Ravens Chiefs Betting – Upstart Chiefs Try To Win As A Home Underdog
The Kansas City Chiefs are clearly the AFC’s most surprising and unexpected playoff team this season. They’ll have their hands full this Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.
NFL Betting: Baltimore Ravens @ Kansas City Chiefs
Online Betting Odds: Ravens -3
Why To Bet On The Ravens
The Ravens are no strangers to winning playoff games on the road, especially wild card games. The Ravens won the AFC’s wild card game last year at the New England Patriots. The year before, they won at the Miami Dolphins in the wild card round and then at the Tennessee Titans in the divisional playoffs. Quarterback Joe Flacco is 2-0 in wild card games and 3-2 in the playoffs. He’s been through these battles and knows what to do.
The Ravens are also a veteran team that’s been through a lot of battles. Ray Lewis and some of the more experienced players on this club were part of the Baltimore team that won Super Bowl XXXV a good 10 years ago against the New York Giants. It’s instructive to note that in that season, the Ravens won two road games – in the divisional round at Tennessee and then in the AFC title game at the Oakland Raiders.
This is a very savvy team, and since the Kansas City Chiefs are clearly the AFC’s least-experienced playoff club, Baltimore’s familiarity with the mid-January spotlight should pay big dividends in this particular contest. It would rate as a significant upset if Kansas City won this game outright.
Why To Bet On The Chiefs
The Chiefs do have the advantage of playing this game at home in Arrowhead Stadium, one of the loudest and most intimidating venues in the NFL. Moreover, since Arrowhead has not hosted a playoff game since 2003, Chiefs fans will be especially full-throated for this game. When you take the crowd into consideration, you must then realize that Joe Flacco – despite the three playoff wins he owns – has been very, very inconsistent for the Ravens over the past two seasons.
The young man who was unflappable as a rookie in the 2008 season has actually regressed since then. Had Flacco not committed a huge turnover late in a December battle with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Ravens would be resting this weekend, gifted with a wild-card bye and the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs. Instead, Baltimore has to slog through Kansas City. Flacco has shown a propensity to commit a defining, game-changing turnover. Kansas City won’t win this game on offense, but it could very well steal this game on defense. That’s how coach Todd Haley’s roster could jump up and surprise some people on the first weekend of the NFL postseason.
How The Game Will Play Out
The Chiefs might have gotten a better draw than they would have gained if they had played the New York Jets in round one. On the other hand, it was and is puzzling that the Chiefs didn’t rest a banged-up Matt Cassel last week in a meaningless game against the Oakland Raiders. Cassel’s health was questionable for a week 16 game against the St. Louis Rams, but he played. In week 17, there was no reason to play him, but he threw 33 passes. There’s a sense that Cassel is not going to be sharp against a ballhawking Ravens defense. Baltimore will get at least three turnovers and win this game by a solid margin of at least 10 points
.Ravens Chiefs Betting Pick: Ravens
