Baltimore Ravens vs. Las Vegas Raiders Monday Night Football Betting Preview

Baltimore Ravens are headed to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders on Monday Night Football on ESPN. 

Are the Ravens still a Super Bowl contender with all the injuries? Are the Raiders heading towards a rebuild or a rebound? These are the biggest questions to be answered in this game, and we should get a feel for the answers by the end of the night.

Lamar Throws Ravens in His Backpack

The Ravens are likely the most injured team in the NFL when we talk about the torn ACL'S of JK Dobbins, Gus Edwards, and Marcus Peters and even nagging injuries to the receiver group that have this team looking like a shell of itself from just a month ago entering training camp. Now, it is time for MVP Lamar Jackson to show up and take care of business on prime time to start the season off right.

The Ravens are still the better roster, but I can't say this with a ton of confidence if we were to overlook the quarterback position. Lamar is the biggest advantage this team has at the moment, and they need to do everything that they possibly can to exploit the Raiders via Lamar's unique skill set. Lamar had a bit of a setback last season, and I hope to see him progress in the passing game in year four under coach John Harbaugh. I do expect to see Lamar's legs featured heavily in this game with the injuries they've had at offensive skill positions. 

The Ravens expect to be relatively healthy at receiver and have signed some veteran RBs, but can we really expect guys like Latavius Murray, Le'Veon Bell, and Devonta Freeman to really play after being in the offense for less than a full week? I guess they could, but the Ravens likely do not want them to be put in that situation for both their own health and for the team as a whole. I expect Lamar to eclipse 100 rushing yards in a big game vs. an inferior opponent.

Raiders Rebuild or Rebound

The Las Vegas Raiders have struggled for years, and this doesn't appear to be the year where that comes to an end. While they have an elite tight end and solid quarterback play, this just isn't a team build to make a run into the playoffs. One reason for this is that they just haven't drafted that well, especially when it comes to upside. We've seen this regime rely on solid players from elite programs, and this just results in a talent deficit because they basically have no major talent wins drafted in recent history and the roster reflects that.

The Raiders are a team with a QB good enough to win games and bad enough to lose games that they never should. If you could tell me Derek Carr's statline today, I think you could pretty easily predict the outcome of this game. Carr rarely dominates a game, but he is capable of keeping up when called upon, just like he did last season versus the Chiefs last season. The story in this one is all about the QBs and what they do relative to expectations.

The Raiders, while not injured, will be relying on a lot of unproven players outside of Waller when it comes to the passing game. Can Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards step up and proven to be a real threat, or will this offense struggle to find explosive plays?