NFL Betting Preview: Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers

Added on Sep 29, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

NFL betting on Sunday features a big AFC North battle between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore is 2-1 and will be looking to put the first entry into the loss column of the 3-0 Steelers. Pittsburgh has won three straight at home in the series and four of the last five overall.

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers
October 3, 2010–10:00 AM Pacific

Considering the endless headaches the Pittsburgh Steelers have had at the quarterback position during Ben Roethlisberger’s suspension to start the year they have to be pretty happy with themselves. The goal was to go .500 while ‘Big Ben’ was on the sideline and despite a spate of injuries that’s resulted in 35 year old Charlie Batch being pressed into duty as the starting quarterback they’ve outdone that and can do no worse than 3-1 in their first four games. For that reason, they may not quite have the intensity they usually bring into their matchups against the Ravens. Batch was able to pick apart a young Tampa Bay defense, but its hard to see him having the same success against a tough, veteran Ravens stop unit. Baltimore has allowed only one rushing touchdown this season, and don’t forget that prior to their dismantling of Tampa Bay the Steelers hadn’t scored a touchdown from scrimmage in two games.

A couple of interesting situational records at play in this game. The Steelers are 0-3 ATS in their last three spots as home favorites of 3 or less, while Baltimore is 6-2 SU/7-1 ATS in the corresponding role as a road dog in this price range. With a 3-0 start to the season in the bag and a bye week followed by Roethlisberger’s return on deck this is an almost certain flat spot for Pittsburgh against a Ravens team that will gladly take advantage of their lack of intensity and make sure that the AFC North race is nice and tight when ‘Big Ben’ returns to action.

Bet Baltimore Ravens +1′ over Pittsburgh Steelers