Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots Odds
The Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots will face off Sunday at Gillette Stadium with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.
Odds makers expect the Patriots to be the team that represents the AFC in Super Bowl XLVI. They are currently listed as a 7.5-point favorite with the total set at 50.5.
New England, the AFC’s top seed, cruised into the conference championship game with a 45-10 victory over the Denver Broncos.
Tom Brady had one of his best games of the season, completing 26 of 34 passes for 363 yards with six touchdowns and one interception. 10 completions, including three touchdowns, went to tight end Rob Gronkowski, who led the team with 145 receiving yards.
Gronkowski wasn’t the only New England tight end to lead the team in an offensive category. Fellow tight end Aaron Hernandez led the team with 61 rushing yards on five carries.
Hernandez is currently considered questionable for Sunday after leaving last week’s divisional game with concussion-like symptoms.
The Ravens looked like they might ride a blowout victory into the conference championship as well when they jumped out to a 17-3 first-quarter lead over the Houston Texans. That was not the case, however, as they scored just three more points the rest of the way and had to hold on for a 20-13 win.
Joe Flacco connected on 14 of 27 pass attempts for 176 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Four passes, including a touchdown, found the hands of Anquan Boldin, who led the team with 73 receiving yards.
Ray Rice led the way on the ground with 60 yards on 21 carries.
The Patriots have won six of seven all-time meetings with the Ravens, including a 23-20 home win in the most recent matchup on Oct. 17, 2010.
New England’s lone loss to Baltimore was a 33-14 defeat at home on Jan. 10, 2010 in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
If you believe in the old saying “defense wins championships”, then you’ll likely side with the Ravens Sunday. After all, they finished the regular season ranked third in both total and scoring defense with 288.9 yards and 16.6 points allowed per game.
Baltimore’s defense has been one of the best in the NFL this season, but it will be asked to slow down a potent New England offense that entered the playoffs ranked second in total offense and third in scoring with 428.2 yards and 32.1 points per game.
The Patriots are 4-2-1 against the spread in their seven matchups in this series, but they are only 1-6 against the spread in their last seven playoff games.
As far as the total is concerned, the Patriots have been an overs machine. They have finished over the number in 22 of their last 28 games. The over is also 4-1 in the Ravens’ last five road games.
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