49ers vs Ravens Picks, Preview & Odds: 63% of Money is on San Francisco as Dogs
- 63% of the money is on the San Francisco 49ers as 6-point underdogs versus the Baltimore Ravens
- Both teams are either favored (Baltimore) or co-favored (San Francisco) to win their respective conferences
- The Ravens have won seven in a row, averaging 35.9 points per game in that span – read below for our betting prediction
The San Francisco 49ers will visit the Baltimore Ravens in one of the marquee matchups of Week 13. The 49ers are 10-1 and have the best record in the NFC while the Ravens have won seven in a row and are the hottest team in the AFC. According to some books, 63% of the money bet on this game is on San Francisco as underdogs, while 59% of the tickets are on Baltimore. Who is the right side to bet here?
49ers vs Ravens Betting Handle & Odds
| Team | Spread | Betting Handle |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco 49ers | +6.0 (-114) | 63.0% |
| Baltimore Ravens | -6.0 (-106) | 37.0% |
Odds taken Nov. 30
Ravens Are On A Roll
The Ravens are coming off a dominant performance on Monday Night Football where they went on the road and smoked the Los Angeles Rams 45-6. That’s not an aberration, though, as the Ravens have been playing that well of late. They’ve won seven in a row, winning their last five games by an average of 28.0 points per contest.
However, it’s not just the offense that’s been playing well. The Ravens defense has really picked up the pace as the acquisition of Marcus Peters and the return of Jimmy Smith has made a huge difference in the secondary. The Ravens have yet to lose since Peters came over and are allowing just 12.4 points per game. They were at 23.3 before that.
They’ll face a tough opponent on Sunday but it’s not as if their schedule has been easy. They’ve already defeated the New England Patriots – they’re the only team to beat the Pats – and they’ve topped the Seattle Seahawks and Houston Texans as well.
49ers Coming Off A Big Win
While there were some question marks about the 49ers for a few weeks as they played two close games with the Arizona Cardinals and lost in overtime to the Seattle Seahawks, they got back on track in a huge way on Sunday Night Football. The 49ers throttled the Green Bay Packers 37-8, holding Aaron Rodgers to just 104 passing yards.
SUNDAY NIGHT STATEMENT. pic.twitter.com/IzW8XZi0mB
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) November 25, 2019
Like the Ravens, everything starts with the ground game for the 49ers, albeit both teams have very different styles of running. The 49ers are second in the NFL (to Baltimore), averaging 145.6 rushing yards per game. When that works, it allows Jimmy Garoppolo to be effective off of play-action passes and keep opposing defenses off-balance.
That also allows the 49ers defense to stay fresh, which is again similar to Baltimore. These are the top two teams in terms of time of possession. The 49ers defense has been incredible this season, allowing just 14.8 points per game (second-best in the NFL) and 248.0 yards per game (the fewest in the NFL).
There’s no denying this: the @49ers are great. But Jimmy G? That remains to be seen pic.twitter.com/bk5bGBSeBe
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) November 29, 2019
That sets up an intriguing matchup against the red-hot Ravens offense. We’ll find out if the 49ers can slow an elite quarterback for the second week in a row.
What’s The Best Bet?
What’s interesting to note about the 49ers defense is as good as they’ve been, they’re not great against the run. They are 19th in the NFL in terms of rush defense and give up 4.7 yards per carry, which is the sixth-worst mark. The Cardinals had 135 rushing yards two week ago and 153 in the first meeting. Meanwhile, the Seahawks had 147.
On the other side, Baltimore has the league’s third-best run defense, giving up just 87.7 rushing yards per game. That figures to be a huge factor in this contest.
Beyond that, keep in mind that the 49ers are a West Coast team traveling across the country to play at 1:00 p.m. ET, which is an early start for them. The home-field advantage, time zone and run defenses should be the key factors here. It might seem like a high number but Baltimore is the right side.
For over 15 years, Dave has been working in mainstream media and sports betting. He hosted a station on Sirius Satellite Radio for four years, and is currently a senior writer for AskMen. He's interviewed hundreds of hundreds of high-profile sports stars like Shaquille O'Neal and Floyd Mayweather.
