Baltimore Ravens vs Houston Texans Prediction: Can we witness a shocking outcome in this opener?

In the opening game of the National Football League season, the young Houston Texans will face their competition from the American Football Conference, the Baltimore Ravens, at the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. While the Houston Texans will hold out hope that they may pull off an upset, the odds are now stacked too heavily in favor of the Baltimore Ravens in this situation. In the following section, I analyze the match details and present the various betting opportunities.

The Cincinnati Bengals eliminated the Baltimore Ravens from the divisional playoffs by defeating them in the Wild Card round. The Baltimore Ravens have a solid desire to improve on their current record of 10-7, but they recognize the difficulty of doing so given the level of competition in the American Football Conference North. It is Lamar Jackson's objective to improve as a passer, and the addition of wide receivers like Odell Beckham Jr., Zay Flowers, and Nelson Agholor will assist him in achieving this objective. However, all of these players will need to perform at their highest level. They combined for more than 1,200 yards of total offense during the previous season, making Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely one of the most productive tight end duos in the league. The passing game for Baltimore only averaged 178.8 yards per game; if they want to return to the Super Bowl, they will need to improve in this area. The Baltimore Ravens entered this game with the second-best rushing offense in the NFL, averaging 160.0 yards per game. They will play against the worst run defense in the NFL, which allowed 170.2 yards per game on average.

The Houston Texans finished the previous season with a record of 3-13-1, which was the franchise's second-worst season ever. They selected quarterback C.J. Stroud and linebacker Will Anderson Jr. with the two picks that they received in the 2023 NFL Draft, which gave them two of the top three selections. After a successful tenure with the San Francisco 49ers as the defensive coordinator, former star linebacker DeMeco Ryans was appointed as the next head coach of the Houston Texans, who are now in the process of rebuilding. A number of players joined the Houston Texans during the offseason, including tight end Dalton Schultz, running back Devin Singletary, and wide receiver Robert Woods. Although the Texans lost wide receiver Brandin Cooks, wide receiver Chris Moore, tight end Jordan Akins, and safety Jonathan Owens, it appears that the team is in better shape now, as they have a new head coach, a highly gifted quarterback, and a good pair of running backs.

These two opponents in the conference have fought each other 12 times thus far. The Baltimore Ravens came out on top in eleven of the matchups, including the most recent one that took place in September 2020. The Baltimore Ravens were victorious in all six head-to-head matchups that took place in Baltimore.

Although there have been some adjustments made to the Baltimore Ravens' defense, I wouldn't be too concerned about its performance against the Houston Texans' ineffective offense. In 2022, the Houston Texans were 30th in the league with 17.0 ppg, while the Baltimore Ravens ranked third in the league with 18.5 ppg allowed. It would be surprising for the visitors to score more than 14 points in this game. Only twice out of six head-to-head matchups against the Baltimore Ravens did the Houston Texans score 15 or more points. The offense of the Baltimore Ravens was not particularly outstanding in 2017, as they scored 20.6 points per game, which ranked them nineteenth in the league. However, scoring shouldn't be an issue in this game.