Baltimore Ravens Favored Over Oakland Raiders In Pivotal Season Finale

NFL News - December 28th, 2009 - Written by John

Among all the riff raff leading up to the final week of the 2009 NFL Season, one thing is perfectly clear for the Baltimore Ravens: win and they're in.

Only one other team (New York Jets) has that luxury, although everything could have been taken care of a week ago. That's how the Ravens would prefer it, but are stuck fighting for their lives once again after collapsing last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. They are still atop the other teams in the mix and control their own destiny despite the loss.

And their schedule has given them a pretty good draw to secure the wild card bid. NFL Weekly Betting Trends show Baltimore is favored by ten points, as they travel to the west coast to play the Oakland Raiders this Sunday.

BetUS Sportsbook has the over/under at 38, which means to cover all bases, the Ravens will have to keep the Raiders' offense subdued for most of the game. After last week's loss to the Browns, in which Oakland only managed nine points against the last-ranked defense in the league, it seems plausible.

But the Raiders have been giant killers all season long, winning four times against either playoff locks or hopefuls, which is the most in the NFL.

They beat Philadelphia in Week Six, then cleaned up against Cincinnati and Pittsburgh at the end of November. Two weeks ago, JaMarcus Russell then came off the bench for Charlie Frye and led a comeback 20-19 win on the final drive of the game.

But last week, Frye finally lit up the scoreboard with 333 passing yards, only the second time this season a Raider quarterback eclipsed 300 yards, but lost 23-9 to the Browns.

And so is the enigma of Oakland, and so is the dire need for the Ravens to maintain it's focus. Baltimore had won two-straight before losing to Pittsburgh, and boast one of the league's hottest rushing attacks.

Ray Rice has 394 yards in three games, including a 141-yard day against the Steelers, and is at 1,269 yards and seven scores on the year. The former Doak Walker finalist is the third Baltimore running back to reach 1,000 yards in the last four years.

Derrick Mason finally became the team's first receiver to hit that mark last week, when his 77 yards gave him 1,005 for the year.

Baltimore's struggles have come on the road so far this year, which is a bit unsettling. It is 2-5 as the away team, the same record as Kansas City and Tampa Bay. It's only two road wins have been at San Diego in Week Two and at Cleveland in Week 10.