Saturday sees the Baltimore Ravens travel to Raymond James Stadium to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after losing their historic 24-game preseason win streak to the Commanders last week. The big question is whether John Harbaugh’s team will get back to its winning ways, or if that loss starts a trend.
With the regular season around the corner we’re going to see two careful head coaches, but which man will have the edge in the NFL odds on Saturday? Don’t miss our NFL picks and predictions for Ravens vs Buccaneers on August 26.
Ravens vs Buccaneers odds
Ravens vs Buccaneers predictions
Last week we saw the end of the Ravens’ incredible preseason win streak, but the Commanders only prevailed by a point, 29-28. Despite Baltimore falling that day, we’re going to back them to return to their winning ways against the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium.
The streak might be over, but we can’t forget that John Harbaugh still has a 44-13 record in preseason and has only two preseasons with losing records. The strength of the Ravens is the coaching, which is one of the main reasons why they managed to build the streak to start with. They play in a certain style, and it’s drilled into the players from the first to the third string.
We haven’t seen Lamar Jackson yet this preseason, and in all likelihood we won’t see him on Saturday. However, Harbaugh has confirmed that Jackson has asked him to play in this final warmup game. I can’t imagine Harbaugh will risk him given the regular season is just two weeks away, but it’s a slight possibility.
With Tyler Huntley likely to miss out too as he continues to return to fitness after a hamstring injury in the first preseason game, we will probably see Josh Johnson for the first half and Anthony Brown for some, if not all, of the second half.
Johnson was impressive last week, converting 10 of 12 passing attempts for 145 and two touchdowns. Rookie wideout Zay Flowers will play too, and he looked hugely promising this past week.
It’s also likely that we see Jadeveon Clowney and Ronald Darby play on defense. Neither veteran would ordinarily suit up, but given that they’ve both been signed in the past week, we will probably see them get some action in their legs. Clowney in particular has spoken of his desire to play, so we can probably expect to see him for a couple of series.
The Ravens know what it is to win in preseason and have such depth in quality, and for that reason I think they’ll have a big performance. We’re going to see a Bucs team who are still trying to figure out who they are under starting QB Baker Mayfield.
My best bet: Ravens moneyline (+110 at BetMGM)
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