The Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins both won their preseason debuts last week. Neither team played its starters for any significant amount of time, but the bench was good enough to lead each team to victory. Each team has suffered a significant injury to its quarterback in training camp, with Miami losing Ryan Tannehill for the entire season due to a knee injury and Baltimore not having Joe Flacco available for preseason because of an injured back. Both coaches will likely be hesitant to play their starters, especially quarterbacks, that much with those injuries weighing on their minds.
This matchup in Week 2 of the preseason will take place on Thursday, August 17, 2017,
at 7 p.m. ET at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Week 2 NFL Preseason Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
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Odds Analysis
It wasn’t much of a surprise to see Baltimore get an easy win and cover against Washington in the opener considering John Harbaugh’s preseason record. The Ravens are now 25-12 in the preseason under Harbaugh. The 23-3 victory meant the game easily went under the total.
Miami’s fourth quarter comeback against Atlanta both covered the spread and pushed the game over the total. David Fales led the team on two touchdown drives and that may have helped him earn a spot on the roster.
Matchup to Watch
Baltimore’s secondary completely shut down Washington’s passing game in the preseason opener. Three Redskins quarterbacks combined to complete less than 50 percent of their passes and threw for less than 100 yards total against the Ravens last Thursday.
Through one preseason game, the moves this team made in the secondary this offseason looked to have paid dividends. Baltimore signed Brandon Carr and Tony Jefferson from Dallas and Arizona respectively and they seem to have gelled very well with Eric Weddle and Jimmy Smith.
The secondary has depth too. Marlon Humphrey was drafted in the first round this offseason and at the very least should be a competent nickel back this season, while re-signing Lardarius Webb definitely helps too.
It will be interesting to see how Jay Cutler performs against this secondary. Cutler was signed after the injury to Tannehill and has experience in Adam Gase’s offense from his time with Chicago. He didn’t play against Atlanta in the preseason opener as the team didn’t want to rush him into action after an idle offseason, but he should see a decent amount of action here. He has limited time to mesh with this offense and will likely see plenty of repetitions with the first- and second-team in order to acclimate.
Player to Watch
Ryan Mallett was awful in the preseason opener for Baltimore. Although the Ravens got the win, he dinked and dunked and wasn’t able to move the chains with this offense. He threw 18 passes on the evening but averaged just over three yards an attempt.
That performance is pretty poor even for the preseason. Mallett played the entire first half and has been on the roster since being released by Houston in the middle of 2015. His inability to move the ball and connect with his receivers is concerning to say the least.
Back injuries are notoriously hard to judge and with Flacco sidelined for the entire preseason, there’s a good chance that Mallett will start the regular season. Harbaugh will likely continue to ride Mallett and hope for improvement.
Free ATS Pick
There is no line out for this one yet, but the Ravens are probably going to more concerned with getting a win. For Miami, it will be more about getting Cutler some familiarity with the offense, while Baltimore might really be stuck with Mallett to start the season. This is a great spot to back Baltimore on the moneyline.
Week 2 NFL Preseason Odds: Ravens 20 Dolphins 16
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