Second Manning Brother in Two Weeks

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This week the 9-5 Baltimore Ravens face the other Manning brother in Eil, who leads the 8-6 New York Giants into Baltimore.  On a side note the Ravens will wear their black alternate jersey’s for this game.

1.  Playing Motivated
This is a key game for both the Ravens and the Giants.  The Ravens have lost their last three games and are in danger of dropping all the way to a wildcard.  The Giants have lost four of their last six games including an embarrassing 34-0 loss to the Atlanta Falcons last week.  While the Ravens clinched a playoff berth last week, they still need a win to clinch the division.  If the Giants lose out, they will not be able to defend their Super Bowl title.  Due to these factors, both teams should come out and play hard, making for a playoff caliber game in a game where there are massive playoff ramifications.

2.  Which Teams Show Up?
As stated above, both teams are coming into this game on bad streaks.  Both have been very inconsistent this season also.  The Ravens have beaten the New England Patriots 31-30 but, have lost to the Denver Broncos 34-17 and the Houston Texans 43-13.  Even stranger is that the Patriots have beaten these two by a combined score of 38.  Similarly, the Giants beat the New Orleans Saints 52-27 and the Saints beat the Falcons 31-27.  The Giants also have beaten the second and third best teams in the NFC (Green Bay and San Francisco) by a total of 51 yet they lose to a team only marginally better by 34 and even worse, they get shutout despite putting up 26 points on the vaunted 49ers defense.  I wouldn’t expect both teams to be on top form but, I don’t expect them to be their worst and they should play near the same level on Sunday.

Ravens LB Ray Lewis recovers a fumble.

3.  Offensive Line
While the Giants only rank tied for 16th in the NFL with 32 sacks, (coincidently they are tied with the Ravens), they still have three top pass rushers.  All three of them play defensive end and could potentially give Ravens offensive tackles Michael Oher and Kelechi Osemele fits.  Lets start with Jason Pierre-Paul.  The 23 year old is having a down year with only 6.5 sacks.  This is good for 34th in the NFL.  He may only have 6.5 sacks but, he still a threat to get a sack on every pass play.  Veteran Osi Umenyiora has 6 sacks for the season.  He doesn’t play as many snaps as Pierre-Paul as he is more of a situational pass rusher for the Giants.  Last is Justin Tuck who is in the midst of his worst season in which he has played in all games.  He only has 3 sacks for the season and it is unsure if he plays against the Ravens as he hasn’t practiced yet this week.  While the Giants pass rushers are having a down year, they are still a real threat, especially against a weak Ravens offensive line.

4.  Pass Rush
The Giants have allowed the least amount of sacks this season with 16.  The next best team is the Houston Texans and they have allowed 20. This means the Ravens pass rush will have an even harder job this week.  In order to disrupt the Giants good passing game, the Ravens need to get good pressure on QB Eli Manning.  This way e can’t get the ball to WRs Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks.  Since the Ravens secondary is banged up, this will be even more important.  The main players to watch for the Ravens are OLBs Terrell Suggs and Paul Kruger.  Also look for DEs Arthur Jones and Haloti Ngata.  If Jones and Ngata can get pressure on the inside, it will force Manning to move around in the pocket which makes it easier for Suggs and Kruger.  If Suggs and Kruger can get outside pressure, it will force Manning up in the pocket towards Ngata and Jones.  The main advantage that the Ravens have is Manning isn’t a mobile quarterback.  The main disadvantage the Ravens will have is Suggs’s bicep.  Last week, Suggs played but you could tell he was hurt as he would hold his right arm and he wasn’t in for some plays.  On the positive side, he has been a full participant in practice all week and wasn’t even on the injury report for Wednesday.  This matchup between the Ravens pass rush and the Giants offensive line will determine whether the Ravens will be able to stop the Giants offense.

Ravens DE Haloti Ngata rushes the passer.