The Baltimore Ravens will travel in AFC south divisional play as they face the Cincinnati Bengals in an NFL pro football game on Sunday afternoon. Kick off time from Cincinnati is scheduled for 1PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by CBS.
The point spread opened up in this NFL game with the home team Cincinnati Bengals favored by -2 ½ points with an over under line of 41 points. Early money from the bettors has now moved this line as Cincinnati is still favored by -2 ½ points. The over under line of moved up a ½ point to a current number of 41 ½ points.
These two games opened up the season on Monday Night Football in week one and the Ravens pounded the Bengals 44-13 as a -7 point home betting favorite. The game landed over 42 ½ points. NFL Trend: Cincinnati Bengals 6-1 ATS in their past seven games.
Both teams have clinched a playoff spot. Cincinnati is locked in a sixth seed and Baltimore currently a fourth seed and has an outside shot at three seed. But winning the three seed means the Ravens will have to play a division rival Cincinnati in a playoff game. The Ravens will most likely host the Colts in the AFC Wildcard playoff game. Cincinnati will travel to New England, Denver or Houston in a wildcard playoff next week. Should all three of those teams win next week then the Bengals will visit the Patriots.
The Ravens head to the Bengals in a meaningless game with a record of 10-5 on the season. They are 4-3 on the road. The team broke a three game losing streak last week in a 33-14 home defeat to the New York Giants as a +1 point underdog. The total landed under 47 ½ points. Most playoff teams locked in playoff seed with nothing to play for will often play starters for no more than one half and run vanilla packages. One has to look at backup positions because the second half of games often takes the look of a preseason game. You have to believe the Ravens coaching staff is already putting together a game plan for Indy this week. Tyrod Taylor is the backup for Joe Flacco. In his two years he has seen action in five games and completed 6 of 10 passes for 48 yards with no touchdowns and picks. He had a running style in his Virginia Tech days. The backup for Ray Rice is Bernard Pierce who has a very good 5.2 yards per rush average and ran for 443 yards on the year. Running back Anthony Allen was seldom used this season and has six carries for 81 yards.
Cincinnati will host Baltimore with a mark of 9-6 this year. The club is only 3-4 on their home turf. The team has been hot winners of two straight and six of their past seven games. Last week they clinch their playoff spot as they edge the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road by the score of 13-10 as a +3 points underdog. The backup for Andy Dalton is veteran Bruce Gradkowski. He has several years in the league with Tampa Bay,
