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Week 14 will actually end tonight with the Ravens and Browns matching up in an AFC North battle. The Browns have won four in a row and sit at 9-3 while the Ravens righted the ship last Thursday night when they beat the Cowboys to go 7-5. The Steelers, despite their recent trouble, still sit at 11-2 atop the division.
The Browns went on the attack last week as they swamped the Tennessee Titans early and then held on for a 41-35 win. It was a good win, as the Titans are likely playoff bound, while the Ravens recently hit a tough patch of three straight losses, which weren’t helped by multiple starters missing due to Covid-19. A 34-17 win over the Cowboys might not be a a big win in terms of opponent, but it stopped the bleeding.
Now the Ravens are mostly back to a full complement of players as they take on a Browns team they smashed in Week 1, 38-6, but one that has obviously improved. Both teams have a good chance of making the playoffs, but the winner of this game gets their chances bumped in a big way. That means this game should have the feel of a division rivalry with playoff hopes on the line.
With that being said, where are the bettors placing their money to begin Week 14? Let’s discuss it below! All the odds and info are provided by DraftKings Sportsbook.
Point Spread
The Ravens are favored by 3 points heading into this Monday Night Football matchup. The public doesn’t like that line for the Ravens though, as they are siding with the Browns with 60 percent of the handle and 57 percent of the actual bets favor the Browns.
Is the public right?
No. The public is riding the Baker Mayfield wave and right now it is peaking after a huge performance against the Titans. Mayfield has improved this season and has shown he can put up points with the best of them, but he’s yet to show consistency.
The public is also down on Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, as neither haven’t dominated like they did last season. Some of that is teams handling Lamar Jackson better, some is just regression from peak efficiency and some is just Covid-19 taking out key players and messing with practices and schedules.
The Ravens are still a stacked team defensively and will finally be healthy again on offense while the Browns are coming off a big win against the AFC South leading Titans. This game should be a good one, especially compared to their first meeting, but the Browns still have work to do if they want to take the Ravens down.
Over/Under
The point total for this Monday night contest is set at 45.5. As of now, 66% of the bets are siding with the over, along with 76% of the handle.
Is the public right?
The Browns are coming off an offensive explosion of 41 points against a bad Titans defense and a big chunk of their games have also been in awful weather. When they’ve had good conditions, they’ve put up solid points. Of course, the Steelers, Raiders and Ravens held them to seven, six and six points. We’ve seen a mixed bag with big points against weak defenses and vice versa.
The Ravens have continued to put up good points, but nothing like their amazing numbers last season. Right now they set at 12th in the NFL with 26.3 points per game while the Browns are 14th at 25.5 points per game. As far as points allowed, the Ravens rank fourth at 19.2 points per game allowed while the Browns are 24th at 26.8 points allowed.
With the Browns offense playing well and the Ravens getting healthy, I think we can feel good about the over, as I don’t see the Ravens completely shutting down the Browns like they did in their first matchup.
Moneyline
The Ravens have moneyline odds of -175, with the Browns’ odds coming in at +155. Of the moneyline bets placed for this game, Cleveland is seeing 68 percent of the bets and 66 percent of the handle.
Is the public right?
The odds here make the Browns money wager much more enticing and we’ve seen the Browns come up with more wins than the Ravens this season. This isn’t a cut and dry easy Ravens win on paper, but I am leaning that way and wouldn’t want to bet on the Browns straight up. That being said, the line is good enough to contemplate a Browns pick, but I’d probably want to see better odds to make the plunge.
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