NFL Playoff Betting Odds: Baltimore Ravens at Kansas City Chiefs

Added on Jan 04, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

The NFL playoffs continue on Sunday as the Baltimore Ravens travel to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the resurgent Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs won the AFC West with a 10-6 record and that alone is an impressive turnaround for a team that went 4-12 last year. They’ll host the game due to their divisional win, but the Ravens have the better record at 12-4.

Baltimore Ravens at Kansas City Chiefs
January 9, 10:00 AM Pacific

We weren’t big on Todd Haley in his first season or two in Kansas City, but we have to give him credit where its due–he’s done a great job in rebuilding the team with an improving defense and a strong power rushing game. GM Scott Pioli has done a great job in stocking the team with young talent and the Chiefs sure look to be a franchise on the rise. Matt Cassel still isn’t the franchise quarterback that KC hoped he’d be, but he’s done well playing within the system and most importantly his minimized mistakes as evidenced by a 27 to 5 TD/INT ratio.

Our gut instinct was to take the improving Chiefs who’ll be playing in front of a rabid crowd as home underdogs. Ultimately, however, we’ve concluded that the right play is to go the other way. We know Baltimore can win playoff games on the road–that was evident last year when they humiliated the New England Patriots on their home field. The Chiefs are heading in the right direction, but our thinking is that they’re not quite ready for this level of challenge. The Ravens play a similar style to the Chiefs, only they do it better and have been doing it longer–Baltimore checks in with the #5 rushing defense in the NFL allowing an average of 93.9 yards per game. They’ve also got the #3 scoring defense in the league allowing only 16.7 yards per game. Joe Flacco won’t make anyone forget Peyton Manning, but he had 25 TD passes this year and is becoming a serviceable NFL quarterback. With all due respect to the improving Kansas City team–who found out this week that OC Charlie Weis will be heading to the University of Florida–we’d rather back the battle tested veteran squad as short priced chalk.

Bet Baltimore Ravens -2′ over Kansas City Chiefs