NFL Preseason Week 1 – San Francisco vs Baltimore
The Baltimore Ravens start their preseason at home against the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday. This is a game that’ll provide more intensity than other games this week, as the Harbaugh brothers go H2H.
When: Thursday, Aug 7th 2014 at 7:30pm ET
Where: M&T Bank
TV: NFL Network
Line: PK – O/U 35
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John Harbaugh and the Ravens missed out on the playoffs last year and will want to jump out quickly this year. Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers lost in the NFC Championship last year and will be looking to improve.
Both of the Harbaugh brothers have winning preseason records with their current team. The Ravens have only gone 2-2 while the 49ers have gone 3-1 in each of the last two years during preseason though.
The 49ers are going to be one of the best teams in the NFL again this year and they typically like to get out to a good start even in the preseason. I read earlier that Colin Kaepernick will play 1-2 drives.
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I don’t expect Joe Flacco to play much more than that either. For Baltimore we can expect to see Taylor and Wenning split most of the snaps. Blaine Gabbert will likely get most of the snaps for the 49ers.
Gabbert isn’t a good QB, but I prefer him to the Ravens back-up QB’s. The RB edge goes to SF also, as they have some great young talent. We should see a lot of Carlos Hyde who is the back up to Gore.
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Baltimore will likely have more problems at RB this season. Rice is injured and dealing with off field issues while Pierce is coming off surgery. The o-line for the Ravens should be better, but still not a strong point.
I’m interested to see how newly signed WR’s Stevie Johnson and Brandon Lloyd look for SF. The Niners will also use rookie Bruce Ellington. Baltimore signed veteran Steve Smith to bolster their WR unit.
San Fran has way more depth on offense and they’re better at QB, RB, WR and o-line. The Ravens DEF is much the same this year. It’ll be interesting to see if their d-line can improve, as there is a lot talent.
The secondary for Baltimore also has some questions to answer. The 49ers will be a big question mark on their defense as well this season after losing three players to free agency during the off-season.
San Francisco has the better d-line with much more depth, which will play a role throughout the entire preseason. In a game like this where starters won’t play much you have to look at the depth of a team.
The Niners have more depth on both sides of the football. Traveling on the road is tough, but the 49ers are a team that hate to lose regardless of the situation and I expect them to cover the spread.
San Fran has young RB’s that will want to make a good impression during the preseason. I expect Hyde to shine this month for SF. If the Niners run the football their defense will handle the rest.
Recent NFL Betting Trends:
- Under is 6-1 in 49ers last 7 Thursday games.
- 49ers are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 road games.
- Under is 8-3 in 49ers last 11 games overall.
- Ravens are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 Thursday games.
- Over is 4-1 in Ravens last 5 games on fieldturf.
- Ravens are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games on fieldturf.
49ers vs. Ravens Free Pick
San Francisco 49ers PK (-110)
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