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On the fringe of securing a wild-card playoff spot in the AFC, the Baltimore Ravens (8-6) play host to the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday night. The Ravens have quietly won four of their last five, and a win here would put a lot of pressure on the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans, who enter Week 16 with the same record as Baltimore but face much tougher matchups.
Kickoff for this one is scheduled for Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on NFL Network. If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can still watch the game online, on your tablet, or on another streaming device by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services. They cost a monthly fee but all come with a free trial, allowing you to watch tonight’s game at no cost:
FuboTV: NFL Network is included in the “Fubo Premier” channel package. If you sign up for a free 7-day trial, you can then watch NFL Network on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the FuboTV app.
Sling TV: NFL Network is included in the “Sling Blue” channel package. If you sign up for a free 7-day trial, you can then watch NFL Network on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Sling TV app
PlayStation Vue: There are four main channel packages, while NFL Network is included in three of them: “Core,” “Elite” and “Ultra”. If you sign up for a free 5-day trial, you can then watch on your computer via the PS Vue website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the PlayStation Vue app
Note: NFL games can only be watched on your phone via the NFL app, and only if you have Verizon. You can still watch via any of the above services on any device that isn’t a phone.
Preview
If the Ravens do make the playoffs–a win Saturday night puts them at 93 percent to go to the postseason, per FiveThirtyEight–they’ll have their playmaking defense to thank. They rank seventh in the NFL in yards per play allowed, first in takeaway percentage and first in Football Outsiders’ defensive efficiency ratings.
And while the offense hasn’t been nearly as consistent (they rank just 31st, eighth and 22nd in those same three categories), they’ve managed to put up 31.0 points per game over the last five, as an improved running game has helped them achieve more balance.
“I’m really pleased with the way we’re playing,” coach John Harbaugh said after the Ravens’ 27-10 win over the Browns last week. “We’re running to the ball. We’re keeping the quarterback caged. We’re getting to the quarterback. We’re keeping the ball in front of us. Even last week, [Pittsburgh] made a few big plays on us. We weren’t quite as tight in coverage as we wanted to be against a really good offense, but we went to work. We cleaned those things up. Our guys respond.”
On the other side of the field, the Colts are simply playing for the best draft pick possible. They’ve lost six in a row, and though they’ve showed some promise during that stretch (three-point loss against the Steelers, four-point loss against the Titans), it’s been mostly a mess without Andrew Luck. As ESPN’s Mike Wells pointed out, their wins this year are against the Browns, 49ers and Texans, and they’re not far away from being winless.
“We understand where we’re at; we understand what the record is,” coach Chuck Pagano said. “But we’ve got two more opportunities and thank God we have two more opportunities. We get another opportunity to go compete. We’ll prepare and do what we’re supposed to do.”
The Colts offense hasn’t hid the 20-point plateau since early November, and the defense was just picked apart by Brock Osweiler. Combine that with Baltimore’s recent stretch of impressive play, and Indy will be 14-point underdogs as they try to play spoiler against their AFC foes on Saturday night.