AFC WILD CARD: Ravens vs Steelers O/U Picks
Rivals of the AFC North meet on Wild Card weekend when the Baltimore Ravens invade Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cappers Picks provides free NFL Football handicapping tips all season long.
The Ravens can say they’re at least “experienced” being in this situation.
NFL Football Odds
Baltimore Ravens (10-6) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5)
Saturday, Jan 3
8:15 PM ET
Heinz Field (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
NBC
NFL Football Betting Lines: Pittsburgh -3
NFL Football O/U: 46.5
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Traveling to Pittsburgh for a playoff game is nothing new to them as this will be the 4th time these two teams have met in post season play.
Baltimore
The Ravens will look to do something they haven’t been able to do in the history of their tenure in the NFL, beat Pittsburgh in the playoffs. The Ravens are 0-3 all time vs the Steelers in playoff scenarios with all three contests coming in Pittsburgh. Baltimore needed a late comeback from QB Joe Flacco against Cleveland in the Ravens final game of the season to ensure them a post season birth. Flacco struggled to produce much offense over the final 3 Ravens games as they scored just 20 points twice, and 13 in the other.
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Baltimore knows one thing for sure, they’ll have to do all their work in the playoffs on the road. As the 6th seed in the AFC, Baltimore will take to the road where they are 4-4 this season. They score 25.8 points away from home, while surrounding 24.1 against.
QB Joe Flacco threw for 3986 yards and 27 touchdowns on the season. While the offense wasn’t throwing up mass amounts of points late in the season, Flacco was doing just enough to get the Ravens wins and into a playoff position. Flacco threw for 5 touchdowns over the last 3 games, seeing the Ravens go 2-1 in those contests.
The main ingredient to success for the Ravens in 2014 was the rush game. After Ray Rice was released, RB Justin Forsett stepped in and filled the role quite well. Forsett ran for 1266 yards and 8 touchdowns.
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The Ravens have not scored over 20 points since their 28-13 victory over Miami back on Dec 7.
Pittsburgh
Unlike Baltimore, Pittsburgh is one of the better scoring offenses in the NFL. Averaging 27.2 points a game, the Steelers led by QB Ben Roethlisberger are the 2nd best passing team in NFL and have scored 27 of more points in 5 of their last 6 games.
Pittsburgh defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in the final game of the regular season to clinch the AFC North title and home field advantage for the Wild Card game.
Throwing for 301.6 yards a game (2nd), Ben Roethlisberger has 32 passing touchdowns on the season.
Adding to his impressive 2014 resume, Roethlisberger has two 6 touchdown games. One of those games came back on November 2nd against Saturday’s foe, the Baltimore Ravens.
A key to watch for is whether or not RB Le’Veon Bell will be available for Saturday’s contest. Bell was injured in the 4th quarter of Pittsburgh’s victory over the Bengals on Sunday. On the season, Bell has 1361 rush yards and 8 touchdowns.
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He has also been a popular target for Roethlisberger out of the backfield as of late.
NFL Football Handicapping Trends:
- Over is 5-2 in Ravens last 7 vs. a team with a winning record.
- Under is 4-0 in Ravens last 4 vs. AFC.
- Over is 5-0 in Steelers last 5 Wildcard games.
- Over is 9-3 in Steelers last 12 home games.
- Over is 11-4-1 in the last 16 meetings in Pittsburgh.
AFC WILD CARD
Even though Baltimore has struggled to produce much offensively lately, you can throw all the regular season stats out the window. Flacco and company will throw everything they have come Saturday and will try to pick apart the Steelers secondary. On the flip side, Roethlisberger has been able to dominate the Ravens lately and Saturday should be no different.
Expect a shootout in the Steel City.
Free 4* AFC Wild Card Pick: Over 46.5
Flacco and Roethlisberger go back and forth in a high scoring battle.
Pittsburgh 38, Baltimore 28
In the end, Pittsburgh will be too much to overcome.
Check out our Updated NFL Football Wildcard Odds.
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