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Sportsbook.com members are almost split down the middle regarding Saturday's highly anticipated matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans. In other words, the betting action is nearly 50/50.
Friday's numbers showed a slight preference to the Ravens as three-point road underdogs, after Baltimore went to Miami and won easily last Sunday. Trends heading into game day show 54% of the action siding with the Ravens while bettors are also split on the Total with 53% backing the Under 34.5.
It's easy to see why bettors are so evenly split on this game. With two dominating defenses and two offenses that rely on running back by committee, these two teams are evenly matched and play similar styles. Plus, since 2002, four of the last five meetings between these two teams have been decided by three points or less, including a 13-10 Tennessee victory in Baltimore back in October.
In that October game, Baltimore completely shut down the Tennessee rushing attack of Chris Johnson and LenDale White. The duo that led the league's seventh-ranked rushing attack with an average of 137.4 rushing yards per game, managed just 47 yards on the ground against the fierce Ravens ‘D'.
Baltimore also shut down the passing attack, allowing Kerry Collins to throw for just 163 yards while picking him off twice. The biggest turning point though was the two interceptions of Ravens' rookie quarterback Joe Flacco.
Starting in just his fourth NFL game, Flacco was intercepted twice in Ravens' territory, the second interception coming late in the game as Baltimore had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead. The following week, Flacco threw three interceptions against Indianapolis but the rookie has thrown just five INTs in the 12 games since, including none in last week's playoff game in Miami.
Baltimore bettors no doubt love the fact that the Ravens boast the second-best defense in the NFL, allowing just 261.1 yards per game, and that they actually out-gained the Titans by 75 offensive yards in the meeting earlier this year, but Tennessee has a quality defense too.
Dominating the NFL early in the season, Tennessee's defense cooled slightly down the stretch and finished seventh in the league with an average of 293.6 yards against each game.
The Titans did give up 132 yards on the ground to the Ravens in the last meeting but held Flacco to just 153 yards and did pick him off twice.
Flacco has improved since then but had some playoff jitters last week against Miami, completing just nine of 23 passes for 135 yards. It was the first time all season that Flacco had completed less than 10 passes in a game.
He'll need to be better for the Ravens to win this weekend because running backs Willis McGahee and Le'Ron McClain will likely find that yards on the ground are hard to come by against a Tennessee team that had several weeks to rest and prepare for this game.
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Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
