Week 15’s Sunday Night Football features a clash between division leaders, with the match between the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium.
Baltimore Ravens
Returning from bye week, the Ravens (10-3 W/L) had difficulties, but overcame the Los Angeles Rams in overtime by the score of 37×31, winning their 3rd game in a row. The team leads the AFC North, with two more wins than the Cleveland Browns, currently in 2nd place. After this game against the Jaguars, the team travels to California, where they will face the San Francisco 49ers in one of the triple-header games on Christmas Day.
In the victory over the Rams in Week 14, quarterback Lamar Jackson threw for 3 touchdowns, but also had an interception in the game and completed less than 60% of his passes for the 2nd game in a row. In an offense focused on producing the ground game, Jackson has still attempted many deep passes, but has sometimes been inaccurate in his throws. This season, however, the quarterback maintains solid numbers, having completed 66.8% of his passes, averaging 7.8yds per attempt, 16 touchdown passes, 6 interceptions and a rating of 97.7.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Even with quarterback Trevor Lawrence far from ideal conditions, the Jaguars (8-5 W/L) were competitive, but ended up defeated away from home by the Cleveland Browns 31×27 in week 14, suffering their 2nd consecutive defeat. The team leads the AFC South, with one more win than the Indianapolis Colts, currently in 2nd place. After this game versus the Ravens, the team travels to Tampa Bay, where they will face the Buccaneers in one of the Week 16 games.
Limited by an injury suffered on Monday Night Football in Week 13 against the Bengals, Trevor Lawrence did not have a good showing against the strong Browns defense in Week 14. The quarterback threw for 3 touchdowns, but also had 3 interceptions in the game, completing only 28 of 50 pass attempts, averaging 5.5yds per attempt.
Conclusion:
With the Jaguars’ recent deterioration, the Ravens are being widely supported in this handicap, which in primetime games, doesn’t usually end well.
The situation favors the Jaguars, as the Ravens are coming off a stressful game and will have a match against the San Franscisco 49ers on Monday Night Football on Christmas Day, which would make this a game of lesser importance.