Eagles vs. Ravens Point Spread: NFL Pre-Season Week 1 Odds, Prediction
The Baltimore Ravens have been exhibition legends under Coach John Harbaugh and are 6-point favourites on the NFL odds.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
These teams don’t play in the 2023 regular season but absolutely could in Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas next February. The Eagles are defending NFC champions behind reigning NFL MVP runner-up Jalen Hurts, who signed a five-year deal worth $255 million (US) this offseason to briefly become the league’s highest-paid player.
That deal helped the Ravens and their franchise QB, Lamar Jackson, reach a five-year extension worth $260 million that briefly made Jackson the highest-paid player in the NFL. The former Heisman winner had requested a trade at one point this offseason but is now content. Unless Jackson gets hurt (he did in 2022 but the team still got a wild card spot), Baltimore should again be a playoff team as well.
The last preseason matchup was in 2019 with the Ravens winning 26-15 in Philadelphia. Baltimore also won 30-28 in Philly in the last regular-season matchup in 2020.
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles look loaded again after finishing 14-3 last regular season and reaching the Super Bowl, which they probably should have won but let the Kansas City Chiefs hang around too long, and Patrick Mahomes made Philly pay.
Thus, Philly doesn’t have a lot of major training camp battles, although it did lose both starting safeties in the offseason, including C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who finished tied for the NFL lead in interceptions with six despite missing five games in 2022. Superstar QB Jalen Hurts is not expected to play in this one. Defensively, the team signed two linebackers to one-year deals this week in Myles Jack and Zach Cunningham. The Eagles have to break in new coordinators on both sides of the ball as former OC Shane Steichen is now the head coach of the Colts, and former DC Jonathan Gannon is the coach of the Cardinals. Philly is 1-4 in the preseason under coach Nick Sirianni.
Baltimore Ravens
No team treats the preseason more like a regular-season or, shoot, playoff game than the Ravens do under Coach John Harbaugh. The team is 43-12 in exhibition games under him (38-16-1 against the spread) and has won an NFL-record 23 in a row. The Ravens haven’t lost a preseason game since Atlanta beat them 20-19 on Sept. 3, 2015.
Starting QB Lamar Jackson won’t play in Week 1. If Harbaugh follows his usual script. Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews isn’t expected to play a snap in the preseason. No. 1 running back JK Dobbins and starting wideout Rashod Bateman are both dealing with injuries and won’t play. Baltimore is breaking in a new offensive coordinator in Todd Monken, who held the same role the past two seasons at Georgia in helping lead the Dawgs to back-to-back national titles.
PHI
BAL