NFL Football

2025-01-04 - Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

Cleveland Browns @ Baltimore Ravens
United States : NFL Week 18
Saturday 4th January 2025 - Scheduled 4:30pm
9:30pm (British Time)

Preview

One more win will secure the AFC North Division for the Baltimore Ravens (11-5) and that would mean earning the Number 3 Seed in the Playoff and a home game next week. Three blowout wins in a row have put the Ravens in a strong position and they are a massive favourite to beat the Cleveland Browns (3-13).

The Browns have had a miserable season all in all and they will be looking forward to drawing a line under the campaign and try and go again in 2025. There is every chance they could still secure the Number 1 Draft Pick with a loss and some help on Sunday and even the desire to play spoiler for a rival may not be as high considering the Ravens have already secured a Playoff spot.

Instead the motivation might be on the side of the home team considering they were beaten in Cleveland and have lost three of their last four games against the Browns.

The exception in that little run is a blowout win for Baltimore and they may have the capabilities of crushing this Browns team that may be down to a fourth choice Quarter Back.

For now it sounds like Dorian Thompson-Robinson will be given the start, but Cleveland are toying with the idea of Bailey Zappe at Quarter Back instead after the poor play of DTR. Jameis Winston is going to be the emergency Quarter Back, but neither Thompson-Robinson nor Zappe are going to give the Ravens too much to worry about.

The Browns would love to establish the run to set things up, but that looks a much tougher task against the Baltimore Ravens Defensive Line and especially with so little to play for. Jerome Ford might not even suit up and it is asking a lot of either of the two expected starting Quarter Backs to exploit this Ravens Secondary if playing from third and long spots on the field.

It would mean facing the Baltimore pass rush, which has been getting after the Quarter Back, and errant throws will be picked off by the Defensive Backs who have benefited from the pressure being produced up front.

Lamar Jackson has just set a new rushing record for Quarter Backs in the NFL, but he will be well aware of the challenges that the Cleveland Browns have given to him in the past. However, between Jackson and Derrick Henry, the Ravens should be able to establish the run, even against this tough Browns Defensive Line, and that should just open things up for the pass.

The Ravens have found a decent balance with their Offensive unit and Lamar Jackson has proved he can run and throw the ball effectively. The big test will be taking that into the Playoff and really giving Baltimore the level needed to have a deep run, but this is a final regular season game and the Quarter Back should have spaces to exploit.

Having a player like Derrick Henry behind him means the Ravens are able to negate much of the pass rush and the Ravens Offensive Line should give Lamar Jackson time to make his plays down the field.

Of course this is a huge spread and it will be very difficult for the home team to overcome the mark, although the feeling is that as little as 24 points could be enough for Baltimore.

The Browns might not have the same motivation to play spoiler as if this game was played a couple of weeks ago and Baltimore have won three in a row by huge margins.

After losing in Cleveland, Baltimore will be that much more focused and that can help them secure the AFC North behind a big win- a couple of turnovers may just give them those extra possessions to beat a Cleveland team thinking ahead rather than on this final regular season game.