AFC Wild Card Betting – Can Steelers Maintain Playoff Dominance Over Ravens?

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers (-3, 46.5 o/u)

Despite all of the playoff success enjoyed by the Baltimore Ravens (10-6, 4-4 away) in recent years, the team doesn’t have a winning history in the post-season against its biggest foe, the Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5, 6-2 home). All three times the Ravens and Steelers have met in the postseason, Pittsburgh has come out on top.

“It’s a great challenge,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said of facing Pittsburgh at Heinz Field. “It’s another playoff game there. We’d like to win one, one of these days.”

Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs remains confident in his team’s prowess on the road, despite its middling record. “If you ask me, I think we’re a [heck] of a team on the road. Sometimes, that’s the way you’ve got to go. But everything’s 0-0, all things are new, and we’ve gotten to the second season,” said Suggs.

Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco reminded everyone that all bets are off (so to speak) once the postseason rolls around. “Anything can happen once you get into the playoffs,” Flacco said. “I’m not going to be surprised if, three weeks from now, we’re sitting here and still playing.”

To give themselves a chance this weekend, Baltimore will have to consistently pressure Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. “Big Ben” set career records this year with 32 TDs, a 67.1 completion percentage, and 309.5 passing yards per game.

Roethlisberger attributes his personal success to the team around him, though.

“I think we’re continuing to improve every week, guys are stepping up and making plays,” Roethlisberger said. “We’re getting more contributions from a little bit of everybody.”

Unfortunately for the Steelers, one of their prime contributors, running back Le’Veon Bell, may not be able to suit up against Baltimore. Bell injured his knee last weekend against Cincinnati and, even if he does dress for the game, won’t be at 100%. That said, the running back is feeling better with each passing day.

“I feel really good,” Bell said. “I didn’t expect to be feeling this well this early. But I am, so I’m just going to take it day by day and see where it goes.”

Though the loss of Bell would be huge for Pittsburgh, Baltimore is playing its worst football of the season right now. The team struggled for more than half of its week 17 game against the Cleveland Browns, who had Connor Shaw making his first career start at QB. The week before that, the Ravens lost to the Houston Texans, who had Case Keenum at the helm.

In light of the Ravens’ struggles during crunch time, the smart play is taking the Steelers and laying the points (-3.)

(Photo credit: Austin Kirk (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)