Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens Betting Preview
Opening Line: Ravens -3
Total Odds: 40
Time: 8:20 PM EST Sunday December 5, 2010 on NBC
First place is at stake in the AFC North this Saturday night when the Ravens (8-3) host the Steelers (8-3). Pittsburgh looks to exact some revenge on Baltimore, who beat them in their house earlier in the season. Both teams have won 2 games in a row and this match up is one between a couple of teams that both rank in the top 10 in defense.
In their last games Pittsburgh needed OT, and a little luck, to beat the Buffalo Bills 19-16 and the Ravens beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17-10.
This season these teams have been decent betting ones, as the Steelers are 6-5 ATS and the Ravens are 5-5-1 ATS. The betting trends point to the Steelers covering in this game, as they are not only 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 games against the Ravens, but the underdog is 5-1-1 ATS in the last 7 games and the road team is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 games.
In the Buffalo win the Steelers were on the brink of losing in OT in their last game, but Bills WR Steve Johnson dropped what would been a game ending TD pass. In that game Pittsburgh RB Rashard Mendenhall rushed for 151 yards with 1 TD and he is the main guy the Ravens have to worry about. Their run defense ranks 11th in the league and last week gave up 101 rushing yards to Tampa Bay. Ben Roethlisberger has played well since coming off suspension and while he is injured he will still play this Sunday. He will be facing a Baltimore pass D that ranks 9th in the league.
The Ravens use a well-balanced attack on offense with the league’s 16th ranked passing offense and 14th ranked rushing offense. While the Pittsburgh defense is the best in the NFL in defending the run their pass defense has struggled ranking 22nd in the league giving up an average of 240.5 passing yards per game. That may not have been an issue in the past few years, but now Baltimore QB Joe Flacco has a solid WR corps with the likes of Anquan Boldin (51 rec 652 6 TD) and Derrick Mason (45 rec 576 yards 4 TD). Ravens’ RB Ray Rice will have a tough time picking up yards against such a great run D, but if can help the offense out a little it will take a lot of pressure off Flacco.
In some other betting trends for this AFC North battle:
Pittsburgh is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games facing a team with a winning record, -1 ATS in their last 8 games as an underdog, and has an Under record of 4-1 in their last 5 games as a road underdog.
Baltimore is 8-3-1 ATS in their last 12 games as a home favorite of 0.5-3 and has an Under record of 5-1 in their last 6 games facing a team with a winning record.
Our Selection : The Steelers were all out to win in Buffalo last week in OT and if not for a Steve Johnson drop in the endzone would have lost this game. Pittsburgh's offensive line had all kinds of problems versus Buffalo's mediocre at best defensive line. This week they will be facing the pressure defense of the Ravens and Big Ben may not be 100% after suffering a foot injury last week.
Take Baltimore -3 5Dimes.com.