Baltimore at Pittsburgh – Ravens Should Fear Steelers

The Baltimore Ravens are trending fast and becoming somewhat of a mass-market team in NFL betting. It’s easy to see why. Not only are they a talented team, with a great coach and a wagon full of talented football players – they also have that “it” factor. They bark loudly, and their bite can be just as fierce.

The Ravens are also very misleading.

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But if you’re a football betting nut, the one thing that scares the hell out of you is their tight point differential. The Ravens may have big names and big talent, but they certainly don’t play up to their potential. That could be dangerous when they play a Pittsburgh Steelers team which won’t be intimidated by them in the slightest.

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers
Ravens +3 (+100)
Steelers -3 (-120)

For all the praise this offense receives, with stars like Ray Rice, Anquan Boldin and Joe Flacco, they only won three games in the regular season by double-digits. Before you get excited, those sports betting victories came against Denver, Miami and Cleveland – three of the worst teams in football.

I bring this up because Baltimore either knowingly or unwittingly puts themselves in dangerous positions, especially in tight numbers to cover. Instead of gunning after the scoreboard and taking risks on the offensive side, they rely too heavily on a grizzled defense to shut down their opposition.

It’s slightly misleading that Baltimore’s four losses were by an average of -4.0 points, because that doesn’t tell the whole story. The defense allowed a blazing comeback by Matt Ryan in a 21-26 defeat against Atlanta. Most notoriously, the Pittsburgh Steelers stormed back in the second matchup between these two teams to win thanks to Flacco coughing up a fumble.

Simply put, the Ravens love to tempt fate by testing the wills of their opponents. It works just as many times as it doesn’t. The lack of creativity on the offensive side of the football slows down their ability to score, and the rushing game is built on edge runs and dump offs which don’t exactly wear down defenses.

Inviting teams into a war of attrition is a daring tactic. The Ravens don’t punch teams in the mouth anymore. They don’t grind defenses down in to dust with a bulldozing rushing game. They don’t generate big plays. And when it comes to the NFL playoffs, they don’t win in Pittsburgh against the Steelers.

Tread lightly before you get lulled in to a false sense of security with Baltimore.