Baltimore Ravens vs. Cincinnati Bengals
Free Pick: Over 44.5 -110 NFL Odds
Sun November 8th 2009 1:00p
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Baltimore started to show an interesting Over/Under pattern last season that has continued this year. At home, their defense played much better than they did on the road. And because of that, the Ravens went 6-2 to the Over on the road in 2008 with an average of 46.1 points scored. In three road games this season, the Ravens beat San Diego 31-26, lost at New England 27-21, and lost at Minnesota 33-31. All three of those games went Over the total easily, and that pushes their Over the total run to 9-2 when playing away from home.

Baltimore’s offense has played well this year; averaging 28 points and 379 yards of offense per game. But in their first meeting with Cincinnati, the Ravens scored just 7 offensive points (scored a defensive TD) while gaining only 257 yards in their 17-14 loss. So today’s game is one in which their offense wants to atone for the weak offensive output against the Bengals last month.

Cincinnati enters this game off their bye week, and home underdogs off a week of rest tend to put more focus on the offensive game plan. And because of that, these home dogs usually come in with something to prove and they always add a wrinkle or two to their offensive game plan which produces more points. So with the Ravens’ overrated defense allowing 26, 27, and 33 points in their road games, the Bengals’ offense should score their share of points today.