The National Football League serves up two more Monday Night Football contests tonight and get both of the Harbaugh brothers in action. The games begin at 5:15 p.m. Pacific Time when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Baltimore Ravens. Forty-five minutes later, the Arizona Cardinals entertain the Los Angeles Chargers at State Farm Stadium.
The Ravens/Buccaneers matchup involves a couple teams that came into the seventh week of play atop their divisions. The John Harbaugh’s Ravens lost that perch in the AFC North Division last night when the Pittsburgh Steelers downed the New York Jets, while the Buccaneers had their top spot in the NFC South Division enhanced with the Atlanta Falcons home loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
In other words, the Ravens need this game tonight to keep pace in the AFC North, the Buccaneers want this game tonight to pull a full game ahead of Atlanta in their division race. From that perspective alone, the Ravens get a slight edge.
Baltimore also gets an edge based on the Buccaneers schedule. Tampa Bay is playing three division games in a four week span. It began two weeks ago when they lost to the Falcons on the road. Last Sunday, still on the road, the Buccaneers throttled the Saints while putting up 51 points. Next week, Baker Mayfield and company have their 2024 rematch against Atlanta in Florida.
From a focus perspective, and certainly with the Falcons losing yesterday, the more important game for them is next week’s return meeting with the Falcons.
That is not to say the Buccaneers don’t have some advantages in tonight’s game. Mayfield is among the league leaders in passing yards and if you were to rank the four categories of an NFL team, that is offense and defense with rushing and passing stats, the Ravens rank high on running the ball and defending against an opponent's infantry attack. They also have an effective passing game with Lamar Jackson guiding their air attack, but the Ravens have allowed 7.5 yards per pass attempt, a stat that is among the worst in football.
The Buccaneers have a solid passing attack, and it runs smack into the one vulnerability of the Ravens.
In the second game tonight, Jim Harbaugh leads his Chargers into Arizona while chasing the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West. In his first year back in the NFL, after successful seasons in San Francisco before leading the University of Michigan to a National Championship last year. Harbaugh has created the Chargers in his own image.
A team that in recent years always seemed softer than their opponents, even while quarterback Justin Herbert was gaining respect as a quarterback the Chargers signal caller is still looking for his first postseason win. Losing his only appearance in a playoff game two years ago to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Now, the Chargers are much tougher on the field. They don’t appear to be waiting for their opponent to run them down, but rather taking the fight against them and winning three of their first five games in Harbaugh’s initial season in Los Angeles.
Tonight, they meet an up-and-down Cardinals squad. A team good enough to give the Buffalo Bills all they could handle on opening day in New York and downing the San Francisco 49ers on the road along with an impressive blowout victory over the Los Angeles Rams in second week action.
In other words, it can be said the Cardinals are good enough to beat anyone in any given game.
But, before you run off to wager on them, know also they are unsteady enough to allow The Washington Commanders to tag them with a 42-14 loss at State Farm Stadium and lost last week by three touchdowns to the Green Bay Packers.
The point spread on the Cardinals game has the home team a slight underdog, while the Ravens are forced to lay four points on the road. I like both the Cardinals and Ravens tonight, but only have the data to support one of the games with a money rated selection.
Qoxhi Picks: Baltimore Ravens (-4) over Tampa Bay Buccaneers