CLICK TO GRAB OUR BEST Expert NFL Picks for 2013 NFL PLAYOFFS Betting!<\/strong><\/a>
\nThe Baltimore Ravens entered the season as one of the favorites in the AFC but pedestrian play, particularly away from home has taken some luster off this team. Baltimore is coming off an impressive performance \u2013 a 24-9 win over Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts in a game in which they allowed zero touchdowns against a very good Colts offense.<\/p>\nThe return of Ray Lewis to the lineup cannot be underestimated \u2013 the Ravens are a different team when Lewis is on the field.<\/p>\n
Baltimore\u2019s offense ended the regular season as the league\u2019s 10 best scoring unit \u2013 24.88 points per game. They had the 15th ranked passing offense and the 11th best rushing attack. But those numbers take a dip when you look at what this offense did on the road in 2012. They were 25th in scoring, 28th in passing with an average of just 179 yards per game and 12th in rushing.<\/p>\n
They will be matched up against a Denver defense that was fifth in points against at home this season, second against the run allowing 80.25 yards per game and 4th versus the pass with an average of 187.75 yards per game surrendered. The Ravens looked decent last week against Indianapolis \u2013 Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce gained 173 yards, Joe Flacco was good as well and Anquan Boldin looked like an All-Pro.<\/p>\n
But that game came on home turf.<\/p>\n
As mentioned, Baltimore\u2019s defense rose to the occasion last week and Ray Lewis was the difference. He led the team in tackles against the Colts and acted as a disrupting figure all game long. Despite last week\u2019s effort, the Ravens were 17th against the pass this season and a troubling 20th versus the run.<\/p>\n
The Denver Broncos have simply been magical the last three months of the season. Nobody could have predicted Peyton Manning\u2019s comeback season leading to Denver claiming the #1 seed in the AFC. 11 straight wins has Denver as the favorite in the AFC and rightfully so \u2013 now they just have to deliver against a team that looked good on both sides of the ball last week. [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n
Peyton Manning and Denver\u2019s offense has been one of the league\u2019s best since their last loss in Week 5. Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker both ended the season with over 1,000 receiving yards, and the team didn\u2019t miss a beat when Willis McGahee went down with an injury.<\/p>\n
The Broncos ended the season as the second best scoring team in the NFL with an average of 30.06 points per game; they were the 5th best passing offense and the leagues\u2019 16th ranked rushing offense. The Broncos are deep, they are talented and most of all they are as confident as any team left in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Defensively Denver has been as good as there is in the NFL \u2013 3rd against both the run and the pass and 4th in points against.<\/p>\n
Vonn Miller, Elvis Dumerville and Champ Bailey have this unit playing standout, cohesive football at the moment \u2013 it is hard to imagine a letdown from this group Saturday!<\/p>\n
Betting Prediction:<\/h3>\n
A few trends to consider:<\/strong><\/p>\n\u2022 The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Baltimore’s last 5 games on the road
\n\u2022 Baltimore is 17-8 SU in its last 25 games
\n\u2022 Baltimore is 6-3 SU in its last 9 games when playing Denver
\n\u2022 The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Baltimore’s last 6 games when playing Denver
\n\u2022 Denver is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
\n\u2022 Denver is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
\n\u2022 Denver is 9-2 SU in its last 11 games when playing at home against Baltimore
\n\u2022 The total has gone OVER in 16 of Denver’s last 23 games at home<\/p>\n
Denver rolled in the December matchup, which wasn\u2019t as close as the 34-17 final suggests. The Broncos led, 31-3, after three quarters; outgained the Ravens, 350-278; won the time of possession battle, 38 minutes to 21; and had 21 first downs to just 12 for Baltimore. During Denver\u2019s 11 game win streak, no team has come within seven points!<\/p>\n
On the road it is hard to trust Joe Flacco \u2013 just ask any Fantasy Football fanatic. If the Ravens get down early it will force them to abandon their biggest threat Ray Rice \u2013 we\u2019ve seen it happen time and time again. With a balanced offensive attack and a typically stellar defensive effort, Denver wins this one easily. 9 1\/2 points may seem a tad high until you take a closer look at the calibre of the Broncos in absolutely every aspect of the game.<\/p>\n
Pick:<\/strong> Denver Broncos -9 1\/2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denver vs Baltimore Betting? Ravens Ride the Ray Lewis Train Into Denver in Divisional Round The Baltimore Ravens will look to keep the role going and win another for their leader Ray Lewis on Saturday when they take on the Denver Broncos, winners of 11 straight games, in the Divisional Round of the AFC playoffs. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[57647,57704,8376,2833,57308,19424,57309,57310,359,19517,36085,463,802,57705,830,856],"class_list":["post-59164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-2013-nfl-playoffs","tag-afc-divisional-playoff-spreads","tag-afc-divisional-round","tag-baltimore","tag-broncos-ravens-line","tag-broncos-vs-ravens","tag-broncos-vs-ravens-odds","tag-broncos-vs-ravens-point-spread","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos-vs-baltimore-ravens","tag-denver-vs-baltimore","tag-free-nfl-picks","tag-nfl-betting","tag-nfl-divisional-playoff-odds","tag-nfl-handicapping","tag-nfl-predictions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59164"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59326,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59164\/revisions\/59326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}