One Huge Play ***Thursday Night Football***

Alright so I woke up and I'm still salty last night over the stupid Cardinals coach not just kicking the two extra points. Cost me about 1700 dollars. What I took from that game is that both defenses are pretty solid, the Cardinals offense is going to be pretty bad until they finally realize they have a star WR on their team and actually look his way. Phillip Rivers is going to throw a lot of INTs this year. Vegas raped last night.

WRITE UP

The Steelers are coming off a close win over the Browns in which they looked spectacular in the first half. Taking a 27-3 lead into half time. The Ravens are coming off a loss to a solid Bengals team in which they couldn't have looked more abysmal in the 1st half. The Steelers defense, in which I've repeatedly said is so overrated, especially with the departure of Ryan Clarke, gave up 24 unanswered points to the lowly Browns offense in the second half & 389 yards for the game. The Browns averaged 6 YPC for the day , most coming from a running back nobody's ever heard of (West). The Ravens offense came alive in the second half & I truly believe the offense will be much better this year with the additions of Steve Smith, Owen Daniels, & the return of Dennis Pita. Flacco didn't really have any weapons last year & it didn't help Ray Rice has his worst season ever. Everybody is overreacting to week 1 here, well the Ravens played a good Bengals team & the Steelers almost coughed up a 24 point lead to the lowly Browns. A little public overrection here. Over 60% of the public is on the Pittsburgh. Not so fast my friend. The Ravens are one of the best home teams in the NFL & won't lose two straight at home. John Harbaugh knows this is a must win game & he will be prepared. He's not going to let Antonio Brown beat them. The Steelers however are coming off a win & won't be as motivated as the Ravens are in this one. The Steelers old secondary will give up big plays to Steve Smith & Torrey Smith from Flacco's cannon of an arm. And the Ravens will get way more pressure on BR than the Browns did last week. The Ravens had 3 sacks on Dalton & only allowed 79 yards on the ground. Take away the bomb to AJ Green & their defense really played well. The Ravens are sick and tired of hearing about the Ray Rice stuff & are ready to come get a win. 27-20 Ravens. Go to the bank with it. Part of me just wants the money line just in case I get sicked like last night, but I have the Ravens winning by at least 3 here. They are the much better team and this is a steal. Go to the bank.

Ravens -2.5

1385 to win 1204.

good write up but steelers +3 is the play!!!

BOL

this shouldn't come down to x's and o's

the intensity level Baltimore is going to rise to should make the difference

Baltimore would have a lot of trouble coming back from back to back home losses

back to back division losses

they know they have to play cincy and pitt on the road

I expect to see some heavy hitting

30-21 baltimore

Steelers have Ravens attention big time .Agree totally with Degen Steelers being picked  sounds more like a fan pick then a handicap pick.

if there were ways to handicap on history or systems then every one would win

if you could go to the team practices you might get some real insight

you can pick apart strategy or injuries,but the coaches always come up with something new,these are pros and most of the time the subs can handle short term assignments

reasoning and logic is in the hands of the beholder

last week consensus picks 60% or above went 3-6

so much for the majority of handicappers

this game the majority is on pittsburg at 60%

Baltimore better not lose this and, go 0-2 at home ,with both losses vs division rivals. These games usually always come down to a field goal. take away the 2 post season match ups and he 1st game of the 2011 season. 11 of the last 12 meetings 3 points or less the other was a 4 point win.

never too late to change your mind. If not you will regret it on Friday morning

You really think the Ravens are going to lose two straight division games at home? You think the Steelers are all high and mighty because they scored 30 points against the lowly Browns at home? They were lucky to even win that game. The Ravens played a very good Bengals squad & could've won the game had Joe Flacco not made some bone-head mistakes in 1st half. Don't overrate the Browns & underrate the Bengals. This is a PERFECT spot for the Ravens and the books are giving away money w/ this line. The line should be 4.5 or 5. That place will be loud on Thursday Night. The Ravens are just looking forward to playing some football. Justin Forsett is actually a quality fantasy starter this week.

Great write up. Agree with you about the overrated pitts D. Despite being a division game I think this sets up well for the over. 

I like Baltimore as well....that's why I took cards ML!!

why do people say the Steelers D is overrated?... who says they are without looking at stats..and from yrs previous?... i haven't heard a single person outside of covers saying that.... this isn't 2009 or the 1970s

First of all what does a couple years back have to do with anything now? The Steelers had a decent defense a couple of years back. They've lost all those good LBs they had (Larry Foote, James Harrison, Lamar Woodley) none of them are there now. And they had Ryan Clarke who was the GENERAL of the defense who is no longer there. Polamalu is a beast but he's a better hitter than coverage guy. He's kinda slow in the secondary. Their secondary has been torched the past couple of seasons. Saw the Lions score 27 in one quarter on them last year. They can't defend the run (6.0 YPC vs Browns, granted Browns have great O-line), and they're very thin on the offensive line. This is a TERRIBLE spot for the Steelers here.

All their LBs are young except for Lawrence Timmons who's declined heavily & they will be good eventually but they're not there yet. Jarvis Jones will be good & Ryan Shazier is a rookie starting his second NFL game. The Ravens game plan on offense will be better. Only way they don't cover is if Flacco completely plays like Brandon Weeden.

I like the Ravens too. Here is my concern. Will the Rice story distract the team from the game?

I like the over gl

Great write up, Degen. BOL

My take is this and of course I am a Ravens fan but also a realist.  Yes Joe made some really bonehead plays last week but lets take just a few of those dropped passes away last week and if they made the FG early.  Different ballgame and result.  These two squads always play a tough game, we all know that.  I think and hope they get their garbage together by Thursday.  Giving the Steelers points here is begging you to take them, looks too easy.  Not so fast.  My heart and money will be on the home team.  I refuse to discuss Ray Rice...it's been and still is being beat to death...let's move forward with #29 Justin Forsett.  I liked watching him last week as he looked like he was trying out for a starting role with this offense.  Good luck!!!

Anyone see the Steelers' D the second half? Well neither did anyone else as they had left the building. Baltimore is the right side.

DegenCurtis21 - I like your write up and I think that you are on to something.  From what I can tell 74% of the public is on Pittsburgh at the moment and the line has either stayed at +2.5 or moved to +3 - which tells me that Vegas is begging the public to take Pittsburgh,  Same sort of line last week with Atlanta and NO - the line sat on +3 for Atlanta and never moved despite the public betting on NO at 75% or more.  Pittsburgh looks like a sucker bet to me 

The history between these two teams says everything all I'm saying is any team between the two getting 3points is going to cover the past 4 match-ups doesn't matter what stadium was decided by 3 or less... Just saying IMO

....Justin Forsett and Steve Smith are the key weapons for Baltimore, with the game plan for Pittsburgh to take away the Torrey Smith deep ball...if anything I'd assume that the -2.5/-3 spread is begging folks to take Baltimore. But then again I know nothing...

Ravens no run game forget about it

Justin Forsett will run for at least 4 YPC on them. He's not that bad & they just run enough to set up the play action for Flacco's bombs. I don't know how you can even say that. They only ran the ball 18 times in the first game which was bad play-calling. And Forsett ran for 70 yards on 11 carries (6.4 per) vs a way better run defense in the Bengals. Expect a lot more balance here. The Steelers secondary is too slow to cover Smith or Smith. You think Ike Taylor is going to stop them? That's funny.

Also, I love that I have it at 2.5. If the line was 3, I would buy it down to 2.5.