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Cardinals Ravens Spread

Fresh off their second baffling loss of the season, the Baltimore Ravens look to bounce back as they host the Arizona Cardinals Sunday in Week 8 NFL action. Baltimore will be looking to regain their identity, and to find some offense that just seems to escape them from time to time. A match-up with the struggling Cardinals could help them turn things around quickly. The Ravens have won all three meetings with Arizona since the turn of the century. They won their most recent meeting at home by a final of 26-23 in 2007.

Taking a look at the Week 8 lines, I find a spread of Baltimore -13 over Arizona and a total set of 43.5 points.

Baltimore

The Ravens have suffered two unspeakable road losses this season to inferior teams. After beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 35-7 in Week 1, they went on the road the next week and lost 26-13 at Tennessee. Baltimore suffered their second stunning loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier this week on Monday Night Football. They were held to just 146 yards of total offense in their 12-7 loss to the Jaguars, and didn’t get on the scoreboard until the 2:02 mark of the fourth quarter.

Baltimore (4-2, 3-0 home) totaled a franchise-low 16 yards in the first half, and they didn’t get their initial first down until the third quarter. It was an embarrassing performance to say the least, and this team will certainly show up hungry when the Cardinals come to town Sunday. They can’t always rely on their defense to win games, though this stop unit has been doing its part. The Ravens lead the league in total defense (272.7 yards/game) and scoring defense (13.8 points/game).

The Ravens dropped to 20th in the NFL in total offense (330.3 yards/game) after their poor performance Monday. They need to get Ray Rice back on track after he gained just 28 yards on eight carries. Rice leads the team with 426 rushing yards and two touchdowns. He’s also second on the team in receiving with 26 catches for 337 yards and two scores. Leading receiver Anquan Boldin (27 receptions, 394 yards, two TD) faces his former team Sunday after spending seven season with the Cardinals. Joe Flacco will be looking for his favorite target, while also hoping to improve. Flacco is completing just 52.1 percent of his passes this season for 1,415 yards and eight touchdowns to five interceptions.

Arizona

The Cardinals have now lost five straight games since a season-opening 28-21 victory over the Carolina Panthers. Arizona (1-5, 0-3 away) lost 20-32 to the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday, and quarterback Kevin Kolb continues to struggle. He looked like their savior after throwing for 309 yards and two touchdowns against the Panthers, but he has been a below-average signal caller ever since. Kolb has a 66.8 passer rating and he has thrown seven interceptions to five touchdowns during this losing streak.

A lack of a running game certainly hasn’t helped take any pressure off of Kolb, either. The Cardinals have failed to top 100 yards on the ground in five of six games this season. Leading rusher Beanie Wells is dealing with a knee injury that has kept him out the last few weeks. He is expected to sit again Sunday, which leads the running back duties to Alphonso Smith and LaRod Stephens-Howling. Kolb must find a way to get Larry Fitzgerald involved. Their star receiver has just two 100-yard games this season and has failed to catch a touchdown pass in their last three games.

Arizona’s defense has been sub-par all season, and they gave up 445 yards to the Steelers last weekend. The Cardinals rank 26th in the league in total defense (388.3 yards/game) and 28th in scoring defense (25.5 points/game). Wells is the only back to have rushed for at least 100 yards all season, as Smith is their second-leading rusher with 89 yards on 25 carries. Early Doucet is really their only other threat at receiver, with 26 grabs for 339 yards and two touchdowns this year. Like Boldin, tight end Todd Heap (13 receptions, 150 yards) will be up against his former team as well.

Betting Trends

The Cardinals are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games following a double-digit loss at home, and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games as an underdog of 10.5 or greater. However, Arizona is 2-8 AS in their last 10 games as a road underdog, and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 road games overall.

Baltimore is 48-22-1 ATS in their last 71 games as a home favorite, including 11-4 ATS in their last 15 games as a home favorite of 10.5 or more. But the Ravens are just 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games when playing on Sunday following a Monday night game.