Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens 8:20 ET
Second place in the AFC North will be on the line at M&T Bank Field on Sunday afternoon when the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4, 3-7 ATS) visit the Baltimore Ravens (5-5, 6-4 ATS). Both teams suffered bad losses last week, as Baltimore is coming off of a 17-15 defeat at the hands of the perfect Indianapolis Colts, while the Steelers lost a painful 27-24 decision at Kansas City.
Team records:
Pittsburgh: 6-4 SU, 3-7 ATS
Baltimore: 5-5 SU, 6-4 ATS
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The loser of this game will be in a load of trouble in the AFC playoff picture, especially with teams like Miami and Jacksonville playing such strong ball at this point.
This will be the first of two meetings between these divisional rivals this season. Pittsburgh swept the season series last year both SU and ATS, winning 23-14 at home and 13-9 in Baltimore. Bookmaker.com customers can sink their teeth into an NFL gambling line of Baltimore (-2) and a ‘total’ of 42 right now!
Things are starting to get hairy for the defending champs. Back-to-back losses have dropped them into the midst of a dogfight for the Wild Card berths in the conference, and if not for a Cincinnati trip against Oakland, their chances of winning the division would be slim to none. SS Troy Polamalu is going to be sidelined for at least another month, and Sunday’s loss proved to be an even more painful one. QB Ben Roethlisberger suffered concussion-like syndromes in overtime at Arrowhead Stadium, but he wasn’t the only quarterback to get knocked around. Backup QB Charlie Batch suffered a wrist injury, and he is out for the remainder of the season.
All of a sudden, a one-time project draft pick, QB Dennis Dixon, may be thrust into the action. The former University of Oregon standout has only thrown one pass in his career, a three yard completion. Should he have to go on Sunday, plenty of pressure will be thrown onto the young RB Rashard Mendenhall, who has run for 799 yards over the L/8 games since taking over the starting job from RB Willie Parker.
The Ravens are a team of “Yeah, but” this season. The schedule has been difficult, but a 5-5 record just isn’t going to cut it. After starting the year at 3-0 both SU and ATS, Baltimore bettors have had a heck of a time just trying to make ends meet. The offense was on fire the first seven games of the season, averaging 28.4 points per game, but since then, it has only scored a total of 38 points in three NFL betting outings.
The defense has finally stepped it up, but the unit’s 10.3 points per game allowed since the bye week has only yielded a .500 record.
The Steelers are only 3-8 ATS in their L/11 games overall and are 2-8 ATS in their L/10 games played in Week 12. Meanwhile, Baltimore is 10-4 ATS in its L/14 home games and 17-7 ATS in its L/24 games overall. Even though Pittsburgh went 2-0 ATS last year, Baltimore holds a 6-3 ATS advantage over the Steelers since the 2005 campaign.
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