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.