The Raiders will open up their new stadium with 100 percent capacity. Home field advantage is back. What does it mean for the Raiders in their Monday Night Football game against the Ravens? Let’s see the NFL odds.
Baltimore Ravens vs. Las Vegas Raiders
Monday, September 13, 2021 – 08:15 PM EDT at Allegiant Stadium
The Ravens have been beaten up recently, losing three premier players to season-ending injuries including J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards, and Marcus Peters. The Ravens will be fine at running back with Le’Veon Bell signed to the team. They’ll also likely bring in Latavious Murray to be another running back option. Last season, the Ravens defense carried the team, allowing just 18.9 points per game along with 329.8 yards per game on the defensive end.
They held their own but will now be without two key defensive linemen. We’ll see if the pass rush is capable of getting to Derrick Carr without Matt Judon and Yannick Ngakoue. The Ravens added Sammy Watkins at the receiver to compete alongside Marquise Brown, James Proche, and Devin Duvernayy. However, it seems like an underwhelming offense with the loss of Dobbins, Edwards, and really no reliable number two receiver coming into the season.
On the other side of the ball, the Raiders have been terrible on defense in years past. They allowed 29.9 points per game last season and only forced 15 turnovers, which is less than one a game. Ngakoue is now with Las Vegas which should also be a fun storyline moving forward playing against his former team.
The Ravens added Justin Houston to linebacker and he’s a huge sack threat. That should help the defense recover from their defensive line loss as Houston has recorded eight sacks or more in each of his last four seasons in the league. The secondary of the Ravens took a hit with Marcus Peters injured and out for the season. That could hurt their chances at containing Darren Waller, who was unstoppable last season for the Raiders.
Prediction
The Raiders are opening up a new stadium for Monday Night Football. It’s going to be loud and the Raiders are going to play with plenty of heart and passion with their fans creating the noise. With all the devastating blows to the Ravens along with teams admitting they’ve finally figured out Lamar Jackson, the Ravens have a real chance at winning this game. How many times are the Raiders on primetime television, keeping games close and finding ways to win.
The reality is, the Raiders have to keep up with Baltimore offensively because their defense stinks. But if they can do that, the Raiders should stick around this game and at least cover the spread. The Raiders literally defeated the Chiefs last season and have had so many close calls every night game. Last year, home-field advantage wasn’t a thing. This year it absolutely is. For your NFL picks, take the Raiders with a field goal and a half. If you want to get risky, take them to win the game outright at +170. That would make sense too.
NFL Pick: Raiders +3.5 (-110) with BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
