Baltimore Ravens: Score Prediction vs. Arizona Cardinals

It has been a disappointing season to say the least for the Baltimore Ravens. There has never been a season in which this franchise has had only one win through six games. There also has not been a season in which they had this many games out west in the first half of the season.

The trip to Glendale, Arizona will be the Ravens fourth game outside the Eastern Time Zone. The cross-country trips have not been kind to Baltimore as they already have losses in Denver, Oakland and San Francisco. Now they get an Arizona Cardinals team that is coming off a bad loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last week.

Earlier in the week, I wrote about the Ravens five keys to victory over the Cardinals. One of the key factors entering this game will be the Arizona passing game against the Ravens secondary. Carson Palmer and the Arizona wide receivers are off to a fantastic start and have to be licking their chops knowing that they are playing against a secondary that has been atrocious. It is a recipe for disaster, and unless something miraculously changes this week, it is hard to imagine the Ravens being able to contain Larry Fitzgerald, John Brown and Michael Floyd.

If the Ravens were able to hold onto a few late leads, we might have a completely different perspective about this team. Baltimore has been in just about every game as the five loss have come by a total of just 22 points. They cannot finish games against some of the worse teams in the NFL, and now they will be matched up against one of the best.

This game could get ugly. Quick.

26. Final. 34. 32. 20

I have predicted the Ravens to win every game this season, except for the loss to the Denver Broncos. You can make an argument that the Ravens best performance this season came in that loss. Since that game, the defense has been a mess to say the least. I do not expect things to turn around against one of the better teams in the NFL.

The Ravens offense has shown us that they are capable of putting up points, which is why I think they will be able to score at least 20 points. The problem is the defense cannot make stop to keep the team in games. So while the Ravens have been in close games in every game this season, this one has all the makings of a blowout win for the Cardinals.

Bruce Arians has done a phenomenal job with the Cardinals as they sit in first place in a very good NFC West. Arizona is 15-4 at home under Arians and are second in the NFL in scoring at 33.8 points per game. Arians’ offense had a bad game last week and will be looking to fix that against the Ravens soft defense.

Palmer has been the catalyst of the Cardinals offense as he has thrown 14 touchdowns and has a 106.9 passer rating, which ranks fifth-best in the league. Palmer has also had great success against the Ravens, mostly in his time with the Cincinnati Bengals. He is 9-5 against the Ravens and has thrown for 3,570 yards, by far the most against an opposing team, and 17 touchdowns. Expect those numbers to rise significantly on Monday night.

Baltimore has given us little reason to think that they will be able to slow down the Cardinals’ sixth-ranked passing offense. Palmer should have another terrific game for Arizona and the Ravens historically bad season will get worse.

Maybe picking against them will spark some kind of change and the Ravens shock us all.

Next: Five Keys to Victory vs. Arizona Cardinals

More from The Baltimore Wire

Home/Baltimore Ravens