush Defense           3(143.8)                                              7(90.4)                     

Pass Defense           2 (175)                                                7(192)

Scoring Defense       3(15.8)                                                6(18.5)

Rush Offense           3(143.8)                                              5(139.4)

Pass Offense          27(179)                                               20(199.7)

Scoring Offense      11(24.3)                                              28(17.3)

Many Ravens fans are drinking the purple Kool-Aid and thinking the Ravens will go in and dominate the Redskins on offense and put up points at will as they have the past couple of weeks. 

I don't feel this will be the case. 

I think the Redskins defense is good enough and hungry enough to keep this game close; however, I feel in the end, the pass rush will be far more effective for the Ravens, and am projecting 3-4 sacks for them this game. 

I feel the Redskins will have between 1-2 sacks on Joe Flacco, and I predict the Ravens secondary will come up with enough plays for this defense to score one time as they have in their last two games. 

I also feel the defense for the Ravens will be able to win the field position battle all day. 

My final prediction is this, the numbers will be skewed in the Ravens favor defensively, the Redskins will be unable to run the ball and Jason Campbell will throw two picks or more.

The Ravens, however, will struggle to run the ball and pass it effectively, but will do enough to win this game.

Home Field Advantage will also be a factor as the Ravens are even tougher to beat at home.  Prediciton of the final score, the city of Baltimore proves that they were right to not build a museum and the Ravens win 24-10.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?