Baltimore Ravens at Tennessee Titans Line
The Baltimore Ravens wasted no time sending a message to the reigning AFC champs. They crushed division rival Pittsburgh 35-7 Sunday. Now, they’re hoping to avoid a letdown when they hit the road to take on the Tennessee Titans in Week 2.
Odds makers have listed the Ravens as a six-point favorite with the total set at 37.5.
While Baltimore is looking to build on a dominant performance, the Titans are hoping to find the win column for just the second time in 11 games. They ended last season 1-8 and lost to division rival Jacksonville 16-14 Sunday.
In order to get off the snide, Tennessee must be able to slow down Baltimore’s running attack. Led by running back Ray Rice, the Ravens netted 170 yards on the ground against a Pittsburgh defense that ranked No. 1 in the NFL last season with only 62.8 rushing yards allowed per game.
Rice had 107 rushing yards and a score.
Tennessee had trouble stuffing the run in its opener as Maurice Jones-Drew and the Jags racked up 163 rushing yards.
Jacksonville’s strong running attack allowed it to nearly double Tennessee’s time of possession. It’s tough to win when you don’t have the ball.
The Titans only committed one turnover in Week 1, but you can bet they’ll place an emphasis on ball security this week. That’s because Baltimore forced seven turnovers against the Steelers. The Ravens picked off Ben Roethlisberger three times and recovered each of the four fumbles they forced.
Tennessee won’t win very many games this season if it doesn’t get more production from running back Chris Johnson, who was just paid handsomely by the Titans following a lengthy holdout.
Johnson only got nine carries last week and was held to 24 yards.
The Titans must get him more involved this week to have a chance.
The Tennessee Titans franchise has lost seven of its 10 all-time matchups with the Ravens, but the series has been extremely close lately. The teams have split the last six meetings, and five of those games were decided by three points or less.
They last met in the playoffs on Jan. 10, 2009. Baltimore won that game 13-10 at Tennessee.
The Ravens are only 1-4 against the spread in the last five meetings but 7-2 against the number in the last nine meetings at Tennessee.
The Ravens rolled last week, but the numbers suggest it wouldn’t be wise to bet them blindly. Consider that Baltimore is 3-9 against the spread in its last 12 road games as a favorite of 3.5 to 10.0 points and 0-4-1 against the number in its last five games following a win of more than 14 points.
The Titans are 8-2 against the spread in their last 10 games as a home underdog and 4-0 against the spread in their last four games as a home underdog of 3.5 to 10.0 points.
As far as the total is concerned, the under has been the play. In fact, these two have combined to finish under the number in six of the last eight meetings with one push.
Jimmy Boyd’s expert NFL plays went 3-0 on the first Sunday of the NFL season. Make sure you’re playing who he’s playing this week for another winning day in the NFL.
