Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers Betting Preview
Opening Line: Ravens +2.5 / Steelers -2.5 O/U 42
Time: 1 PM EST Sunday December 27. 2009 on CBS
When the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday the defending champions have to win or there is no chance that they can defend their title. Baltimore is in the driver's seat for snagging one of the AFC Wild Card berths, but they have to win this game to stay in control of their destiny. Pittsburgh did recently snap their 5-game losing streak, but things are not well in the Steel City, as making the post season is a major uphill battle.
This season the Steelers are 5-2 at home and 4-10 ATS and the Ravens are 2-4 on the road and 8-5-1 ATS.
In their last game the Steelers beat the Green Bay Packers 37-36 while the Ravens had an easier time crushing the Chicago Bears 31-7.
QB Ben Roethlisberger (3,849 yds 22 TD 11 INT) leads the Steelers and he had a huge game in the win over Green Bay including a TD pass in the last play of the game to seal the victory. One main key to this game is the offensive line of the Steelers. They have to open up holes for the running game and more importantly they have to protect Big Ben and give him time to find his targets of Santonio Holmes (73 rec 1,257 yds 3 TD) and Hines Ward (83 rec 1,069 yds 6 TD). RB Rashard Mendenhall (978 yds 6 TD) has to pick up some yards in this game to take pressure of Big Ben. The Ravens' defense, which ranks 4th is solid against both the pass and the run and they will be more than fired up in this game.
The Ravens are led by QB Joe Flacco (3,345 yds 19 TD 11 INT) and he has a couple of solid targets in Derrick Mason (65 rec 928 yds 7 TD) and RB Ray Rice (73 rec 669 yds 1 TD). Rice is also the leading rusher for the Ravens with 1,128 yds and 7 TD's. If the Steelers' defense, which ranks 6th in the league, can contain Rice they will be in good shape. The Pitt D is awesome against the run, but they are giving up 221.1 passing yards per game. If Flacco has a big game against a struggling Pittsburgh secondary then Roethlisberger will have to light up the scoreboard again just like last week.
The Ravens are 10-5 ATS in their last 15 road games and the total has gone Under in 6 of Baltimore's last 8 games. The Steelers are only 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games and are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games.