OBJ Changes Odds: How Often Are Ravens Favored on NFL Schedule?

Taking current rosters into account instead of last year's numbers, one ESPN analyst views the Baltimore Ravens as favorites in more than one dozen regular season games this season.

With quarterback Lamar Jackson back and under contract, the Baltimore Ravens are once again expected to compete for an NFL playoff spot this coming season. 

Receiver Odell Beckham Jr. arriving on the team helps, too, as the Ravens maintain their favorites status as a postseason contender and one ESPN analyst projects the team to win 13 games this regular season.

According to these projections, Baltimore has a better than 50-percent chance of winning all but one of their AFC North Division matchups, falling below that mark just once. 

In that game, a road contest against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Ravens have a 43-percent chance of winning and if the results follow the math will be the only loss suffered in the first 11 games. Of course, that's not usually how it works and just because a team is favored doesn't mean it will actually win. 

And two games specifically stand out as potential losses in favored contests, with Week 4 against the Cleveland Browns and Week 5 against the Pittsburgh Steelers both coming with a 55 percent or lower chance to win. 

That Week 2 contest carries the lowest chance of winning according to these projections, and no other game where Baltimore comes in an underdog goes below 46 percent. 

Taking 'what ifs' and incidentals into account, the ESPN projection has the Ravens finishing with 10 wins and earning a playoff spot as the sixth seed in the AFC. 

That result would be a good one on the surface, but with a projected road game against the Bengals in the first round of the playoffs, Baltimore's joy would need to quickly turn to focused preparation to pull off a win to open postseason play.

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