Ravens vs. Jags Week 12 Against the Spread Prediction
Baltimore Ravens (7-3 SU, 4-5-1 ATS) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-7 SU, 3-6-1 ATS)
Week 12 NFL
Date/Time: Sunday, November 27, 2022 at 1PM EST
Where: TIAA Bank Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida
TV: CBS
Point Spread: BAL -4/JAC +4 (BAS – Bet on games at -105 here instead of the -110 your bookie is sapping you with! You’ll save THOUSANDS of dollars with zero effort!)
Over/Under Total: 43.5
The Baltimore Ravens take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in an AFC week 12 battle at TIAA Bank Stadium in Florida. The Ravens came off the bye last week and skated by the Panthers, 13-3, for their fourth win in a row. Now sitting atop the AFC North standings, they go onto Jacksonville to take on a 3-7 Jaguars squad that had last week off, hoping the rest ignited something in them. Prior to the bye, the Jags fell to the Kansas City Chiefs on the road, 27-17. Who can get us the cover this week? Let’s break it down!
Where do the Ravens Stand?
The Ravens are a strange team. They’re winning and are in first place. But it’s a little different than what we’ve seen from previous Ravens teams that were doing well. Their 13-3 win over Carolina last week coming off the bye was a case in point. It’s just odd to see a team at 7-3 that has such a bad secondary and can be duck soup to opposing quarterbacks. And it’s like their offense is reduced to Lamar Jackson, Mark Andrews, and whoever else might step up on a given day, with your guess being as good as anyone else’s. It’s just a strange identity with a star QB, a good tight end, a good rushing defense, and then a big mish-mosh, along with a “D” that can be exploited. They’re just coming up with better results than you’d think.
The Baltimore offense has been dealing with injuries. Without Rashod Bateman in there, they are pretty thin aerially. If Andrews fails to deliver on a given day, they’re going to be up against it. Demarcus Robinson stepped up last week, but getting steady production at the position has been an issue. The running back position is somewhat faceless, with Jackson always a threat to be productive with his feet. Otherwise, they’re down to Kenyan Drake, Justice Hill, and Gus Edwards (questionable). Not that they can’t make it work, but they’re running a lot of guys out there who weren’t really the first choice, and we’ll see how this offense responds moving forward. Frankly, coming off the bye and putting up a lone 4th quarter TD against a Carolina defense wasn’t the greatest look for this Baltimore offense last week.
Matchup Edges for Jacksonville?
The one area of consistency for Baltimore has been a rigid defensive front. Teams aren’t running the ball very well against the Ravens. The Jags would like to press their advantage with RB Travis Etienne, who has really given the Jags’ offense another dimension with his performance this season. Still, this Jacksonville offense has other options. The upward trajectory of QB Trevor Lawrence hasn’t been a straight line going up, as there are setbacks mixed in there, but he’s been better and has more stuff with which to work. With Christian Kirk, Marvin Jones, Zay Jones, and TE Evan Engram, among others, there are a lot of available targets for Lawrence. If Lawrence can go to work on this Baltimore secondary, they could put together some nice drives.
The Jaguars are a pretty dicey defense against the pass. Luckily for them, in this spot, they’re not facing the most aerially-inclined team in the Ravens, as it hasn’t been easy for them to get steady production outside of Andrews. And while Andrews and the cast of role receivers could do damage in this spot, the Jaguars’ defensive front has been pretty good. They have a strong middle, as well, and the strength of their “D” is definitely up-front, which might actually suit them decently in this matchup with a Ravens’ offense that looks to get a big bulk of their production on the ground.
More Picks: Go get Loot’s Den/Car Week 12 projected spread winner >>>
Challenges for the Jags This Week?
As we saw last week with the Ravens, a bye week doesn’t automatically give way to fresher legs and renewed life on offense. The Jags still have major issues in this category. In the last few months, we see a few occasions where the Jags scored 27 points, but otherwise, we’re seeing point-totals that would have them out of reach in this spot with no chance to cover. For all the issues we’ve seen from the Baltimore defense this season, allowing a combined 16 points in their last two games suggests a turnaround that we don’t want to be too late to acknowledge. Combined with the fact that this Jaguars’ offense is a pretty erratic group, I wouldn’t put it past the Baltimore “D” to use this as a spot to further their recent surge on that side of the ball.
Lay the Points
The angle is clear for those fancying the rested Jags at home against a Ravens team whose offense isn’t thriving at the moment. Something just tells me this might be a bad week to go against Lamar Jackson, who can explode at any time and is due to do so. I sense the Baltimore defense has quietly gotten its act together a little bit with some time to work on things and a couple of recent strong showings. Between Lamar having a good game and his connections to Andrews, I see the Ravens creating a little separation late, getting out of town with the win and the cover on Sunday.
Loot’s Prediction to Cover the Point Spread: I’m betting on the Baltimore Ravens minus 4 points. Bet your Week 12 football predictions for FREE by scoring a 100% real cash bonus up to $300 by entering bonus promo code PREDICT100 at MyBookie Sportsbook!
