Houston @ Baltimore preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 21, 2014 ) Baltimore 13, Houston 25

Entering the weekend in possession of the final playoff slot in the AFC, the Baltimore Ravens will face one of the teams trying to overtake them when they host the Houston Texans on Monday night. Baltimore moved back to the .500 mark last week with a 23-0 win at Green Bay, becoming the first team since 2003 to register three shutouts in a season.

"Defense, obviously, was off the charts," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said after his team forced five turnovers and registered six sacks. "That's about as good as you can play on defense." Baltimore has won nine straight prime-time games -- the longest active streak in the NFL -- and is 11-1 under the lights since Harbaugh took over the coaching reins. Much-maligned Texans quarterback Tom Savage, benched after Week 1 before replacing an injured Deshaun Watson prior to Week 9, earned his first victory of the season in last week's 31-21 win over Arizona. “It’s all about mental toughness out there,” Savage said. "As a quarterback, your team needs you out there to be the leader, so I am going to just go out there and keep slinging it and play confident."

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN. LINE: Ravens -7. O/U: 38

ABOUT THE TEXANS (4-6): Savage is coming off his best outing of the season, throwing for 230 yards and a pair of scores against Arizona, but he also has committed six turnovers in the past two games. Rookie D'Onta Foreman rushed for a season-high 65 yards and two TDs before suffering a season-ending torn left Achilles last week, but Lamar Miller is a dual threat who has scored three times over the past four games and leads the team with 604 yards on the ground. DeAndre Hopkins is having a strong bounce-back campaign with 62 receptions and an NFL-best nine touchdowns through 10 games. Houston is vulnerable through the air, ranking 26th at 252.8 yards per game allowed.

ABOUT THE RAVENS (5-5): Baltimore managed only 219 yards of total offense in blanking Green Bay and features the league's worst passing attack with an average of 165.2 yards per game. Quarterback Joe Flacco has thrown more interceptions (11) than touchdown passes (nine), and the lack of explosiveness is reflected in the fact that running back Javorius Allen and veteran tight end Ben Watson are 1-2 on the team in receptions. Running back Alex Collins went over 100 yards in a 40-0 rout of Miami on Oct. 26 but has been limited to 49 yards or fewer in three of the past four games. The Ravens are yielding 17.1 points per game and have posted a league-high 16 interceptions.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Baltimore has won all four meetings at M&T Bank Stadium.

2. Texans DE Jadeveon Clowney has eight sacks in his last eight games.

3. Ravens LB Matthew Judon had two sacks and a forced fumble last week, earning AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors.

PREDICTION: Ravens 23, Texans 16