The AFC North Champions Baltimore Ravens will take any edge they can get when they host the former Baltimore team, the Indianapolis Colts on the field in the AFC Divisional Playoffs at M&T Stadium in Baltimore on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. EST.Indianapolis in the middle of that fateful night in March of 1984 isn’t one of them. If moving on to the AFC Championship game next week isn’t enough incentive to win then nothing is. But the fact that this is a revenge game because of the Baltimore Colts running off to
And the Ravens are supposed to win too. According to oddsmakers at most offshore sportsbooks, the Ravens are favored over the Colts by a -3 ½ point chalk with the total set at 42.
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A win here would give the Ravens their first victory ever over the Colts in postseason play and cut the Colts’ all-time series record to a 4-3 lead. A win would make the Ravens 2-1 in postseason Divisional games, earning their first victory in the round since their win over Tennessee during the 2000 Super Bowl run.
A win for the Colts will give All-Pro quarterback Peyton Manning another shot to win the AFC Championship game next week. Manning, who has been criticized for being unable to win big games as his postseason record is 4-6.
One strategy Ravens coach Brian Billick would like to employ is to keep Manning and his offense off the field. And Billick knows his team must put points on the board too.
“You've got to [have] not only long drives and chew the clock up, but when you get down there you've got to come up with some touchdowns.” Billick said. “We were a little bit of a victim of that last time; I think you saw that with some of the other teams that they've played. First, you've got to get points, period, but you've got to come away with some touchdowns because that offense of theirs is always going to have that specter of, 'Boy, you've got to put some points on the board because we are.”
While the Colts had to battle it out with Kansas City in the Wild-Card game in Indianapolis last week, the Ravens enjoyed a bye-week. Billick hopes his Ravens don’t lose their rhythm attained from their four game winning streak coming out of the regular season.
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“The rhythm of it, the tempo of it changes a little bit.” Billick said. There's always that [argument] whether it's better to have the bye or not. We had that discussion last week. Only a madman would not want the bye, or someone who doesn't have the bye and convinces themselves that that's a good thing. There's some freshness about this team right now; hopefully, we've not lost too much rhythm. Given one week, I am confident that we'll be OK that way."
Baltimore has covered three of its last five games against the spread and the UNDER has cashed in nine of the 16 games the Ravens have played this season.
The Colts struggled covering the line ATS in their last ten games covering only six of those. The UNDER also cashed on the total bet in six of the last ten games the Colts played.
