Ravens vs. Eagles Betting Guide: Lamar Jackson Can’t Be Stopped

Baltimore Ravens at Philadelphia Eagles Betting Odds

• Spread: Ravens -5.5
• Over/Under: 35.5
• Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. ET

The Eagles host the Ravens in one of six Week 3 Preseason matchups on Thursday night. Let’s take a look at key storylines for both teams, complete with a pick.

Baltimore Ravens

Lamar Jackson's success as a rusher as a rookie was more akin to an RB1 than a QB1.

• Jackson started from Weeks 11-17. He ranked inside the league's top-eight players (running backs included) in rush attempts (No. 6), rush yards (No. 7) and touchdowns on the ground (tied for No. 7) over that span
• Only Ezekiel Elliott (96 rush yards per game), Todd Gurley (89), Joe Mixon (83), Chris Carson (82) and Saquon Barkley (82) averaged more rushing yards per game than Jackson (79, only counting his seven starts)
• Michael Vick averaged "just" 64.9 rushing yards per game during his best season as a rusher in 2006

Jackson reminded everyone just how dangerous he is on the ground during the first quarter of last week's matchup against the Packers.

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles haven't had a true three-down back during the Doug Pederson era. Jay Ajayi, Corey Clement and even Josh Adams (reach) have flashed the ability to produce at a high level for short periods of time, but we've yet to see Carson Wentz work inside of an offense with a true game-changing talent at running back.

Enter: Miles Sanders, who has turned heads during training camp and has a three-down skill-set that's unrivaled in the Eagles' backfield.

Sanders' explosiveness was evident at Penn State in 2018 when he proved to be one of the tougher running backs in the country to get to the ground.

Still, I'm backing the preseason against-the-spread GOAT John Harbaugh and fading a banged-up Eagles offense that doesn't figure to expose Wentz to many (if any) unnecessary hits.

PICK: Ravens -5.5