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Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Picks

Written September 29, 2008 by Brad Marchetti

When two teams with good defenses hate each other like in Monday night’s game between Baltimore Ravens vs Pittsburgh Steelers, you generally get a good football game. The Ravens are on the rise with the team playing excellent football under rookie coach John Harbaugh. The Ravens have the #1 defense in the NFL with the knack for making big plays. Pittsburgh will need to protect QB Ben Roethlisberger against the Ravens, or else Pitt will have a hard time moving the ball. The NFL betting odds on the Baltimore Ravens vs Pittsburgh Steelers game is Pittsburgh -5.

Baltimore rookie QB Joe Flacco has done a fine job of making the giant leap from the Football Championship Subdivision to the NFL. Flacco (55-mph pass speed equivalent to a 95-mph fastball) has led the Baltimore offense to 45 points of production that has led to a surprising 2-0 start. This week, Flacco will face a much stiffer defense in Pittsburgh, than he faced in his first two games against Cincinnati and Cleveland. Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau is a master blitzer that will try and confuse the rookie Flacco. Baltimore RB Willis McGahee is still not 100% healthy but he will be facing a Steelers defense that will be missing NT Casey Hampton. Hampton (6′1″ 325) is one of the best in the NFL, and his loss will be felt on defense. When McGahee has been on the sidelines, FB Le’Ron McClain (6′0″ 260 Lb.) has been destroying defenders for 4.8 yards per carry. The key for the Steelers will be to slow the Ravens run game, and put the game in the hands of Baltimore’s rookie QB Flacco. The Ravens don’t have many deep threats at wideout but, the Steelers starting CB DeShea Townsend is battling a heel injury that could soften coverage. The Steelers have played very opportunistic defense with 6 INT’s.

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The Steelers offensive production has been poor, ranking 29th in total yards after a misleading 38-17 blowout win in the opener against Houston. Things are not looking good for this game with Pittsburgh’s running game without starting RB Willie Parker. Parker’s replacement, rookie Rashard Mendenhall (4.45 40-speed) will be met by an intimidating Ravens run defense that is ranked 2nd in the NFL. The Ravens run defense will be weakened in this game with the secondary banged up. The Ravens have one of the best linebacking crews in the NFL and they will need to pick up the slack for the secondary. The poor Steelers offense can be attributed to a struggling O-line. The Steelers are now suffering for not acquiring an impact O-lineman in the off-season. Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger is one of the better QB’s in the NFL but he is battling a hand injury and he will need time to throw. The Ravens impact DT Kelly Gregg is battling a knee injury and starting safety Dawan Landry is expected to be out. The Steelers have strong overall special teams with Kicker Jeff Reed being a weapon. The NFL betting odds OVERUNDER is at 33.5 points for the Baltimore Ravens vs Pittsburgh Steelers game.

This game will be a brawl with the team committing the less turnovers getting about an 80% chance of victory. A lot of this game will depend on how well the teams run the ball. The team that can move the ball on the ground more effective will have the upper hand.

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