Monday Night Football may have landed the premier AFC game of week with the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets, two teams brimming with confidence and high expectations that will face off at the new Meadowlands Stadium at 7 p.m. EST Monday.

The winner of the game will likely be tagged as an AFC favorite. Defense could take center stage in this game between two teams who are very familiar with one another. A lot of that has to do with Rex Ryan, the former defensive coordinator at Baltimore who was integral in establishing the Ravens dominant defense. He is the current head coach in New York and has brought that same defensive attitude with him.

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The similarities are many between these two teams. Both consider themselves Super Bowl contenders, both went 9-7 last season and reached the playoffs, where each pulled off  first round upsets with the Jets winning at Cincinnati and the Ravens winning at New England.

Expect to see a new-look Baltimore group, who for once may rely on its offense instead of its defense. Quarterback Joe Flacco enters his third season under center and he has never had more weapons. Baltimore added wide receivers Anquan Boldin and more recently T.J. Houshmanzadeh to go along with feature running back Ray Rice.

The offense may be forced to put up more points than usual as the Baltimore secondary is a mess as evidenced by the injury report.

Injury Report
Cornerback Domonique Foxworth (knee) is out for the season and safety Ed Reed (hip) has been ruled out for the opener. Unproven corners, Fabian Washington and Chris Carr, will need to step up.

The biggest name on the Jets injury report is not actually injured, but suspended. Santonio Holmes, an offseason acquisition from Pittsburgh, has been suspended for the first four weeks of the season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.

Baltimore Ravens at New York Jets Betting Odds and Line Moves
The New York Jets are two-point favorites. On the moneyline the Jets are -130 while the Ravens are +110. The total is 36. Odds are courtesy of BetUS. The Jets opened as three-point favorites and the total has been dropping from 37.5 to its current 36.

Baltimore Ravens at New York Jets Trends
Ravens are 5-1 ATS in the last six meetings with the Jets
‘Over’ is 5-1 in Jets last six Monday night games
‘Over’ is 8-3 in Ravens last 11 Monday night games
Raves are 6-0 ATS in their last six games in September
Jets are 4-0 ATS in their last four games in September
Raves are 1-4-1 ATS in their last six vs. AFC
Jets are 5-1 ATS in their last six vs. AFC

Monday Night Football NFL Predications and Picks: Baltimore Ravens at New York Jets
The total of 36 is the lowest of Week 1, but reputation may have more to do with that than reality. Baltimore has offensive weapons capable of putting up big numbers and the Jets showed offensive life last season, going ‘over’ the total in four out of their last five games.

Baltimore’s secondary is good a enough reason to avoid them early on. By settling the contract holdout with Darrell Revis, the Jets made sure their secondary will not have the same question marks surrounding it.

The difference could easily be the defensive backfields and the fact that the Jets will have Revis and the Ravens will not have Reed or Foxworth. The play here is the Jets and the ‘over’.