Once again the Baltimore Ravens find themselves double-digit home favorites as they square off against the Cincinnati Bengals in the final week of regular season play. While the Ravens are 2-0 straight up in that role for the 2017 season, they are just 1-1 against the spread. The Bengals haven’t been a 7.5 to 10-point underdog on the road in over three years, so they are finding themselves in foreign territory in more ways than one here in Week 17.
Baltimore is 4-1 ATS this season and 12-4 ATS in their last 12 games against division foes. In the host role, they have won 14 of the last 21 games, going 12-8-2 ATS in the process, while the underdog has cashed in four of the last five against the Ravens. Will the Bengals keep this one close enough to pay off for those that bet accordingly?
There are all kinds of rumors swirling about what will happen with this Bengals teams in terms of the coaching staff after this season ends, but they can’t worry about that right now, they just need to worry about trying to pull the big upset in this game. Coming into the last game the Bengals had looked like they had quit, but they played really well in the last game, and ruined the Lions playoff hopes.
The offense played well and the defense stepped up in key times, and that led to a 26-17 victory. For the Bengals one of their biggest struggles all year has been the play of the offense. Coming into this game they are only averaging 17.3 points per game and averaging around 275 yards per game, which isn’t enough to win many games.
In this game the offense is going to need to be better. In the first game the defense played well for the most part, but the offense could only put up ten points and that led to the struggles. One thing to watch in this game is if Joe Mixon is going to play in this game. He missed the last game with an ankle injury and is officially questionable for this game. If he is able to go that would be a boost to the offense.
On the other side of this match up is the Baltimore Ravens who have a pretty simple formula to get into the playoffs. If they win this game they are in the playoffs, and if they lose this game they could still make it, but they would need some help. For the Ravens they have been the beneficiary of playing weak schedule down the stretch of the season. They have won the last two games over the Colts and Browns, two of the worst teams in the NFL.
Even though they won those games, they weren’t impressive in any of those games, and are going to need to play better in this game, and in the playoffs if they are able to make it.
For the Ravens they have been been a much better team on the offensive side of the ball. Coming into this game they are averaging 24.5 points per game. To win this game they need to try and run up the score early and try to get this game to be a high scoring affair. If they can do that they should be successful in this game.
Writer’s Prediction
The Ravens will be successful with running up the score and that will be the difference in this game. I think they will have no issues in this game on the offensive end and that will lead to a win and a cover of the spread. Pick: Ravens (-10.0)
