#oakvsbal

New Post has been published on http://inthezone-sports.net/picks-picks-picks-week-5-3/

PICKS, PICKS, PICKS - Week 5

The seasons have changed, the temperatures  have slowly started to cool down and the football season is heating up. Our prognostications on football are also getting red hot. Last week, “The Captain” rebounded from a subpar week to post an 11-7 record. Willie was just a touch below .500 with an 8-10 mark and Dwayne, well it was his turn to take a week off as he was 6-12. As ‘Day-Day” said on Next Friday, “playas mess up.” For the season, Willie holds a one-game lead on Donny, who’s a game ahead of Dwayne. It’s 42, 41, and 40.

This week some of the big clashes include four matchups in college football featuring ranked teams facing each other as Stanford battles Washington, Wisconsin in the “Big House to take on Michigan, Tennessee battles another SEC East rival in Georgia and the big game of the weekend is Lamar “Mama there goes that man again” Jackson and Louisville in “Death Valley” to tango with Mr. Deshaun Watson and the Clemson Tigers. In the NFL, it’s AFC South foes in the Colts and Jaguars going toe-to-toe in London and two franchises who have each won five Super Bowls in the Cowboys and 49ers. Who are we picking in all the big games? Check out the chart below.

The Ravens are back home at M&T Bank Stadium this week after being away or off for almost a month. This will be the first home game Terrell Suggs plays since his amazing return from his achilles injury and should have the Ravens Nation Army whipped up into a Balls So Hard frenzy! Currently sitting at 6-2 The Ravens are expected to be able to take care of business at home against the 3-5 Raiders who have never beaten the Ravens at home. As a matter of fact, you have to go back to 2006 to find a Raiders win against the Ravens. Both teams are feeling the pain of injuries and both will need to game plan outside of their usual box to earn a win at the big crabcake Sunday.   Offensively speaking the Ravens continue to be an enigma. While all the talent any NFL team could hope to have is present on the Ravens, the team has issues stringing together impressive offensive play game by game and quarter by quarter. The only consistent thing I see on the Ravens offense is the running game when O-Coordinator Cam Cameron remembers he has a Pro Bowl running tandem in Ray Rice and Vonta Leach. Last week against the Browns, Rice and Leach had their numbers called more than any other game in the 2012 season, and helped lead the Ravens to their 6th win. When the Ravens get the running game going, it makes Joe Flacco a better QB than he is without it. The running game sets up and sells the play action and allows Flacco’s receivers to get open down field for some big plays. However, Joe must continue to work on his progressions and stop staring down his receivers. He blows at least a dozen plass plays a game by staring his first read down from snap to throw. It is so frustrating to watch happen game after game, year after year. If Cam calls some good plays without outsmarting himself, and Joe improves his stare down issue, this could be a great week against the Raiders. Last week the Buc’s rookie runner Doug Martin slashed the Raiders for over 250 yards and four TD’s. Both John Harbaugh and Cam Cameron need to keep this in mind and prioritize the running game. However, if Cam forgets about the run, and Joe locks on his primary at the snap until he throws, the Raiders defense could have a lot of fun in Baltimore.

Carson Palmer will be without his star running backs as both Darren McFadden and Mike Goodson are out. This is going to push the Raiders to put the ball in Palmer’s hand more often than not and test the Ravens pass defense. This actually plays in favor to the Ravens defense which has had a tough time stuffing the run this season but heaps pressure on the Ravens secondary who have struggled at times this season without Pro-Bowl Corner Lardarius Webb. I’m hoping that ever since the running game for the Raiders will be mostly null, that Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata gets a lot of rest for his injured knee and shoulder. Ngata has commented this week that his injuries are not allowing him to do what he wants most of the time. This is something that needs to be addressed sooner than later as we need a healthy Ngata going into the meat of the Ravens schedule. The Ravens will need to rest Ngata, and lean more on Suggs, Reed, Smith, Williams, and Pollard to make things sizzle on the defense.

The Ravens have all they need to get a home win and end up 7-2 Sunday. The Ravens offense and Cam Cameron must play smart, and not screw themselves out of point making plays. Defensively the Ravens must adhere to the ‘Bend but don't Break’ mentality that they have been sticking to most of the season. As stated before, I pray that Haloti watches this game from the sidelines, we need him to rest for next week and beyond. Oddsmakers are looking to the Ravens to extend their NFL leading home game winning streak to 15 wins against the Raiders and so do I. GO RAVENS!!!

My Call...

Raiders 17 Ravens 31

Odds & Trends... Opening Line: Ravens -7 Current Line: Ravens -9 Over/Under: 46

Last meeting: 1-30-2010 - Ravens 21 Oakland 13

Baltimore has won 14 straight regualr season home games, teh NFLS longest active streak.

The Ravens are 4-0 all time versus akland at home.

Etcetera...