<\/p>\n
Ravens Vs. Miami<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Run, Ravens, run: All of the Baltimore starting pass catchers are listed as \u201cquestionable.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Wide receiver Clayton has a bad knee, tight end Todd Heap\u2019s having back trouble and wideout Derrick Mason\u2019s shoulder is injured. Will the three starters play? Most likely, yes. But their range, durability and output will probably be reduced. Rookie QB Joe Flacco will be handing the ball off a lot to running backs Le\u2019Ron McClain and Willis McGahee. The best thing that the Ravens\u2019 offense can do is play cleanly, allowing the team\u2019s defense to play its game and control Miami.<\/p>\n Tricks of the Trade: Miami will do anything to win, including a myriad of trick plays. Fake punts, the flea flicker and passes by running back are all on the table. They will have to do something in order to make this a game against the stellar Baltimore defense. The good news is that overall the team is healthy. Also, home field advantage will help. By all rights, Baltimore should crush these guys. But if Pennington and company can break through the Ravens\u2019 \u201cD,\u201d taking them out of their game, the Fins can win.<\/p>\n Eagles Vs. Vikings<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Secondary is Sound: Philadelphia got some good news today. It was announced that Pro Bowl cornerback Asante Samuel, who sustained a hip injury during Wednesday\u2019s practice and was held out from Thursday\u2019s practice, will be ready to play in Sunday\u2019s Wild-Card game. Samuel\u2019s past playoff performances have been first-rate as the corner has returned three interceptions for touchdowns. He could certainly be key on Sunday.<\/p>\n Viking Spirit: With less than a few days to go before Minnesota hosted Philadelphia, the Viking\u2019s had not sold about 24,000 of their Metrodome seats. That\u2019s because many season ticket holders decided to forgo the purchase of playoff seats. Viking fans, facing a blackout of the game by the NFL, started buying up tickets. The Eagles promoted ticket sales to their fans. It\u2019s unknown how many Philadelphia fans purchased game tickets. But if enough did, the Vikings could lose some of their home field advantage. The Metrodome is now sold out, which means that the NFL will allow the game to be televised locally. By the way, if QB Tarvaris Jackson falters in the contest, look for Minnesota\u2019s former starter Gus Frerotte to replace him. Head coach Brad Childress will act quickly if Jackson plays poorly.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ravens Vs. Miami Run, Ravens, run: All of the Baltimore starting pass catchers are listed as \u201cquestionable.\u201d\u00a0 Wide receiver Clayton has a bad knee, tight end Todd Heap\u2019s having back trouble and wideout Derrick Mason\u2019s shoulder is injured. Will the three starters play? Most likely, yes. But their range, durability and output will probably be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[608,320,73,344],"class_list":["post-926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-philadelphia-eagles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":927,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions\/927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}