Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens
Sunday, 9/11/11, 1:00 PM EST, TV: CBS
Opening Point Spread: Baltimore -3
Current Betting Line: Baltimore -1.5
Opening Total: 37
Current Total: 36
Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker
The last meeting between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens saw the home team advance en route to an appearance in Super Bowl XLV. While the Steelers were on the winning end of that game before eventually losing the Super Bowl 31-25 to the Green Bay Packers, they have certainly used their home field to their advantage against the Ravens and hope to beat them for an eighth straight time with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger under center.
Baltimore (-1.5, O/U 36) was able to win at Pittsburgh 17-14 in Week 4 of last season, but Roethlisberger missed that game as part of a four-game suspension. The 6-foot-6 signal caller has killed the Ravens during his seven-game winning streak against them, throwing 12 touchdowns and three interceptions.
Roethlisberger’s streak nearly came to an end through the last time he faced Baltimore in the playoffs. The Ravens jumped out to a 21-7 halftime lead and then collapsed, as Roethlisberger threw two third-quarter touchdown passes to even the score. Pittsburgh went on to win that game 31-24 as a 3.5-point favorite and then beat the New York Jets 24-19 the following week to get to their second straight Super Bowl.
Both teams finished with identical 12-4 records a year ago, and each has aspirations to win the AFC North in 2011. The Steelers won the division last year and earned home field with a 5-1 mark in the AFC North, and their lone loss came against Baltimore.
The Ravens will have revenge on their minds and also remember the last time they hosted Pittsburgh. Baltimore QB Joe Flacco was stripped of the ball by Steelers safety Troy Polamalu with a little more than three minutes remaining and saw a 10-6 lead turned into a 13-10 deficit shortly thereafter, which ended up being the final score. That game essentially decided the division title and home field in the postseason.
Flacco has been haunted by Pittsburgh ever since his college days, when he was the backup to Tyler Palko as a sophomore at Pitt before transferring to Delaware. He is 0-6 head-to-head vs. Roethlisberger and has seven touchdowns and eight interceptions in eight career games against the Steelers overall.
However, there will also be some pressure on Ravens running back Ray Rice to perform since he has been shut down by Pittsburgh throughout his three-year career. Rice has averaged just 56.2 rushing yards in five games against the Steelers and will share some of his backfield responsibilities with Ricky Williams this year. The duo will need to figure out a way to penetrate a Pittsburgh defense that limited opponents to an NFL-low 62.8 yards per game last year.
The Steelers are 5-1-1 against the spread in the last seven meetings with Baltimore, going 5-2 straight-up in those games. Surprisingly, seven of Pittsburgh’s last eight games have gone OVER the total, including the preseason. The Steelers closed out last season going 4-1 both SU and ATS with the loss coming against the Packers in the Super Bowl.
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