Baltimore Ravens vs. Las Vegas Raiders Matchup Preview (9/13/21): Betting Odds, Depth Charts, Live Stream (Watch Online)

The Raiders are one of the most fun teams in the NFL because they are the definition of boom or bust. They have all of the offense in the world with no defense to back them up. To give you perspective, the Raiders scored the 10th most points in the NFL last year while also giving up the 4th most amount of points. Head coach Jon Gruden hasn’t had much success with the team since returning to the Raiders, and his seat is awfully hot for a guy with a 10-year contract. If the defense is serviceable, then this team can go as far as the Super Bowl. Let’s look at some of Las Vegas’ players.

At quarterback, the Raiders have one of the most underrated players in the NFL in Derek Carr. Carr has had over 4,000 yards and around 20 touchdowns to 10 INTS a season for the past three seasons under Gruden. Carr has great numbers because of his solid arm strength, intelligence, and accuracy. It also helps that he has a great cast of receivers and offensive weapons to throw to. The best receiving threat on the team is their tight end, Darren Waller. Waller had the best year of his career last year as he racked up 1,196 yards and 9 TDS. Waller functions as the Travis Kelce for the Raiders as he has great hands, size, and speed for a receiving tight end. Linebackers are too slow to cover him while safeties are too small. On the outside, John Brown and Willie Snead are the new additions to a team that was already loaded with receiver talent. Henry Ruggs was the speedster last year, although he didn’t live up to his 12th overall selection. Bryan Edwards is a huge target on the outside while Hunter Renfroe was one of the best slot receivers in the NFL last year. 

Their running backs are also solid, which is a good thing since their offensive line has regressed. Josh Jacobs is the man for their offense as he is physical and fast for a guy as big as he is. To help take some of the pressure off of Jacobs, Kenyan Drake was added to the roster. Drake is a number 1 option in his own right as he had 955 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns for the Cardinals last year. The issue I have with their rushing production is that they lost several good offensive linemen. The Raiders did select T Alex Leatherwood from this year’s draft, but they lost Trent Brown, Gabe Jackson, and Rodney Hudson. These are three Pro-Bowl players and 1 high draft selection can’t make up for that type of production. 

The defense is the real sore spot for Las Vegas. They are among the worst in the league and can’t stop the run or the pass. The real problem for the Raiders defense is that they didn’t sign anyone noteworthy in the offseason. Their best signings were DE Yannick Ngakoue, CB Casey Hayward, and DT Quinton Jefferson, who both had down years last season. These guys are still solid players, but not good enough to carry the many mistakes the Raiders have on that side of the ball. Their secondary is as good as burnt toast as they have players like S Jonathan Abram, CB Trayvon Mullen, S Karl Joseph, and S Tre’Von Moehrig. These players are susceptible to being beaten in the open field and they leave large spaces for receivers to catch the ball as a unit. Their linebackers aren’t much better as they have Cory Littleton, Tanner Muse, and Nick Kwiatkoski. These players can stop the run, but can’t cover opposing running backs or tight ends. And finally, we have their defensive line, which is actually pretty solid and definitely the best part of their defense. Maxx Crosby, Karl Nassib, Clelin Ferrel, Jonathan Hankins, Solomon Thomas, Quinton Jefferson, and Yannick Ngakoue are actually some pretty scary dudes to block. They all have tremendous power and great hands to make opposing quarterbacks’ lives a living nightmare. 

The Raiders need a respectable defense to be good. They have all the firepower in the world on offense but have been gashed and burned by their defense for the past couple of seasons. If Jon Gruden and the coaching staff can figure out the defense, the Raiders have a legitimate chance to make the playoffs this year. 

Las Vegas Raiders Depth Chart

QB: Derek Carr
RB1: Josh Jacobs
RB2: Kenyan Drake
WR1: Henry Ruggs
WR2: John Brown
WR3: Bryan Edwards
TE1: Darren Waller
TE2: Foster Moreau

Baltimore Ravens vs. Las Vegas Raiders Betting Corner

Kicking off the season with a Monday night shootout isn’t a bad way to start the season. This game should be filled with huge chunks of yards and points due to the offensive firepower the Raiders have on offense coupled with the great offense of the Ravens and the bad defense of the Raiders. The Raiders had one of the worst defenses last season and I don’t think their defensive issues will be magically fixed in Week 1. On the other side, the Ravens have a monstrous run game, which will look even better with the terrible Ravens defense. They also have Lamar Jackson, who makes good defenses look silly so imagine what he will do to the Raiders. In their first games last season, the Ravens beat the Browns 38-6 while the Raiders beat the Panthers 34-30. So this just tells me that these two teams come to play Week 1. This also tells me that the Ravens love to beat up teams as the Ravens beat the crap out of a good Browns team while the Raiders barely beat a bad Panthers team.

So, on my card, put me down for -4.5 Ravens and over 51 points because of the two great offenses playing in this game and the Ravens having a defense that can get one key stop to win the game. 

Prediction: -4.5 Ravens & over 51 pts