The NFL is back, baby! The 2026 regular season kicked off with two games earlier in the week, building up to the full Sunday slate to really get Week 1 going. One of the most intriguing matchups of the week pits the Baltimore Ravens, led by new head coach Jesse Minter, against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Both of these offenses have extremely high ceilings when healthy, so what are we in store for in this one?
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET. Here’s a preview, prediction and pick for Ravens vs. Colts in NFL Week 1 on Sunday.
Ravens vs. Colts prediction, preview
There’s plenty to dive into for each of these franchises. We’ll start with the Ravens, who went 8-9 in 2025 but were also dealing with a season from hell in terms of injuries. You name the player; they were probably injured for some stretch. The down year culminated in the end of an era which saw longtime head coach John Harbaugh booted to bring in former Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who now takes over at the helm in Baltimore. He brings with him a new offensive coordinator in Declan Doyle, who may be just what the doctor ordered to unleash Lamar Jackson.
Assuming a clean bill of health, the Ravens’ offense should be one of the NFL’s best units heading into 2026. Jackson has multiple MVPs under his belt and doesn’t have anything to prove until the playoffs roll around, but an offense that leans on a more balanced attack could have him competing for the award once again. There’s been plenty of talk about an uptick in pass rate, which bodes nicely for two key players. An aging, but still great Derrick Henry could see more room to run if the Ravens turn to the air more frequently, while Zay Flowers is a sneaky pick to emerge as one of the league’s true top wideouts – if he’s healthy, though he thankfully just returned to practice following a multi-week absence with a lower-body injury. If everyone simply stays on the field, this could blossom into a dynamic machine if Doyle is what people say he is as a coordinator.
The storyline for the Colts isn’t entirely different from what the Ravens experienced last year. Injuries were a key theme that ultimately held back what could’ve been an awesome football team – they were 8-2 to start the year before suffering seven straight losses to end the campaign with an 8-9 record. It’s no coincidence that the drop-off coincided with a season-ending torn Achilles tendon for quarterback Daniel Jones, as well as limited availability for star cornerback Sauce Gardner, who Indianapolis traded multiple first-round picks for.
Looking ahead to 2026, there’s definitely reason for Colts fans to feel hope. Jones is back on the field and should be a full-go for Week 1, marking one of the most impressive recoveries from a severe ligament tear we’ve ever seen in sports, much less the NFL alone. He’s coming off what was a career-best season and proved he could hang around under center for a top offense, but it’s worth noting that defenses began to catch onto Shane Steichen’s offensive tricks after a few weeks – Indianapolis ran more play action on early downs than any other team, which is part of why the offense was breaking records while winning games in the first half of the year. Of course, things will continue to run through Jonathan Taylor in the ground game, while the passing attack still brings high upside. Michael Pittman Jr. was traded away this offseason, but the rest of the core is back for more. Tyler Warren has emerged as one of the best young tight ends in football and Alec Pierce put forth a career-best campaign of his own, though the latter has been working his way back from offseason surgery himself and may not be at full strength even if he plays.
At the end of the day, what we have here are two potentially great offenses squaring off. The Ravens’ defense is much easier to trust after having the offseason to get healthy and adding Trey Hendrickson as a proven rusher off the edge, alleviating what was arguably the unit’s biggest weakness last season. The pass defense remains a bit suspect, but there are avenues to be successful even as a funnel of sorts. Looking at the Colts, their own defense was good against the run last year but quite vulnerable to the pass. Gardner’s presence should help, but they’re lacking much in the way of linebacker talent and may struggle a bit in the middle.
Ravens vs. Colts pick, best bet
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Ravens as a -3.5 favorite against the spread with -175 odds to win on the Moneyline. The Colts are a +145 home underdog to win outright with the game total set at 47.5 combined points.
This is certainly a game in which the over on the total has some legs. Assuming both offenses are at full strength as anticipated, we’re talking about two of the NFL’s highest-upside units that are going to be capable of pouring on points in a hurry. The rushing attack is central to the identities of both franchises, so the running back matchup between Henry and Taylor could potentially be one of the most exciting of the entire season – things should still flow through those two talents, but there’s a lot more of a threat on the ground from Jackson compared to Jones, especially with the latter coming off the Achilles tear.
That’s not to say that ball-control football will be the name of the game in this one, though. We saw the explosiveness of this Indianapolis group last season when Jones was at his best, and if Pierce is truly good to go, he and Warren form a real threat together in the intermediate and deep areas of the field. They can stretch it out in a hurry, which could exploit the back half of Baltimore’s defense if last season’s woes continue for the secondary. It’s unclear whether Gardner will shadow Flowers in this game, but if he does see that matchup for most of the Ravens’ offensive snaps, forcing an aging Mark Andrews and a weaker supporting cast to beat you through the air certainly isn’t a bad game plan.
All things considered, we saw Indianapolis’ attack work as a juggernaut for the majority of Jones’ healthy weeks last season and Baltimore’s should be good as long as the trio of Jackson, Henry and Flowers are on the field. It’s tough to see this as anything other than a high-scoring game, so the over on 47.5 points feels like the correct call.
