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We hope you enjoy. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Ladies and gentlemen, Degenerates, Gamblers, NFL fans, Ravens fans, everybody in between four and one. Welcome in to episode number 92 of the Talking the Line Podcast and as always, hey, thank you so much for taking a few moments out of your day to come and kick it with a crew on this beautiful Friday of bets and now NFL analysis.
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Ladies and gentlemen and beautiful gambling people and NFL fans or maybe you're none of the above you're just someone in between that stumbled upon you might be a fan of the Ravens. Who knows once again, thank you so much for stopping by talking the line podcast episode number 92. I am your humble host Colton cold 45 so okay and we'll be guiding this ship on this beautiful July 30th, 2021 but folks I couldn't do it by myself. I need some help on every show.
I need some extra analysis and extra insights and when we do run the regularly daily sports gambling pod, I need some extra locks. So with that being said, let me bring in my partner, the co host of the TTL pod in the man who helps me dish out some fire episodes every single day. The man, the myth, the degenerate gambling legend and now full time NFL analyst, Mr. Riley, our Max Magnuson.
Barter, how you doing over there today, pal? My man, I cannot be much better. It is Friday in the Windy City. Got a beautiful weekend on deck far as personal stuff, work stuff.
You name it. I got it. And you know, we're diving into one of my favorite teams to watch in the NFL today. So I am a little more than excited today.
So I'm ready to get things rocking and rolling. I am as well. My friend, no complaints on this side of the table. As always, you did say pretty nice day here in the Windy City.
Not too windy has it typically tends to be during this time of the year. A little bit stiff outside. So hey, make sure you got those T shirts and shorts on deck. If you're venturing on outside, maybe hey, playing around the nine after you get off of work here today.
Hope so. Hope that's in your future. Is a jam-packed episode of the TTL Pod. And no, you read the title.
No, you probably looked at it. It is all about the Baltimore Ravens today. But before we dive into all of that, let's discuss a little bit what is coming up on today's show and give you a couple quick reminders first. Now, you know the TTL Pod is a daily sports gambling pod.
You know us as handicappers here, me and Mr. Magnussen. That being said, you're not going to find that daily show here right now at this time. But nonetheless, we're still making picks.
We're still cashing MLB tickets. Myself personally, I went five and one yesterday on the MLB books. I am cash and tickets. I am actually as a matter of fact, 10 and three over the last two days.
So am I heating back up? I don't know if the jury is still out. However, I do already have some plays out on the action app. Once again, Mags, have you hammered anything in?
As of yet. I've got a couple in line today. I can't say that I'm quite as hard as you are. I am positive the last two days.
So I'm not going to complain about that by chance. But I've got a couple of plays out today. So go check them out on the action app. The last couple of days I've been pumping out at least a couple more as a day goes along too.
All right. Well, if you don't know our action network app, username, here you go. I am at cash underscore with underscore Cole. You can also follow Riley at R.
Mags in all caps R.M.A.G.S. And then you can follow the talking the line best bets once we go back to this and out daily locks at talking the line. No spaces, no all upper case, nothing like that. Just regular talking the lines.
Make sure you follow us there. But then you can also find all of our best bets in addition to the action network app on the talking the line dot com website. You can check it out on the today's best bets tab. We make it super easy for you.
If you like one of our plays in particular, you can actually hammer it in. We give you a couple of different options of sports books as to whatever one is your favorite. You can utilize go through us, make it super easy on yourself. Check it out at talking the line dot com and may or may not support the show in doing so as well.
So check them all out there. The last thing we got coming out for you guys on a daily basis still, but the NFL special editions roll on set on Twitter this morning. We move the sticks. Sorry to today we're getting into the aforementioned Baltimore Ravens.
Now a lot of stuff to talk about here with the Ravens. There is a lot of question marks coming in from last season, but not nearly as many question marks to cover as we had from the previous two teams. Not a whole lot of losses offensively or defensively for the crew here coming out of Baltimore, but few key additions that we do need to talk about in addition. But as always, if you haven't been to one of these shows here yet, what we're going to do, the entire season preview, we're going to kick things off, breaking down the entire lineup offensively and defensively.
Also going to look at a couple of key 2020 numbers, a couple of key other things that entail with their offensive and defensive scheme in addition to that. We'll also break down the entire coaching staff. We'll take a look at the head coach, offensive coordinator and defense coordinator and talk about what those individual guys need to do as coaching staff this season. Then of course, hey, we got to talk a little bit about the schedule.
That's what we're doing. We got 18 weeks this season. Everybody knows we all play on Sunday, maybe a Thursday or Monday, but we'll talk about every single one of them. We'll talk about all of the division opponents, all of the non division opponents, the main eight games outside of their division and then the remaining three.
Then we'll talk about where do we see them falling within their division and potential Super Bowl run. That'll segue us right on into some betting trends. We'll talk about 2020 betting trends, ATS numbers, over under numbers, everything in between for the Baltimore Ravens. We'll also talk about some outlook for the upcoming season.
We'll break down each individual week's lines, give you a way to early week one pick already out of the gates. We'll talk win totals. We'll talk alternate win totals, everything you need to have a successful 2021 betting season on the Baltimore Ravens. Then oh, hey, we didn't forget about you, fantasy players either because we are fantasy nerds ourselves.
We're the second segment of the Baltimore Ravens today breaking down each positional grouping, even the defense and telling you where we might be playing them in our fantasy lineups, where you should be targeting them in your drafts and what type of value we believe they have over the course of the season. So we'll be covering it all in the entire season preview for the Baltimore Ravens today, my friends. So I got not a whole lot else to say other than let's get this show on the road part of you got anything else that needs to get off the old chest. No, sir.
All right, my friends, well, let's get right on into it. We are back with another NFL special edition and it is time to kick things off with the first segment as you will find is going to be pretty consistent here. So now from show to show, first things first, the full Baltimore Ravens team breakdown. Now another thing if you guys didn't know, if you haven't been by a show yet, we also start things off on the offensive side of the ball.
So I am going to kick things off with a couple of the key losses offensively for the Ravens. Then I'm going to kick it on over to my partner, let him jab a little bit about some of the key additions offensively. Then we'll talk a little bit about some 2020 numbers, some things that we deserve are worth noting. And then we'll just jab a little bit in between everything offensive wise.
So let's get right on into it offensively. And the key losses you guys should know about here for the Baltimore Ravens. They did lose Chris Moore wide receiver, not a huge loss there, sent him to the Texans, also in a package with Mark Ingram running back. We obviously all know Mark Ingram coming out of Alabama.
He also went to the Texans in addition. So me and Riley were talking about it for each show, man. And I don't know what the logic is there. We'll talk about it a little bit later.
Maybe if Mark Ingram comes up into conversation, but kind of bizarre that he shipped out and chose Texas, Houston, Texas of all places in the Texans. But nonetheless, they also had a few offensive line losses that I was thinking was going to loom really large, but they were able to backfill them. My partner will talk about that a little bit here too. But they lost DJ Fluka and Orlando Brown, right guard, right tackle respectively.
And also Fluka went to the Finns Brown, went to the Chiefs. So they were willing to let them walk. They obviously thought that they could get it done in free agency or via the draft. And I do believe they did, as my partner will tell you very shortly.
Wrapping it up as far as some of the key losses, Matt Skurr, their center. He also went to the Dolphins. Willy Sneed, wide receiver. You know he hasn't had a ton of value from year to year.
Went to the Raiders. And honestly, in my opinion, he is a Raiders wide receiver. I think that was the best spot that he could have possibly gone. And then last but certainly not least, our guy Bobby Triple Sticks, Robert Griffin third.
Still TBD if he's going to be coming back and making another second string appearance for some team in the NFL. But seven losses in total, worth noting for the Baltimore Ravens offensively. Partner, as far as any key additions that we had. I know I mentioned some on the offensive line there.
What do we got up and down offensively for the Ravens? Yeah, I mean, you nailed it. Kevin Ziegler coming in at right guard, off free agency along with Alejandro Villanueva at the right tackle spot. So it does appear that they plugged those holes in.
I think that's going to be a seamless transition for those guys and for this offense. Another big guy, at least as far as names are concerned, we got Sammy Watkins coming in at wide receiver. Going to be an interesting plug into that offense. I'm really excited to see what he's got coming down.
They picked up Josh Oliver tight, down via trade. And then as far as the draft goes, they took a shot at Bateman for his round here. Wide receiver, Ben Cleveland offensive guard could be seen some time at left guard. That's probably the biggest question mark on the offensive line.
It certainly is actually. And then you get Thailand Wallace later in the rounds there for wide receiver. So on paper, not going to be too many names that are jumping off the page of two as far as Blackbuster deals that are going to set this team over the edge. But at the very least, I think they plugged the holes that they lost no problem about it on the offensive side.
And Sammy Watkins, like I said, that name reigns big, but interesting to see what he's going to do. I think he fits in really well to this offense. So like I said, I'm really excited to see what he's got. You know, not a high volume as far as addition to the offensive side of things.
Definitely. And I'm glad you mentioned him one of the first and spent a little bit of extra time on him. Because if you didn't, I was going to because I think coming out of Kansas City now moving on to Baltimore, I think that's a huge, huge addition for Baltimore. And I think it could definitely help a little bit open up Marquis Brown, who we'll talk about here in a little while, open up with shot Bateman, who you mentioned, rookie coming in, loved watching him at Minnesota.
Another big 10 guy that we always tell you, we love watching those 10, 7 big 10 slug fest. So hey, I think they did a well job adding some of those positions for what they lost. They did a great job via the draft and be a free agency in my opinion. Yeah, no question.
Like I said, I think Ben Cleveland might be the biggest question mark there on the offensive side if that's going to be who they got to left guard. I agree. I agree with you. So moving on just briefly here into some key 2020 stats for the Baltimore Ravens before we kind of break down who they all have starting or their projected depth chart.
Obviously we won't see that depth chart until maybe a few days before the preseason week one game. But for some key 2020 stats, I think you guys should be aware of and I've kind of been mentioned from team to team. Also been wearing the team colors if you hadn't noticed. I don't have a team jersey or a one for every single team, but I do have colors I believe or so I'm going to attempt.
So hopefully now I don't mismatch and you guys don't hold me to that. I've been going heavy. Great. I think I'll figure something out here.
Keep it rocking. Pretty great. Back to the offensive stats. The Baltimore Ravens average 5.8 yards per play on offense last season.
They were one of the run heaviest offenses in the league, especially out of a couple of particular personnel groupings that we'll talk about as well. However, their rush percentage play throughout the course of the game was 55.04% with their pass play percent being at 44.96. Lamar's completion percent wasn't too bad or their quarterbacks across the board, I suppose, 62.96% completion. Third down conversion percentage was a little less than you would be desired.
48.52% on that number. And then when they got in the red zone, their scoring percentage was 59.09%. So not the greatest, not the best in some of those areas. I do think that they improved rather mightily here going into 2021.
Now as far as offensively, we kind of discussed before the show partner that this offensive unit is definitely poised for an explosive 2021 season. Now, they did have a rather cupcake schedule last year and weren't really the Baltimore Ravens. Now, I don't want to say they weren't necessarily a great team. They still ended up going 11 and 5.
They were a solid Raven squad, still a John Harbaugh squad. However, that'll be instead, they played the 26th toughest schedule, 26th ranked toughest schedule of passing defense and the 28th ranked toughest schedule overall. Right. So for what they produced, it really should have been a whole, whole, whole hell of a lot higher.
So I think we see that coming into this year. Now, as far as the offense goes, just kind of starting at the offensive line, honestly, we mentioned it a lot, but starting on the left side, huge, huge comeback after an injury riddled season last year. Ronnie Stanley coming out of Notre Dame, huge, huge for the Baltimore offensive line and for Lamar's backside on the left side of the offensive line there. And then you have Cleveland, who you talked about, part of still a huge question mark on the offensive line.
But then I absolutely love the addition of Kevin Zuyler and Alejandro Villanueva. Yeah, no question. That's great on the right side. And then the new addition for the center as well, Borman, I do believe it is.
Hey, I think they have some pretty solid names in there. And I think that they're going to be able to bump up some of that protection for Lamar. What do you think there? Yeah, 100% man.
I think it's going to help both run game and pass game. Obviously, if Lamar can increase his own scale as far as passing game is concerned, then this team is going to be a different type of juggernaut. But assuming that he's going to be the same type of quarterback and we see a similar style in the last couple of years, I think the additions are, they might be an upgrade from what they had previously, in my opinion, honestly. Absolutely.
I would pretty much concur with everything that you said that offensive line is going to pay dividends offensively for what they're going to try and do this year in Baltimore. Now they got Mark Andrew still at tight end. Huge, huge, fantasy name, huge name in general in the NFL in 2019. It was one of the top tight ends overall.
And then saw a serious dip in production when it came to 2020. They're going to have to work him back in. They're going to have to get him involved in the offensive plays, especially in the red zone. He was key, key, key in the red zone.
And I think he returns to form. I think the Ravens elevating their passing attack is going to be one of the biggest things that they're going to have to do if they want to have solid success this season. I think he might have to be a huge factor because now you've got on top of Hollywood Brown, you're bringing Bateman and Sammy Watkins. I think those are guys that can take the top off the defense even more.
So I could see a big, big kind of what you're saying right back to 2019, big, big production as far as even yards wise and catch wise this year, as opposed to just the red zone that he was. Sure. And even if the Ravens go into more four or five wide receivers sets, you're not looking bad with Miles Boykin and Devin Duvernay, sure backing him up. I mean, not the biggest names.
However, those guys are guys that can spread around the field, spread around the ball. And Rashad Bateman, Sammy Watkins, Marquis Brown, obviously all looking like they're going to be solid solid options for Lamar. Now, Marquis Brown, if you had him in fantasy last year, I do apologize to you because yeah, it was a rough season for him. Not exactly sure the number was right around 20% to operate.
I do believe he had. That was absolutely brutal for Lamar. His star wide receiver got to be better than that this year. And I think that they're going to figure some of that stuff out.
Now as far as personnel, one of their biggest key factors of success, they absolutely destroyed team's in 2019 out of 13 personnel. Now that was due to having Mark Andrews hating and being able to rotate a third guy in and out of there from time to time out of the depth chart. Not a ship that will hate and herst off to Atlanta in 2020, banked all of their chips on Mark Andrews and it didn't really pan out. They actually moved away from that 13 personnel.
I think that they need to move back to that just a tad bit here. I'm not sure as far as the tight end room goes, not in extreme amount of value there. They brought in Nick Boyle and Jake Reelander, the biggest names that I could tell you about. Outside of that, it's going to be a huge competition.
I'm not really sure what's going to shape out, but I think that's going to be another key contributor factor to their success on the offensive side of the ball. Outside of that, teams are going to be keen on Lamar. We saw that very, very evidently last year in 2020. I don't know what your opinion is on them offensively, but what can the Ravens do as far as offensively?
We know they're the one heaviest team in the NFL, especially at a 12 personnel where they bring both or two tight ends in. They're about 67% right around there. Offensively, what do they do to break from that mold, get teams eyes off of Lamar and start moving the ball down the field via the air? Well, like I said, I mean, obviously if Lamar's passing the skills have improved and this team is a whole different type of juggernaut, like I was saying, I think we start to see the JK Dobbins breakout that everyone has been waiting for the last two years.
People are expecting it last year, especially with Mark Ingram not having the best season by any means. But with him out of their marking room, that is, I think JK Dobbins, I think they're going to find ways to get him out in open space. I think they're going to be able to use that as a two-headed monster a lot more than they did last year and kind of switch in Ingram and Dobbins. And neither guy can get into much of a rhythm at all.
And then honestly, I think Mark Andrews truly might be the biggest key for them, assuming that the other receivers can keep their health and take the top off the defense. And then obviously, if that deep ball is working, you got all these guys being the deep threats that they are effectively, then I think it could be extremely dangerous. Absolutely. And then I think that the first wide receivers can rip the top off of the defense anytime they want.
And I'm glad you talked about the running back there too, because a great segue right into that. JK Dobbins, I was heavy on him in his rookie year. I think he's going to be one of the guys in his sophomore season that is going to absolutely explode, explode, explode, get Mark Ingram out of the way. And then you got Gus Edwards.
Now, Gus Edwards, I am also very high on. I think these two guys are definitely worth add. We'll talk about them in fantasy more way on down at the last segment of the show. However, man, I just think both of these guys regardless of if they're in two running back sets, if they're not in two running back sets, regardless of where you put them, I think they're going to find success too.
Obviously, we know the Ravens as I've already mentioned, it being one of the highest run heavy teams in the NFL. And I think that continues here this season. I don't think they move away too far from that. But like I keep saying, I think that they need to use the speed and the depth of their wide receiver room to their advantage this season.
They can't put a cap on that and those wide receivers have to step up. You can't have the same jobs that we had in the offense. Yeah, I think last year, I think they were just trying to switch a few too many things up, trying to keep people guessing based off what they were in 2019 and so effectively, because obviously people are going to try and overcorrect on that. And it just didn't really work out.
So yeah, like we're kind of saying, I think we see a lot more of the 2019 Ravens this year, honestly. But at least, thank you, partner, before we move into the defensive side of the ball. Sometimes my favorite side of the ball, actually my favorite side of the ball for the Ravens. I mean, I love the offense, but the defensive is just absolutely electrifying.
Right. But before we move into all that electric activity, per sharp football analysis, you know how I feel about Warren Sharp, you know how Max feels about Warren Sharp. Some of his biggest fans, we love his work. We utilize a lot of his stats all throughout the season and early in the season up to our prep, per his rankings, offensive rankings and the staff over there.
Lamar Jackson in the quarterback room is right at six ranked at six overall in the NFL. Their offensive line is ranked at seven. So kind of what we were talking about right spot on with their analysis too. And the running backs are ranked at eight.
So they both, all of their guys there also see some improvements, some positive regression to more of a top tier running back for both Dobbins and Edwards here this year. So looking really solid, however, their wide receivers come in ranked at 24th. So I think that's just a lot of question marks based off of last season, what all happened and are we going to see improvements and are we going to see the ball actually going to be moved down the field more than one play every two drives. Yeah.
And on paper, I would say, you know, kind of rank them similarly, but these guys are here for a reason within this offense specifically. So, you know, they, there's a world where they significantly overperform their expectations, their names on paper and, you know, you kind of see them putting up some solid numbers, but you know, on paper, I do kind of get that rankings, but I mean, these guys are made for this offense and that's why they're there. Absolutely. And of course, we will break down each one of those positional groupings we just talked about in full value, fantasy wise, right at the end of the full Raven season breakdown.
So if you missed anything there or you're dying for a little bit more information than we were just kind of giving you there, don't worry, we'll break it all down in the fantasy section. We have time dedicated for that. We just kind of want to give you the full outlook for them offensively and now defensively. Now we're going to flip things up from how we started off the offensive where I took some of the key losses.
My partner is going to take the key defensive losses, tell you guys about some of those guys that they sent packing and then I will obviously take care of some of the key additions. Not super active for the Ravens via free agency or the draft. They did pick up some solid guys, but definitely some things to discuss here. So part of kick things off defensive side of the ball, who did we lose at a B more?
Yeah. So we've got a couple names that you are going to be familiar with and thinking that this defense might be some, you know, regression on the horizon. But I don't really think so here. We've got G-HOD Ward, Matt, Judon and Janik and Gaku.
All of these guys are decent names, but you know, for this Baltimore Ravens franchise, one of their philosophies is that past rushers are pretty replaceable. And as you mentioned, and you're about to mention, they didn't really backload those that fill those holes specifically in the off season. I think I have a lot of guys that are just going to step up. And yeah, I mean, these three are really the big names as far as the defensive losses go.
But I don't think it's going to be too much of a hit. What do you got as far as addition they're concerned? As far as the defensive side of the ball goes, like I said, man, only five additions. They were all out of the draft.
They were pretty active in the draft. They didn't do anything via free agency, via trade, anything like that. So they let the guys walk that you mentioned, but they did add O'Dawfay away defensive end out of Penn State, obviously a game record and a half. If you know any type of college football, you know that name.
Brandon Stevens, quarterback out of Southern Methodist solid, solid season in 2020. So excited to see what he can do for this defense and under the tutelage of Marlon Humphrey, and also Mr. Marcus Peters cannot wait to see what that kid does. Also, Sean Wade, another quarterback that gets to get a little bit of tutelage under those guys.
He's coming out of Ohio State and question a lot of question marks is Ohio State becoming DBU? Is it becoming DBU? I don't know. The jury's still out.
Nonetheless, they also added Damon Hayes defensive end out of Notre Dame. Not too bad. Not too shabby. So that's actually four guys actually had another bullet point here.
You guys are what I'm telling you right now. So four guys in general, they added on the defensive side of the ball, but they don't look too bad because they didn't let everybody walk. They still got Kalea Campbell, who's pretty much taken up 90% of the cap there on the defensive side of the ball. He is also getting a little up there.
He's getting a little old getting in there already now, but he's still a game record can still make things happen. Then you got Brandon Williams, who's also taken up a very, very big amount of the cap on the defensive side of the ball. And he's also 30 plus. So we'll see what happens there.
You also obviously have pranel McPhee McPhee and Wolf on the opposite side covering that. And then we'll see as far as these defensive and additions with Owafe. I want to make sure I say that right now. I'm going to have to hear it a couple of times.
Madu Buki? No, no. No. O'Dafe Owe.
O'Dafe Owe. I'm interested to see what he'll do. And then I'm also interested to see how they're working. Daelyn Hayes.
I don't know much about Daelyn Hayes if I'm being honest. I didn't hear all too much about him last season. So I have to look at him just a little bit. But that defensive line still appears to be game rec prone.
Yeah. But I don't know what are your thoughts on that? Yeah, the defensive line. I still like it.
He's one of the highest players. Campbell, which I don't think so, didn't miss a few games but when he was there, he was still pretty effective. The biggest thing as far as this defense is concerned, in my opinion, is the line backing core and Patrick Queen. He had some issues.
Showed some signs of life there in his rookie season. But actually, I think he was one of the higher rates of Ms. tackles in the entire league. He's pretty damn athletic.
So I think he corrects those mistakes. I think we see a big second year jump from him because if he's the guy that he was last year again, missing these tackles and having some issues in all facets of the game, really, they might have some struggles. But if he even half corrects those mistakes, and not just makes them... Instead of making them strengths from his weaknesses, this is kind of correct.
even if that's the case, I think that could be a big jump from him. But you know, Marlon Humphreys and Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters, I think are still just going to be just having those guys as the anchors on the outside. They're so huge for them. You're just going to go and hold up for the boys right now.
So I was going to move into linebacker. So I'm glad that's where the first place you took it. So let's take a line back for a minute. Yeah, I do think we see a huge sophomore season of Patrick Queen, just like I was talking about J.K.
Dobbins. I think a lot of those missed tackles, a lot of those kind of bonehead moves, not that I would have any spot to call Patrick Queen. Right. Bonehead.
I am a three year old child. Breaking mistakes. Breaking mistakes. I am a three year old child compared to that specimen of a human being.
So I never have a foot to stand on that. But I will give you my analysis on what I think he will do. But then I also think Malik Harrison on the opposite side of him. He's going to be solid for them.
I think he'll fall into more of his own. And I think we might see a little bit more defensive production from him as far as maybe some picks and maybe some four spumbles. I love this line back in room. And then you segway that into the quarterback room, the defensive back room.
And I love this defensive back room more than almost anyone in the entire league. Right. I already mentioned him. You got Marcus Peters and Marlon Humphrey.
Obviously Marlon Humphrey's going to play more out of the slot. And then Marcus Peters is going to be on that number one guy of any team. And then you also have Smith now. Jimmy Smith.
Jimmy Smith, who is very, very good in and of his own right. So I think the secondary is going to be very tough to be. Now in the deep secondary, they have Chuck Clark, which is a great, great safety to have on your team. No question about that.
But then Elliot. Now I'm not sure I'm not too sure about the Sean Elliott. He's played four years in the league. He came out of Texas.
But I'm not too sure how he's been overall. Yeah. As far as the safety is our concern, that might be one of the bigger question marks on the team, I would say. But I think the rest of the quarterback helped us just enough that it doesn't matter too much.
And I think we see some side play from these safeties anyway. So sure. Hard to hate these guys. I'm humphery.
I'm here so honestly. Oh, man. Yeah, I'm super high on Chuck Clark. I just don't know enough about to Sean Elliott to really give you an honest opinion about him.
But yeah, that defense looks like it's still going to be stacked, loaded, absolutely nasty. And then 2020, they weren't too bad. They only allowed 5.1 yards per play to opponent offenses. Their opponent completion percentage was a little bit high, but not too crazy.
63.88%. Opponent third down conversion percent coming in at 33.80%. And then when they got in the red zone, a little bit more than you would like to see. Maybe they bow up a little bit more in that department this season at 61.22%.
Opponent scoring in the red zone. So some of the key stats there I want to let you guys know about on the defensive side of the ball from 2020. But outside of that, we've kind of talked about it throughout talking about you. It's one of the positional guys, each one of the starters.
What we think this defense is going to do. We think this defense is going to remain to be elite, elite, elite. No question about it. And as a matter of fact, per start football analysis, those guys think the exact same.
They are as high on the secondary as we are. Number one ranked secondary overall in the NFL for those guys as well as the number nine ranked front seven in the NFL right now too. So we believe in them. We think it's going to be solid.
We think that they're going to keep them in a lot of games. So that does it for the defensive side of the ball. Now, if you've been watching football in any type form or fashion for any amount of years now, you know the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, John Hartboy. He's been around for 13 years now.
I could not believe it had been 13 years. It just didn't seem right. And we talked about it too. It's so hard to do that.
And he felt to make it that long in today's the, the, what have you done for me lately NFL that there is now and with kind of the run that they've been on lately and all the promise that Lamar was supposed to be in Super Bowl winner and Johnny H is still the head coach and be more. I think it's going to be there for quite a while, man. Even if, you know, obviously the media buzz around this team is that they can't get it done in the playoffs, but if they get into the playoffs here and you're out, I don't think they're going to make the switch because I don't think it's John Hartboy's fault. Yeah.
But yeah, I think it's going to be there for a while, man. Like you said, it is so damn hard to do that. Even if you have a five year excellent run there, it's impossible to do this next to impossible. So I think we see him for, he goes for at least 20, I think.
Really? All right. Sure. Hot take John Hartboy goes 20 years as the Baltimore head coach.
He's at 13 now, so we'll see how it goes. Get 14 under the belt. We'll see what happens. Well, first team we've talked about so far that does have an OCDC split.
The Cardinals and the Falcons, obviously both of their head coaches double as their offensive coordinators. Offensive coordinator for the Ravens second year coming in now or third year coming in now has already been for two years. Greg Roman and coming in for the fourth season down Martindale. So obviously, you know what you're getting out of those guys.
You ain't got to break them down too much. It's not like it's going to be huge new schemes coming in. I think once again, everything just keeps bringing me back to the fact that the Ravens offensive passing attack has to be dominant this year. It has to be dominant this year.
That run game, no question. They'll figure out ways to get Lamar out in space. There's no question about that. And they'll figure out ways to get JK and Gus pumping out some production.
Yeah. But that wide receiver room leaves so many questions. I'm as far as the game total as far as how I might bet this team. Yeah, I need to see how those guys are going to be coming out and everything just keeps coming back to that for me.
So I hope Greg Roman has those boys ready to rock and roll. I hope that is part of his plan because I think that will lead to a definite 12, 13, 14 win season for the Ravens. Yeah, I'm right there with you, man. I mean, the worst case is that these guys kind of mirror what they did last year as far as a wide receiver core and then we might have some issues there.
But I think optimistically, I'm with you. I think they improve and I think they do that their food. If they don't prove him, if they don't improve, I think so. The Ravens are a nine win team.
Yeah, I think I'm going to do that. Yeah. But I mean to cut you off any close enough because that just seems to me, because if they don't, it is all but a wrap. All right.
You know the offense. You know the defense, you know the loss is additions, everything in between, you know the whole damn coaching staff. Now let's get into the nitty gritty, the shit you guys actually care about. You don't really care about all the names?
Well, I guess you do. But you really care about the nitty gritty and the betting and the fantasy and who these guys actually playing and how hard is it going to be? What are they going to win? Colton mags, we need to know.
Well, just settle on down, pal, because it's time to get into the second segment of today's show. Ladies and gentlemen, the full Baltimore Ravens 2021 schedule breakdown. All right, let's kick things off first. And if you haven't been here before, if you just stumbled upon the talking line pod, maybe via Twitter, via somewhere else who knows first things, first thing, welcome in.
Thanks for stopping by. It's great to see you. We love having new members of the TTL pod and the TTL sports media family, of course. But that being said, you're going to hear us talk a lot about if you haven't already.
We're in sharp and sharp football analysis. We get great, great information. He does the 2021 season preview or the season preview every single year. It is 460 plus pages, absolute information.
So we'd be dumb not to share some of the things we've learned there, some of our personal knowledge, some of knowledge we've learned from other areas. We'd be dumb not to put that forth to you. Now with all that being said, I'm going to quote him here yet again. Now per Warren Sharp and sharp football analysis.
This schedule forecast is looking a little bit harder than 2020. That's a little bit just a little bit. Now, it's staying. It's crazy.
I'm not saying that you need to run for the hills back in every single underdog right at the Baltimore Ravens. But I'm telling you is that some of the nonsense that they had last season is going to have to get cleaned up because if it doesn't, they're in trouble. They're in trouble. They're facing a lot of trouble, a lot, lot, lot, lot better defenses here this season.
So let me run it through it for you week one through week 18, their by week. So you know is on week eight. If you want to, well, hey, seven nine doesn't come after seven. What the heck happened?
It's because it's their by week. Week eight is the Baltimore Ravens by week. So any of fantasy thoughts, anything early there, maybe you're talking to a few people. We get now for their full schedule here in week one cupcake game and a half.
If I do say so myself, they should be able to absolutely walk over the Oakland Raiders in week one Las Vegas, right? Oh, talking mushrooms. I'm still doing that. That's three years now, huh?
Jeez. All right. Gotta get that corrected, my friend. Las Vegas Raiders dog gone.
The people of Vegas are pissed and the people of Oakland are sad. Man, with my words that just came out of my mouth. I apologize to both parties, but moving along into week two here, the Kansas City Chiefs going to be a hard game and a half week three, four and five are the lions, Broncos and Colts followed up by the Chajas and the bingles in weeks six and seven. Honestly, the aforementioned week eight by week then into week nine, they played the Vikings followed by the Dolphins, bears and Browns.
Then week 13, 14 and 15, they get to finally face the hated stillers and then they face the brownies again, followed by the Packers and the bingles. Finally, they closed their season in week 17 and 18 now so excited. We get a extra week of NFL football facing the Los Angeles Rams and once again, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now I look across that board, my friend, and we won't get into it quite yet.
We'll save it here just a little bit for the betting preview, but I look across that board, my friend and I see at least 12 wins. I see at least 12 wins. But like we said, it's going to have to take some very, very serious concentration and focus and it's not going to be Baltimore rolls in and puts up 45 and gets out of town. Right.
It's not what it's going to be like. It's going to have to be some nitty gritty, very technical. If that's even a good word for it, it's just going to be have to be very high level football, high brow football, if you will, it's going to come out of Baltimore if they want to get these wins. Yeah, I for the most part, I'm right there with you.
The thing that gives me the most optimism is that you mentioned there's a little bit of harder. No question about it. All of those, all of their toughest games are in Baltimore. So they don't really have too much as far as a difficult travel schedule is concerned.
They get a lot of these teams that they should be on the road. So I actually wouldn't shock me if their road record is better than their home record this year. I wouldn't either. Yeah.
Honestly, I wouldn't either. And they were pretty solid on the road. As you're saying, I mean, it really wouldn't surprise me either if that would be something that they would be able to do. Um, but we got some pretty heated matchups.
It looks like coming up here out of their division. So this is one of the three schedules we looked at so far. This is going to be the most exciting. Yeah, this one should be bananas.
Now, if you haven't checked, we'll talk about it here in a little bit with what I'm about to mention. But these odds in the AFC North are very, very interesting. They're very, very tight and some teams are up there high that you might not be expecting, right? We won't break all that down yet.
But let's talk just a little bit about what we think is going to happen overall in the AFC North. Now, partner, my opinion in general is they go out of their six division games. I would say at the bare minimum, they go foreign to at the bare minimum. Yeah.
At the bare minimum, they go foreign to now. Why say that? They sweep the bangles. No problem.
Right. No question. I I'm excited to see Joey B get back on the field, right? Big man on campus.
Watch out, big dick walking. Yeah, but, you know, I think it's going to take them a year to get back and work and things get back and work together with the whole thing. It's going to take just a little while. But we're talking about the bangles.
Either way, I think the Raven sweeps them. However, the brownies are getting the respect of the books and getting respect of a lot of analysts going into the 2021 season. And I think that they split one in one with those boys. Like I was down that they got a shot to go to and oh, it might be one and just a wild finish up crazy.
Like we saw the 48 48 whatever it was last year for crying out loud to close out the season. I think that's kind of similar to what we see and they split with the Browns. And then I think they split with the Steelers. Now, that's going to be a little bit more question mark.
They could potentially go to an Oh, I like it more to an Oh, than I do the Browns. I like them to go more to an Oh versus Steelers. Now, if the Steelers can stay healthy on the defensive side of the ball, that'll obviously loom very large, but they didn't do a whole lot of offensively. No, no, no, no, wait.
I love Najiharis. I think that's great. But you can't put all your damn chips in the table on that. And we'll talk about their wide receiver room now.
They haven't been terrible, but they haven't been great by any means. And if you've heard me talk before, I'm not the biggest fan of Juju. I'm not the biggest fan of the rest of the receivers in that room for one reason or another. But that's besides the point, we're not talking about them.
I think the Ravens get it done quite potentially to an Oh, so maybe they go five and one in the division this season. As far as like you said, worst case in my eyes, they go four and two in my personal opinion. I think they go five and one. I think they do get both those games against the Steelers.
I am pretty low on Steelers offense this year. Like you said, if the Steelers defense comes out healthy, it has the production that they've been having, then that might carry them. They did go that Ravens swept them in 2019. The Steelers swept them in 2020.
At the very least, I think we see a split. But like we were kind of saying, I think we see more of the Ravens team from 2019. And I think the Steelers have a big regression. They started out the season 11 and 0 and then lost five straight because their schedule finally picked up.
So I think we see a big old regression as far as the record wise from the Steelers. So I'm going five and one for the Ravens and division here. All right. So either four and two, five and one, that's definitely where we're leaning division wise for to be more Ravens.
But they got eight games outside of that, as you know, four specifically out of two specific divisions. They're two divisions they're going to be facing is our NFC North. Yep. So we get to see them play a little bit more often than we typically would on some of our local channels, which is like fucking dope.
Yep. But they also play in the AFC West. So pretty pretty dark on difficult there. Now, AFC West goes, I do believe no question.
They'll beat the Broncos. They'll beat the Raiders. It's going to be a toss up against the Chargers. Yeah.
I'm not sure what we're going to see. We'll obviously talk about the new coaching all of that. I don't want to waste time talking about the Chargers, but we'll see what happens with the new coaching staff there. We'll see what happens in Herbert's sophomore season.
I'm super high on him, but we're not talking about just in Herbert. I can't tell how much I'm geeked to watch him play again. I think they get at least three out of the four there. AFC in the AFC West.
I'm going two and two. Two and two at worst case. At worst case. Who are you saying they lose two to the Chargers?
I'm really high in the Chargers, man. Yeah. Not only that, but they do play the Chargers after they play the Colts on Monday night. I got a little bit of a rest disadvantage coming in against the Chargers.
That pushed me over the edge. I was more toss up against the Chargers because I'm high on both the Ravens and the Chargers, but with that rest disadvantage, that pushed me over the edge to them. You just fucked my head up on my wind total pick now. I might have to rethink some things.
All right. Same, man. Well, that does it for the AFC West, but for our NFC North, the game between my bears, it's going to be, I don't know honestly what we're going to see from the Bears. I'm trying to analyze it from such an unbiased perspective, and I just don't fucking know that defense is so elite, but I don't know what we're going to be able to do.
I don't know if we're actually really going to be offensive production powerhouse like we look like we should be, but we look like that every year, and it doesn't be. But wait, talk about that. That's next week. That's next week.
It is for sure. And then maybe episode 100 very soon after that, that's going to be the Detroit Lions. We've already looked ahead. Motor City, they're handling the Detroit Lions.
I, you know, I don't think that they have any problem with the Lions. Now, it's going to be a battle with your pack. You know, it's been a couple of battles over the course of the last few seasons, and we'll see what happens here. I don't know.
I think the pack squeaked out and then it gets the Vikings. In my mind, they go three and one as far as I can tell, but once again, once again, two and two potentially depending on how the bears play. Yeah. I'm trying to be unbiased.
It's just that they even, I think the Ravens have the right match up for the Bears specifically because the Bears defense is a little similar style to the Steelers. So I don't think it's going to be too foreign for the Ravens to see them. They're also good at really limiting quarterbacks though, which is just, that's what gets me. Yeah, and it is in Chicago.
That's so that should help you there. And actually it is a big, they play the Bears. That's actually should be a rest advantage in their mind. But it's right before they play the Browns.
So it could be potential look ahead game for them and they just lost it. That's fair. That's fair. But I'm still, I'm still calm, and if seen North.
All right. Well, there you go. Now they got three remainers, we covered all 14, but they got 17 now. So we got the three remaining being the Finns, the horseshoes, and the Rams.
Now I think they take care of the Finns. Yeah. No problem. I actually see into a swing and slang that rock and training camp, they're looking a little saucy offensively, but we'll save that later.
But as I keep saying, I just, you tell them so excited about every team, you know, it is in Miami though. It is in Miami. I believe Thursday night and they have a tendency of pulling some bullshit off late in the game for them being a dolphins in Miami. It's just how it happens.
I don't know, but I think they get that win. I also think that they can get the win over the Colts, but it's going to depend what they can do against that defense. I think that's a bad defensive matchup for him. So yeah, for the Ravens.
So in a very, very bad defensive matchup for him against the Rams. So I think they go two and one outside of that. I think they either lose to the Colts or the Rams. It's going to be kind of a coin flip there for me, but outside of their division and their main eight, I'm going two and one.
Yeah. I have these three. I've gone back and forth with all morning, if I'm being honest, but I, I, I, for the most part, I agree with you. I think, I don't know.
I think they might go one and two out of those three. I really might think, I think they might go because that Thursday night in Miami, there, whether the dolphins are good or not, even if they're bad, but the dolphins just win those games and it doesn't make a lick of sense. And they've got the home field advantage in Miami. So I don't know.
I'm going one and two out of those three, man. Well, as you were speaking there and kind of closing, closing your thoughts up, I was just, I was kind of just doing a brief calculation on the numbers and with what you're saying, man, I've gone back and forth on obviously we're not there yet, but I'll talk about that total. That is a whole different type of stuff. Holy shit.
This is a really hard one. I was actually all over the over now. I got to think about this a little bit more. As we've been talking about, right just about to roll into the betting preview, as we've been talking about their 2020 schedule, it was kind of a cupcake schedule.
I mean, they played the NFC least all four games against them. Ridiculous. Then they played the AFC South, which the Colts were okay last year, not terrible, but then they played the Jags who were a hot steaming pile of shit. They played in the Texans who weren't much better than a dumpster fire.
And then they played the Titans who I don't remember when they played them. If that was the that was the late season one where they had the whole logo stomping and all that BS and then the Ravens did it back to the Titans and the playoffs. And then they played the whole jazz. That was where the Titans beat them.
So, you know, they had a little bit of success there, obviously, against the weaker opponents, not so much. I don't want to overstep my rights here, but I want to say that the Ravens lost with the Colts. I think they did. I know they lost the Patriots.
Yeah, they lost the past two. That was a crazy game. They did all right within the division and then the Patriots game was like a wild wild storm. No, if I remember an other day.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was. It was absolutely that was like a Thursday night or a Monday night game. It was just a month's. Wow.
If I remember that. So definitely where those teams were last year though, it was a very, very cupcake schedule. We told you 26 ranked passing defense and 28th toughest schedule overall. So not looking too hot here as far as the variants goes from 2020 to 2021.
It's definitely not getting any easier. So that might kind of flip some more switches in my mind when it comes to that total. But hey, we keep talking about it. We keep tiptoeing around it.
We might as well just get right the hell on because we've covered everything we possibly can for the schedule. This is a daily sports gambling show. We are handicappers and sports betting analysis analyst. Analysis analyst by trade.
So we got to talk about some bets, baby. Let's get into the Ravens. Full season preview. Now, first things first we have been getting into is the weekly lines.
Absolutely. Love to look at that. We have all 18 weeks laid out or 17 weeks rather for the Baltimore Ravens. So let's dive deep into their weekly lines.
We'll give you a way, way, way to early week one pick and then we'll talk about some 2020 trends and then we'll get into all the rest of the stuff, the wind total, the division winners, all that good stuff. So weekly lines, my friend already told you the schedule, but here you have it. Listen on up. Some very interesting things.
I want to give you once you give me your opinions on some of these one-site wrap on. Now, minus four favorites in Las Vegas. The books seem to agree with me. I love a minus four right there.
Great opening week number week two pick them against the chiefs minus seven and a half point favorites against the lines in week three week four, five and six against the Broncos, the Colts and the Chargers. They are all favored three and a half points, four points and five and a half points respectively. Then you got seven, eight and I'm sorry, seven, nine and ten. We gave you in the bi.
See, I even forgot that's why I say it so many damn times. They got Cincinnati, Minnesota, and Miami once again, favored in all three by 10 points against Cincinnati, seven and three against Minnesota, Miami respectively. Then 11, 12 and 13 once again, favored in all three against Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburgh by three and a half, three and a half and two and a half respectively. Then they finally get their first puppy of the season.