After another collapse in the 4th quarter of this weekend’s match-up with the Giants, the Ravens will be looking to rebound at home against the Cleveland Browns.
The two sides are both in the middle of frustrating stretches. Of course, Baltimore suffered three heartbreakers in their last 5 games, blowing leads they held well into the fourth quarter. On the other hand, Cleveland has lost three straight, most recently getting thoroughly handled by the Bailey Zappe-led New England Patriots.
Going into the match-up, most sportsbooks coming to Maryland have the Ravens favored against their divisional rival.
Ravens vs. Browns Betting Preview
Odds from Caesars Sportsbook
Despite only being separated by a game in the AFC North standings, the Ravens have looked like the better team so far this season. If not for blowing leads to good teams (granted, that’s a big if), then the Ravens could easily be 5-1 and running away with the North.
However, you can’t take the blown leads away and it’s made this mid-season match-up at M&T Bank feel much more critical than it needed to be.
For bettors, the records look similar to how they do in the standings. The Ravens have been 2-3-1 against the spread thus far this season, with the Browns going 2-4. From that perspective, not much separates the two teams.
In the long run, you have to think things will even out and the Ravens will learn to hold onto their leads. With how JK Dobbins and Kenyan Drake have looked in recent weeks, one would think that the improved run game would help solve that issue a bit.
Conversely, the 2-1 start to the season that the Browns enjoyed seems to be a distant memory now. There’s only so much a team can do with Jacoby Brissett at QB and the Browns seem to have reached their limit in that regard.
Their sole wins this season have come against the lowly Panthers and Steelers. They’ve also suffered a few heartbreakers, with 3 of their 4 losses being at 3 points or less. However, even in those close losses, they failed to cover the spread.
Given the talent levels of the two teams, one would expect that the Ravens should have a solid chance of knocking off the Browns by at least a touchdown at home. Still, most of us thought they’d be able to handle the Giants on Sunday, and that didn’t work out in our favor.
Maybe the Ravens can grab and maintain a lead and make this Sunday a bit less stressful for us all. We’ll see this Sunday at 1 pm.
One Response
I said this on birdapp Ravens may be on paper and analytically a top 5 team but they are in “Prove It” phase for me. I’m betting against them for the foreseeable future until they stack 3-4 Wins In a row and look like the team their talent says.
Browns ML&+8