NFC Divisional Playoffs Betting – Ravens Plot Revenge vs. Patriots

Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots (-7, 47.5 o/u)

After pulling a monkey off its back last weekend by defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field, the Baltimore Ravens (10-6, 4-4 away) are looking to exorcise more demons when they take on the New England Patriots (12-4, 7-1 home) at Gillette Stadium.

Even though the Ravens have beaten the Patriots twice at Foxborough since 2000, it was just two years ago that New England snuck out a win and a trip to the Super Bowl over Baltimore.

“I don’t think it really matters,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said. “It’s a new game. Really, the past, the future, it’s just whoever plays best Saturday afternoon is going to be the team that wins the game.”

Not only do the Ravens boast the best road playoff record (10-5, tied with Green Bay), but, according to Harbaugh, they also have the NFL’s best quarterback in Joe Flacco, who last weekend threw for 259 yards and two TDs against Pittsburgh.

“At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter what everybody wants to think,” Flacco said. “It obviously means a lot for a head coach to stand up in front of everybody in the whole world and say those kind of things. Whether it really means anything, I don’t know. But it definitely means a lot to me.”

You better believe Patriots fans will argue that point, though. Tom Brady has 18 playoff victories under his belt and may be the frontrunner for NFL MVP if not for a certain QB in Green Bay.

Coming off a bye week, Brady hopes his team will be ready.

“We’ve put ourselves in a good position,” Brady said. “We’ve just got to take advantage of it.”

Look for Brady and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to have the offense, which averaged 29.3 PPG this season, prepared to face the familiar Ravens.

“There’s experience against this team,” McDaniels said. “We know a lot of their players and some of their schemes, but I think each time we’ve played them our team has been different, their team has been different.”

Last weekend, the Ravens held the potent Steelers’ offense to just 15 points. Pittsburgh’s special teams added two more with a late safety to make the final 30-17, but the Ravens still covered as three-point dogs. Because of the Ravens’ defense, which is along only 18.9 PPG, the play here is Baltimore and the points (+7).

(Photo credit: Keith Allison (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)