The NFL's top passing offence takes on the NFL's top passing defence when the Denver Broncos meet the Baltimore Ravens
Last year it was a 30-7 week eight loss to the Baltimore Ravens which sent a then 6-0 Denver Broncos team into a tailspin, as they won only two of their remaining nine games, and finished the season 8-8, failing to make the play-offs. The Ravens will look
to improve on their 3-1 record as their top-ranked pass defence plays host to Jay Cutler and the Broncos top-rated passing offence.
How they match up
The Ravens currently have the top-rated defence in the NFL and have been among the best defensive teams for over a decade. Their pass defence has been absolutely sensational so far averaging a full 20 yards less per game than the number two ranked New York
Giants.The Ravens defence, led by veterans Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs, is a major reason why they are off to a 3-1 start and lead the AFC North Division.
The Ravens offence has done its job too, and though running back Ray Rice has been hurting recently, Joe Flacco has been solid at quarterback as he now has a triple receiving threat in Derrick Mason, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and, Flacco's favorite target with
27 receptions already, Anquan Boldin.
The one area that the Broncos may have been keen to exploit was the Ravens average run defence. The Broncos, however, currently have the league's worst rushing offence. Laurence Maroney was brought in from New England with the hopes of solving the situation,
but he has a paltry 29 yards on 23 carries. The Broncos as a team are averaging an abysmal 2.2 yards per carry along the ground. No quarterback in the NFL has gone to the air as many times as Denver's Kyle Orton who leads the league in pass attempts and yards
passing.
Like Baltimore, Denver also boast a triple threat receiving in Brandon Lloyd and Eddie Royal, who have 25 receptions each and Jabar Gaffney who already has 22 receptions - all three are in the top 15 in the NFL in receptions.
What to expect
The outcome of this game will be evidence of what happens when an unstoppable force comes up against an immovable object. At some point one of them will have to give and the safer bet is that it will be the Broncos' high-powered offence. If Orton continues
the pace that he is on, he will not only surpass Dan Marino's single season record for passing yards (5084), but he will blow it to smithereens.
At the moment Orton's numbers look a bit like bottled lightning; he has come nowhere close to Marino-type numbers in any of his five previous seasons. Although he is enjoying far more individual success with Denver than he did when he was at Chicago, one
has to feel as though his numbers will taper off as the season progresses and he will fall to the middle of the pack where analysts are more used to seeing his name pop up.
The Ravens' impressive defensive numbers are no fluke. They've been doing what they are currently, year after year, and Broncos head coach, Josh McDaniels, will be struggling to rethink his gameplan when his go-to guys begin to prove ineffective. The Ravens
take it 21-20.
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