Ravens Titans Line

Written by Steve Janus

The Baltimore Ravens will look to back up their impressive start to the season when they go on the road to take on the Tennessee Titans in week 2. The Ravens shocked a lot of people by the way they dismantled the Pittsburgh Steelers 35-7 at home. The Titans kept it close against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but would end up losing the game 14-16. The away team has won four of the last five in the series, including the Ravens 13-10 win at Tennessee in 2009.

Taking a look at the week 2 NFL odds, oddsmakers currently have Baltimore favored by 6-points over Tennessee with the total set at 37.5 points.

Baltimore Ravens:

The Ravens got a big day from quarterback Joe Flacco in their win over the Steelers. Flacco completed 17 of 29 for 224 yards and three touchdowns in his first career win against the Steelers when Ben Roethlisberger was starting for Pittsburgh. Star wide out Anquan Boldin had four catches for 74 yards, including a 27 yard touchdown catch on the first drive of the game. Tight end Ed Dickson also had a nice day with five catches for 59 yards and score.

Baltimore got a great game out of running back Ray Rice, who is easily one of the top running backs in the game today. Rice carried it 19 times for 107 yards and a touchdown against the Steelers outstanding run defense, and also caught four passes for 42 yards and score. The Ravens also got 63 rushing yards from Ricky Williams, which really goes to show you just how good their offensive line was playing.

Defensively the Ravens allowed just 312 yards of total offense, but the story of the day was the franchise-record seven turnovers the Ravens forced (3 interceptions and 4 fumbles). That is the reason the Ravens won this game, but it’s nothing you can rely on to happen every week. This is also a crucial let down game, where the Ravens must find the energy to play against a bad Tennessee team after giving it everything they had against the Steelers.

Tennessee Titans:

The Titans nearly pulled out an ugly win to open the season, but instead they have to figure out how they are going to keep it close against the Ravens after what they did to Pittsburgh last week.

Tennessee was able to sign star running back Chris Johnson before the season started, but he really struggled to get going. Johnson finished with just 24 yards on nine carries and really looks like he is behind after missing most of training camp.

With the running game managing just 43 yards for the game, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was asked to carry the offense. Hasselbeck finished 21 of 34 for 263 yards and two touchdowns, but was very fortunate on a tipped pass that ended up in the hands of wide out Kenny Britt, who ran it 80 yards for a score. Britt finished the game with five catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns. Nate Washington added 6 catches for 67 yards and Chris Johnson also caught six passes for 25 yards.

The Titans held the Jaguars to just 160 yards passing, but that really isn’t all that impressive considering Jacksonville had to start Luke McCown after releasing starting quarterback David Garrard. However, they didn’t have as much luck against the run, allowing 163 yards and a touchdown. The entire defense figures to be really put to the test against the Ravens balanced offensive attack.

Betting Trends:

Baltimore is 13-4-2 ATS in their last 19 games after scoring more than 30 points in their previous game and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games as a road favorite.

Tennessee is 17-5 ATS in their last 22 games after scoring less than 15 points in their previous game and 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games as a home underdog.

Steve Janus went 4-2 over Sunday and Monday of week 1. Be sure to stop back and see who he has picked to win in week 2.

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