Controversy has surrounded the Baltimore Ravens since the off-season began after running back Ray Rice went to court for knocking his then-fiancee unconscious in an elevator at an Atlantic City hotel. He received a two-game suspension from the league, but was cut by Baltimore on Monday and suspended indefinitely by the NFL after a video of the incident surfaced. Pittsburgh knows that there will be added attention on this game, but will stay focused on the task at hand. We like the Steelers tonight.
Pittsburgh has opened the 2014 season with a win over a division opponent and will look to do much of the same against Baltimore on Thursday night. Starting the NFL season with a 2-0 mark is good, but it is even better when those two wins come against division opponents. Pittsburgh needs to play much better on defense after it blew a 24-point lead in week one against Cleveland.
On the other side of the field, the Ravens are in danger of starting 0-2 overall and 0-2 in the AFC North. Their offense was non-existent their week one loss to the Bengals, scoring just 16 points in the defeat. The running game is a major question mark the rest of the season with the release of Rice and it suffered greatly in week one. Baltimore is not looking at this game as a must-win, but many around the league view it as such.
On Thursday night, the media will be swarming M&T Bank Stadium for more than just an AFC North rivalry game. We will place our bet at Bovada.lv, where Pittsburgh is the underdog on the road. We will drop 10 percent of our bankroll on the Steelers and the OVER 44.5 total points scored as they move to 2-0 on the season.
