Caveman’s Wicked Wednesday Week 12
2nd December 2020
Baltimore Ravens @ Pittsburgh Steelers
Matchup Basics
Matchup Insight
Covid strikes again this time in the thrice postponed matchup between these two aggressive divisional rivals. No Matter what happens in this game the headlines are going to be dominated by the 22 players that won’t be suiting up due to Covid-19. Leading the charge in these inactive is reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson who will sit this week out to be replaced by yesteryears great running quarterback RG3. No matter how many Ravens are out one thing is for sure this will be a hard-fought fight with these two teams that hate each other to the bone. The Terrible Towel is in a prime position to move to 11-0 and put the injured Ravens season on life support.
The Steelers offense has been chugging along nicely this season without being overly exciting outside of rookie sensation Chase Claypool. Big Ben is having his best season in years which will be in part due to him dealing with injuries over the last few years and being able to rest up his broken body. JuJu Smith-Schuster has is putting together his 3rd disappointing season in a row after a solid rookie campaign, James Connor has shown he is a back up running back at best and Diontae Johnson is a target hog but a bit boring to watch. The run game for the Steelers has been hard to watch at times this season and won’t be much better this week with James Connor joining the Covid list, exposing an already thin running back corps. The shining light for this offense this season has been their pass blocking which has been brilliant at keeping Ben upright and should have no problem again this week against a depleted Ravens pass rush.
The Ravens offense has been struggling long before it got decimated by Covid. Lamar Jackson has looked like a shadow of his former self, the wide receivers have struggled to get open, and although the running game has found gaps to exploit it has looked slow and in need of some better play calling. In Robert Griffin’s career, he has always been a run-first, chuck second, and think 3rd quarterback who continually seems to be 3 seconds behind the defense. The one positive for RG# is he slots seamlessly into this offense, playing a very similar game to Jackson. In last season’s regular-season finale Griffen threw for less than 100 yards and ran for 50 against the Steelers. The Ravens took a punt on Dez Bryant who has been out of the league since 2017 and he looks to be fitting into the team nicely as the possession receiver this offense desperately needs. The Steelers defense will be sitting back a bit in order to not get beaten by Baltimore’s fast receivers allowing Bryant to get open underneath a lot more. The run game is hoping to get Mark Ingram and JK Dobbins back in time for the match but whoever carries the ball for this Ravens team is going to have a tough time against the resurgence of the Steel Curtain.
The Steeler’s defense has been incredible this season with a strong secondary, lights-out run-stopping unit, and an abusive pass rush that has left teams mangled and broken. This season no team that has played the Steelers has won their game the next week showing just how physical this defense is. There is no area in this defense where they have been struggling this season. There is a reason this team is still undefeated despite their easy schedule and boring offense they have the best defense in football and as we all know defense wins championships.
The Ravens defense will be struggling this week without bookends Calais Campbell and Brandon Graham. This means their pass rush will crash upon the Steeler’s number 1 pass-blocking unit like a glass of water on a sandbag. Luckily for the Ravens there starting secondary unit is more or less in tack (bar Jimmy Smith) and has been the best part of this defense so far this season allowing only 5 touchdowns to opposing wide receivers all season.
Player props to follow in this one are a lot harder to call with the uncertainty still over several key players. For the Steelers I like Diontae Johnson over 5.5 receptions as he has seen 55 targets over the last 5 weeks but keep in mind he did only have one catch in the first game vs the Ravens. Chase Claypool to score a touchdown shows some value at $2.50 or higher as he has been integrated into the offense more and more since his breakout game and will be involved in gadget plays which Mike Tomlin loves to run close to the endzone.
The Raven’s player props to follow include Dez Bryant over 2.5 receptions as he should be heavily targeted as the possession receiver. RG3 to go over 29.5 rushing yards looks a good shout as Griffen has always been a run-first think, last quarterback. Devin Duvernay over 23.5 receiving yards is also a great option as he should be playing out of the slot where Willie Snead went for over 100 receiving yards in the first game.
The Last Word
This game was looking like a perfect end to our thanksgiving slate, it’s now a stand-alone game on Wednesday afternoon with half a team and very little hype. I will lean to the over 42.5 and the Steelers -10 but these just lean as I won’t be going too hard at all on them. If this game was played on a Sunday it would probably be an outright fade with the uncertainty over the entire Ravens team. The player props look to be the most exciting part of this match from a betting view.
