Colts at Ravens

The immovable object meets the unstoppable force Saturday when the Indianapolis Colts' offense visits the Baltimore Ravens' D.

With the Ravens on defense the key stat is QB sacks with the Ravens three D wildcats (Trevor Price, Scott and Suggs sharing 34 sacks) all chasing one scared rabbit (QB Manning).

Year in and out one QB sack contributes about 3 points to the scoring differential. On D, the Ravens have a 7-point edge.

The stat graphic below pictures the two teams on offense and defense.

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The Ravens' strongest game against the Pittsburgh Steelers shows the Raven QB wreckers rolling over QB Roethlisberger 8 times. Ouch. The Ravens' defensive army will have its sights set on one target. QB Manning.

Our Killer Stat, Points per Pass, gives the edge again to the Ravens who ranked 4th in the league earning almost a third-of-a-point more on offense than their D allows.

By comparison the Colts efficient passing game rolled the clock but did little to help this key stat. Reason why? The more you throw the more you are sacked and intercepted.

The stat graphic above pictures their position relative to the league (rank 20th) with a below average -0.10 points per pass difference.

Last year the Steelers won the Super Bowl built around a strong ground game resulting in a powerful 0.6 points per pass. So the Colts' weakness on this key stat will cost them an added 3 points.

The electronic hardware scoring projection is Ravens by 8+.

Bud Goode

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