The Ravens have no defense and no Lamar Jackson, yet they are less than a field goal underdog to the Texans, which speaks more to Houston’s problems and the Baltimore program that in does the talent that will be on the field Sunday. Admittedly, this is a reach, but Cooper Rush is an experienced backup who has proven that he can win games. Derrick Henry is going to get a full complement of plays on the ground, and there is still receiving talent on the Ravens side. The Texans offense is a mess, and a blowout win over the Titans isn’t enough to convince me Baltimore cannot shock the world on Sunday. Try to get +3 by kickoff.

Woody Marks had his breakout game last week, and that has removed focus on Chubb. But I don't think the veteran is going anywhere in the offense. The two backs offer different styles, and I see the Texans wanting to feed Chubb early and often to wear down a beat-up defensive front for the Ravens. With the Texans favored, there should be enough carries for both players, and with Baltimore allowing 4.6 yards per carry Chubb only needs seven or eight to get over this number.

Last week I thought the lookahead line for this game of Ravens -9.5 was fair due to my questions about Houston's offense. With all Baltimore's injuries on both sides of the ball, my ratings adjustments moved the game to PK, but I still want to be on the Houston side so I probably should've adjusted further. The Texans defense should fare well against Baltimore's banged-up O-line even if Tyler Linderbaum and Ronnie Stanley play (presumably at less than 100%), while the Houston offense may have its easiest matchup of the season as both Kyle Hamilton and Odafe Oweh picked up midweek injuries in practice as well. I like Houston up to -3 here.

Texans rookie running back Woody Marks has seen his snap share increase every week, culminating in 41 snaps (59 percent) in the Week 4 win over Tennessee. Now he faces a Ravens defense that definitely won't have Nnamdi Madubuike and could be without Roquan Smith and Kyle Hamilton as well. Multiple other defenders are in question. With the Texans looking to limit C.J. Stroud's mistakes, I bet Marks to have another big game on the ground and catching short passes.

This has to be an all out effort on the part of the Ravens. They're 1-3 and will likely be without Lamar Jackson. I expect a "rally the troops" type resurgent group effort here that manhandles the Texans. In addition, 1-3 teams off a loss, facing a team off a win, cover over 60% of the time going all the way back to 1980. Using the Ravens in a 6-point teaser is a great way to go as well. I believe they win the game outright.

The Ravens are staying mum on QB Lamar Jackson's fate for this game. Missing another practice Thursday is telling, and the pick is assuming he will be confined to the sidelines. Too bad for Baltimore, which would otherwise take advantage of a rare weakness on the Texas' D -- containing QB scrambles. Jackson's understudy, Cooper Dunn, is hardly gifted in that area. Houston is coming off a shutout, albeit against the Titans, so the Ravens minus Lamar could be starved for points. The game's other key injury also hampers Baltimore; star DT Nnamdi Madubuike is finished for the season.

FanDuel. Woody Marks had his coming out party last week, pacing the Texans backfield with 69 rush yards and 50 receiving yards. Billed as a pass-catching back coming out of USC, I like him to clear this low receiving yards line. His route share has climbed each week - Nick Chubb will still mix in on the ground, but I expect Marks on the field for most of the passing downs. He’ll face a depleted Ravens defense that’s allowing the fifth most receiving yards to running backs on the most targets per game. I’d bet this up to over 15.5 receiving yards.

The Ravens are completely depleted on both sides of the ball and we've seen the line move from Ravens -9 to Texans -2, almost unheard of line movement. With no Lamar Jackson, the only way the Ravens are winning this game is some trickery, some aggression and a WHOLE lot of Derrick Henry, who has some *ahem* history shredding the Houston Texans in his career. I'm fine taking this up to 19.5 but this number is just lovely and only loses if the Ravens get down big and are forced to abandon the run completely.

The Ravens are this year's version of the 49ers, a great team on paper decimated by injuries. In addition to Lamar Jackson being unlikely to play, Ronnie Stanley left early on Sunday and three more defensive starters were hurt, bringing the total on that side of the ball to seven. The Texans can grind out drives and limit possessions for this version of the Baltimore offense, which is up against the toughest scoring defense in the league. None of the Rams, Bucs or Jags had more than 14 points at the two-minute warning against this unit, so I can't see Cooper Rush leading this team to 20 points.

Number grabbing the dog here as I think Lamar Jackson misses this game and the Ravens defense deals with a rash of injuries. I'm not going to make this handicap harder than it is for those that want to create arbitrage that works too.