4. Flacco will toss two touchdown passes, one to tight end Ed Dickson. Indianapolis ranks 22nd in pass defense and had no answer for the high-powered New England offense last week when tight end Rob Gronkowski had three touchdowns and quarterback Tom Brady threw for 289 yards and two scores. Flacco may not approach those numbers given how much you’d expect the Ravens to control the tempo with the running game, but he should gain some retribution for his previous three poor performances against the Colts in which he threw six interceptions and no touchdown passes. With the Ravens now having a viable deep threat in Torrey Smith, the Indianapolis defense will need to respect his speed, creating more space underneath than in prior seasons when Baltimore lacked wideouts who could stretch the field. As was the case last week in Cleveland, Flacco probably won’t need to do much, but he should find success against the Colts secondary on Sunday afternoon.
5. The Ravens will control this one throughout the day, winning 30-14. Aside from the Ravens turning the ball over four or five times, it’s tough to picture a scenario in which the Colts are able to pull off the upset. Yes, Indianapolis may be starving for a win to avoid an 0-16 season, but that argument has been made week in and week out since the first few weeks of the Colts’ season. Baltimore is looking to snap an eight-game losing streak to the Colts and to improve to 10-3 for the second time in franchise history. The threat of a letdown diminishes further every week with the Ravens seeing there’s no margin for error in the tight AFC playoff race. Indianapolis may add a late touchdown in garbage time — they scored three against the Patriots after falling behind by four touchdowns late in the third quarter — but it will be a festive day for Ravens fans on Sunday.
