Week 1, Nevermores v. Bills, PREDICT THE SCORE!

[Freddie's Dead]

Back by popular demand, it's the PREDICT THE SCORE thread!  Week 1 is finally here, so LFG!!

 

The Ravens make the roady to Highmark to clash with the Bills on Sunday Night Football.  Highmark will be rockin' as the Bills look to start the season on a high note.  I expect both offenses to look out of sync as the chemistry just isn't there early on (not playing at all in preseason will do that to you).

 

I see this as a tough battle with lead changes the whole way.  I've gone back and forth on this, but in the end, I'm giving it to the Bills. 

 

Nevermores - 24

Beews - 27

 

Bass kicks the GWFG.

 

[HappyDays]

Bills 29

Ravens 25

 

All offseason I've been thinking Baltimore would win this game. As recently as last week that would have been my honest prediction. They have the better roster, nowhere you can really poke holes or find a vulnerability. Their offense is the definition of pick your poison. On defense they have a crazy good secondary and unpredictable pass rush packages that gave our OL fits in the first matchup last year. On a pure player vs player analysis it doesn't feel like this is a game our roster should win without the Ravens making several unforced errors.

 

What's changed my mind over the past couple days is my growing sense that no one really knows what this Bills team is going to look like. Especially the defense. We made additions like Ryan Nielsen and Michael Hoecht, coaches and players that don't fit our usual tendencies. There's been complete radio silence out of OBD - training camp was boring, preseason was boring, Hard Knocks was boring. They have been very intentional about keeping the defense under wraps and I've come to believe that it is genuinely going to be different from what we've seen before. So while Baltimore isn't going to be totally unprepared, they're also not going to be able to glean as much from last year's film study as they might expect, and I think that plus the crowd noise in primetime for the home opener is going to create a huge advantage for our defense in the 1st half at least.

 

Also... I fully expect Josh Allen to be at his very best for this game. Something that's kind of gone under the radar because he just won MVP - reports from training camp are that he's throwing the ball better than ever. Even at this stage of his career he's still tweaking his mechanics and perfecting his consistency. It seems crazy to expect him to unlock another level above what he did last year, but I really think he has it in him. This is his 2nd full year in Brady's offense. He has his personal life well in order and yes I believe that stuff matters. He's spent the whole offseason developing chemistry with Keon Coleman who also has been turning heads at training camp.

 

I expect our run offense to be just as good as last year, maybe even better with the addition of Hawes. We ran the ball well against the Ravens in the playoff matchup - our RBs averaged 4.88 YPA. If we can keep close to that efficiency and not have our passing offense fall into a major slump like it did in the playoff matchup, we aren't going to blow the doors off them but we'll put up our points and force Baltimore to play catch up which is exactly the kind of game they are built to avoid.

 

This one is going to have the feel of a playoff game. I still kind of wish we got Baltimore later in the season after Derrick Henry wore down and we got our suspended players plus Maxwell Hairston back. But if it's going to be early in the season, week 1 in primetime was the best case scenario. The crowd noise, primetime Josh Allen, new defensive wrinkles that haven't been put on film yet. I think it all adds up to a win that despite the spread favoring us will still feel like an upset.

[Doc Brown]

Bills - 3

Ravens - 0