Week 8 Picks: Ravens vs. Cards

Baltimore Ravens (5-2 SU, 5-2 ATS) vs. Arizona Cardinals (1-6 SU, 3-3-1 ATS)

Week 8 NFL

Date/Time: Sunday, October 29, 2023 at 4:25PM EDT

Where: State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona

TV: CBS

Betting Odds

Point Spread: BAL -8.5/ARI +8.5 (Bovada)

Money Line: BAL -415, ARI +310

Over/Under Total: 44

Game Overview

The Baltimore Ravens come to Glendale for a week 8 showdown with the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Arizona continued to see things trend downward, taking a 20-10 loss at Seattle last week. They now return home, but get another tough matchup with the Ravens coming into town. The Ravens won their second in a row and moved to 5-2 on Sunday with a 38-6 clobbering on the Lions at home. Can the Cardinals give the surging Ravens some resistance? Or will we see the Ravens continue to make their presence felt?

Help on the Way for Arizona?

Kyler Murray will be eligible to return and seeing how the Arizona offense is in a funk, that could really help. Josh Dobbs showed some early-season feistiness, with returns diminishing significantly in recent weeks. It still seems to be an unlikely landing spot for Murray. At 1-6, rushing him back would seem unwise and while nothing has been settled as of press-time, the word we’re getting is that this week appears an unlikely spot to make his season debut. And from what we’ve seen from this Arizona team lately as a whole, that’s a problem.

While the Baltimore defense has taken some injury setbacks this season, their last five games show them giving up a total of 64 points. Then you take an Arizona offense, now without James Conner, and they’ve scored 19 points in the last two games, with one Dobbs rushing TD to show for their last two weeks of end-zone work. It sets up for a rough spot for Arizona. They could catch fire and resemble the team that put up a respectable 28 points against the Giants and Cowboys earlier in the season, but a lot of harsh football realities appear to be setting in for the Cardinals.

Any Hope for Arizona?

The Cardinals’ one win of the season being a beatdown of Dallas does offer some promise or at least gives them some appeal as a team capable of performing over their head in spots. The struggling Dobbs hasn’t been good, but with the light of his tunnel now in sight and his next NFL start maybe not coming for a while, maybe he really goes all-out to leave a good impression. And for what it’s worth, the Ravens don’t make it down this way very often, as they will be playing in a bit of a foreign locale for them.

With everything going wrong for the Cardinals with the injuries, waiting for Murray to return, and the downturn of the offense, only failing to cover the spread 3 out of 7 times thus far isn’t so shabby. They’ve played just three at home, covering in two of them, the Dallas one by a margin of 23 points. It’s understandable why Baltimore backers would be licking their chops this week. Lamar could really feast against this defense. The Ravens’ defense likely won’t be pushed to the full extent of their limits this week, either. But it could still be a mistake to think that at home, the Cardinals feistiness has been completely extinguished.

What to Expect

Naturally, one would want to verify Murray’s status before locking in any bets. But if we’re anticipating it will be Dobbs, then it starts becoming hard to forecast a lot of Cardinals’ offense. They’re at home. They’re catching a Baltimore team that it’s in a bit of an out-of-context spot. But it’s still hard to not notice how well Lamar Jackson and this offense has performed against the NFC in Jackson’s tenure as a Raven. It’s actually downright odd. Naturally, once you start noticing patterns, they’re due to go away. But this certainly seems like an appealing matchup for him, considering how their offense is beginning to crescendo. The aerial game is coming into form, with Mark Andrews having his first real big game of the season last week, with the rest of a good receiving crew starting to show their fangs. And their run-game is a bit of a patchwork unit with Gus Edwards, Justice Hill, and of course Jackson, but they get the job done.

Final Prediction

As someone looking to back the Ravens this week, it does seem like a set-up. The Ravens could let their guard down a bit against a 1-6 Cardinals’ bunch and not threaten covering the big number on the road. It has been a nice start for Baltimore, but in the mix of their standout showings like last week are a few losses and close games, as well. The Colts and Steelers looked to be in tough against the Ravens and won. I just think that the initial adrenaline of a new season has worn off for Arizona, who is now soldiering on with an offense that is packed with guys who wouldn’t be seeing a lot of time if playing on other teams, with the exception of Hollywood Brown, who will be facing his old team this week. I see the Ravens getting some separation and getting the win and cover this week. I’ll take the Ravens.

Loot’s Prediction to Cover the Point Spread: I’m betting on the Baltimore Ravens minus 8.5 points.