Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens (-1), Total 36 |
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens split both regular-season meetings a year ago, only to see the Steelers register a 31-24 win as 3.5-point home favorites in the AFC Divisional round.
Both of these teams know what’s at stake when kicking off the 2011 campaign against each other. “I can see why the league scheduled Baltimore-Pittsburgh to kick off the 2011 season,” commented Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward. “That’s all the players have been talking about.”
The Steelers came away with a 13-10 win in Baltimore in 2010, picking up a 3-point road underdog straight-up victory. Pittsburgh held a slight 288-269 yardage advantage in the contest.
Sunday will serve as the 31st regular-season meeting, with Pittsburgh holdings a 18-12 advantage, winning six of the last eight. The Steelers will look to improve upon their 8-7 mark when playing in Baltimore.
NFL betting players will find that the Steelers are 8-8 ATS in road games and the ‘over’ holds a slight 9-7 advantage in those contests.
Baltimore finished last season with a matching 12-4 record of its opponent this week, scoring 357 points and allowing just 270. The Ravens are hoping that fourth-year quarterback Joe Flacco is ready to make the next step against the team’s most fierce rival.
In eight games against the Steelers, Flacco has connected on 53.4 percent of his passes and averaged 193.7 passing yards. He’s also thrown seven touchdowns versus eight interceptions.
It’s imperative that the offensive line step up its play to allow him to survey the field, as the Steelers have recorded 28 sacks in those meetings. Stopping the outside linebackers is the main focus, as they’ve met at the quarterback 12 times.
On the other side of the ball, the Ravens defense is getting up in age, but is stilled revered as one of the top units in the NFL. Linebackers Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs are still two of the more dominant players at their position.
“They spoiled our Super Bowl dreams for two out of three years,” commented Suggs on the Steelers. “We have to switch that. Game one. Let’s go.”
Astute football betting players will find that the Ravens are 4-1 ATS during Week 1 of the season, but will find little edge due to the Steelers being 5-1 ATS when opening a new campaign.
