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There wasn't much room for variances in the Baltimore Ravens vs. Tennessee Titans odds heading into Saturday's 4:30 pm EST game.
"Everyone has this at Tennessee -3 since the line opened," commented Don Shapiro, sports writer for the Gambling911.com website.
Tennessee begins its playoff run Saturday in Nashville with a divisional-round game against Baltimore, as another chapter is written in the teams' heated rivalry.
The top-seeded Titans start what they hope will be a journey to the Super Bowl after finishing the regular season 13-3 to clinch home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. However, that spot hasn't been favorable to Tennessee in the past. In 2000, after a 13-3 season, the Titans also were the top seed but lost to the Ravens. Baltimore eventually went on to beat the New York Giants.
The Titans exacted some revenge three years later as a wild-card team, beating the AFC North champion Ravens in the first round.
Both teams were eager to distance themselves from those matchups.
"There's been some great matchups," Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher said. "It's a great rivalry, but those things that took place in the past are really not going to have any impact on what's going to happen."
The Titans and Ravens have two of the best defenses in the NFL. Tennessee had the second-ranked scoring defense, allowing 14.6 points per game, while Baltimore had the third-ranked, giving up 15.2. Baltimore was second in total yards allowed (261.1 per game), and Tennessee was seventh (293.6 per game).
While Tennessee leads this series over the last 5 games 3-2, the record actually favors Baltimore coming into this game. That's because the Titans have only beaten Baltimore by the current 3 point spread 4 of those 5 times. Two of the Ravens losses came by a single point while Baltimore had won the 4 games prior to this stretch.
The trends give little edge to either team. Baltimore is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 vs. the AFC, 14-3 ATS in their last 17 games on grass (in the first half on grass they were 12-2 this season) and 9-2 ATS in their last 11 games following a Straight Up win. Tennessee is 14-4-1 ATS in their last 19 games as a home favorite of 0.5 to 3.0 and 7-0 ATS in their last 7 games following an ATS loss.
Gambling911.com likes Baltimore to cover the first half as a +1 underdog and to cover the game as a +3 underdog.
You can bet this game at betED.com where you receive a 50 percent cash bonus if your first bet is a win.
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
