Don't want to get all negative and crappy .... so, I'll just say that this Raven defense is coming along; starting to gel. Frank expressed my concerns more concisely than I could have.
Defensively, with #52 out - it is entirely possible that Capers may come up with a scheme that the Ravens haven't seen before. I believe that when #52 is on the field, the Pack may lay their hopes on his play versus using a little originality ... him being hurt, the defense seems to be more inter-dependent and thus, play better as a unit (?) ... pure speculation on my part. I hate cliches but the Pack's d-line is going head-on with some very VERY large men on the Ravens O-line.
Offensively, coming from me - no big surprise here, I really want to see that new found running game again. ( A Ravens fan would probably say what I'm saying ...) ball and clock control ... keep Flacco and Rice off the field. Don't get me wrong, I like the Pack's quick strike capability BUT I doubt that there will be a whole lot of 'quick strikes' against this Ravens defense. Flacco has been kind of tossing up some 'bunnies', and if the Pack can put the Ravens into catch-up mode, they will have a better shot at beating the Champs.
I am thinking that this game frankly is a toss-up. I think it's going to be a close game. One of those games that drives me absolutely nuts....where the Pack look out of sync offensively (the Ravens have a way of making quick strike offenses look out of sync). Flip side of that coin, I am predicting that the Pack do the same thing to the Ravens. I'm just kind of hoping that the Harbaugh brothers haven't been exchanging notes on how to make the Pack's defense look like a Picasso painting (that isn't a compliment in my book).
Vegas has the at-home Ravens installed as a 1-point favorite - appears "at-home" is carrying a lot of weight in this one.
Listening to Chris Havel this week at 107.5 ... he got me looking at the remaining AWAY schedule because he rightly says that going forward, the Pack are going to need at least 3 away wins ... to hit 10-11 wins, all things being equal. You know, he's right ... going to be tough, so they may as well get started in Baltimore.