It’s a special week for NFL football as the first game of the round starts this Saturday with the Baltimore Ravens vs. Indianapolis Colts. The game couldn’t be more important for the Baltimore Ravens, which are chasing a playoff spot in the tough AFC North division. It doesn’t appear as though they’ll catch the Pittsburgh Steelers for the top position, but the Wild Card spot is up for grabs.
Facing the Ravens this week will be the Colts, which have continued their losing streak, but they have been producing some credible efforts towards the end of the season. It should be a great way to open the all-important festive round and the playoff picture will look much clearer following this week.
Baltimore Ravens Form
The Baltimore Ravens have been an underrated team throughout most of the season, but bettors should start to take notice. Always a proud defensive side, the Ravens have turned on the offensive prowess this season and scoring totals of 23, 23, 44, 38 and 27 in their last five games will take them a long way this season. Defence has long been the winning formula for the Ravens and they’re doing a great job of limiting some good offensive teams to less than 20 points per game.
They currently average 18.3 points on defence, which compared to the 26.3 points per game given up by the Indianapolis Colts. Any time the Ravens score more than they give up is a good season and although quarterback Joe Flacco’s statistics could read better, he’s doing enough to get his team to an 8-6 record.
Flacco has 14 touchdowns, but also 12 intercepts. Most of those intercepts came in handfuls, so bettors should be confident with the experience quarterback. The Ravens are a no-nonsense team. They don’t create headlines with their play, but that’s a good aspect at this time of the season. You don’t want off-the-field distractions and we’re predicting the Ravens to go about their business from here on out.
Indianapolis Colts Form
The Colts are 3-11 on the season and have lost five games on the bounce, but they’re not as bad as the record suggests. There have been positives for the Colts, who were always in a rebuilding phase for the 2017/2018 season. Former New England Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett has been a work in progress, but with 11 touchdowns and seven intercepts, he actually ranks better than Joe Flacco.
Frank Gore has provided them with plenty of work at the running back position, but he needs to be more effective when crossing the white line. Gore has scored only three touchdowns from 220 carries this season and that’s not quite good enough. As a whole the Colts haven’t been too bad statistics wise and they pushed some good teams close in recent rounds. They lost to Pittsburgh by three, Tennessee by four and Buffalo by six in overtime. They likely won’t have many admirers this Saturday and we’d have to agree, but they’re not as bad as their made out to be.
Baltimore Ravens v Indianapolis Colts – Betting Odds and Predicitions
There’s no value in taking the Ravens to win the game outright, which should be the case. Bettors will need to look towards the points spread line which is currently at -13 at Ladbrokes, which should favour the home side. The Ravens have had no problems putting a lot of points on teams this season, teams with much better defence than the Colts and we’re predicting an easy win for the Ravens.
Top Betting Tip Baltimore Ravens v Indianapolis Colts
They were good enough to put 38 points in a losing effort against the Steelers two weeks ago and anything similar to that result should see the Colts winning by at least 20 points this week.