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Jamison Hensley, ESPN writer
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Baltimore Ravens have been asked repeatedly all week how they won’t be overconfident heading into Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.
The Ravens’ response: They have learned their lesson.
“I mean, we lost to the Raiders, who are 2-11 right now, so you can’t really go into a game thinking that,” Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton said. “You have to play every game. So I think we have that mentality and we’re focused on the Giants.”
The Ravens are currently the biggest favorite heading into the 2024 season with 16 points, according to ESPN BET. This would surpass the Detroit Lions-Jacksonville Jaguars game in Week 11, when Detroit was a 14.5-point favorite, which it won 52-6. This would also make the Ravens the sixth-biggest road favorite in the last 30 years and make the Giants the NFL’s biggest home loser since 1966, according to ESPN Research.
But 14 weeks into this season, the Ravens (8-5) have shown they can beat the best teams in the league and also lose to some of the worst. Baltimore has been upset by two teams with double-digit losses: a 26-23 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 2 and a 29-24 loss to the Cleveland Browns (3-10) in Week 8.
Now, Baltimore faces the Giants (2-11), a banged-up team in line for the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft. Sunday’s game (1 p.m. ET, CBS) could be seen as a prototypical trap game when the The Ravens play the first-place team in the AFC North, the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3), six days after their game in New York.
“There’s no difficulty in preparing for a team,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “We understand how good each team is. The New York Giants are very talented and very tough. [and] Very well trained soccer team. They are very capable and we are going to have to play our best football to win the game. “That’s what we’re focused on.”
Baltimore understands that it has little margin for error if it wants to repeat as division champion. A win increases the team’s chances of winning the AFC North to 23% and a loss lowers the odds to 6%, according to ESPN Analytics.
The Ravens’ history suggests they won’t overlook the Giants. Baltimore is 44-1 (.978) all-time as a double-digit favorite, even in the postseason. This is the best winning percentage in the NFL since the Ravens’ inaugural season in 1996.
The team has been favored by two or more road touchdowns twice in franchise history. Baltimore won both games, beating the Arizona Cardinals 13-7 in 2000 and defeating the Washington Football Team 31-17 in 2020.
Now, Baltimore prepares to face a Giants team that has lost eight straight games and hasn’t won since October 6.
“We can’t worry about outside noise,” Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson said. “We can never worry about outside noise, because like I always say, we’re playing another NFL team, regardless of the record.”
NFL teams are 65-6 (.915) when favored by 14 or more points over the last 20 years. The last time a team lost while favored by two or more touchdowns was at the end of the 2021 season, when the Indianapolis Colts fell to the Jaguars 26-11 after being favored by 14 points.
But the Ravens understand the pain that comes with surprising losses. They insist those losses to the Raiders and Browns will remind them not to take Tommy DeVito and the Giants lightly.
“It helps us not let our guard down,” Hamilton said. “We have to win every game in this league. [It] It doesn’t matter the situation, what week it is, who is on the other side, who is not on the other side; “If they have 11 guys out there and there’s a football, then you have to win the game.”
