The 2014-2015 NFL Divisional round is upon us. There are eight teams left, and here’s a run down of the games for this weekend, odds courtesy of JustBet. All times Eastern.

Saturday, January 10th

Baltimore at New England (-7, 47.5) 4:35 PM NBC

The New England Patriots will host the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday evening from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. This will be the fourth meeting between these two teams in the past six years. Baltimore has often been a thorn in the side of Patriot quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick, winning 2 out of the last 3 and all of those being in Foxboro. The Patriots earned the AFC number one seed with a 13–3 record. The Ravens defeated there AFC North rival Pittsburgh last weekend 30-17.

Carolina at Seattle (-10.5, 39.5) 8:15 PM FOX

The Carolina Panthers travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. These two teams have met three times since 2012 with Seattle winning all three match ups by an average of 4.2 points per game. Seattle’s defense has definitely has definitely has definitely come on strong towards the end of the season. Carolina’s defense has also done the same, allowing less then 300 yards of total offense and only one of their previous six games. The Panthers advanced to Saturdays divisional playoff defeating Arizona 27–16.

Sunday, January 11th

Dallas at Green Bay (-6, 53) 1:00 PM FOX

The Dallas Cowboys take on the Green Bay Packers from Lambeau Field in Green Bay Wisconsin. Dallas definitely had their hands full last weekend coming back from a 14-0 deficit in the first quarter to defeat Detroit 24–20. The game definitely had its fair share of controversial calls, but Dallas’ performance in the second half can’t be ignored, as they outscored the Lions 17–3 in the second half. The cowboys will definitely need their top defensive performance of the season, as Green Bay lead the league in scoring the season, averaging 30.3 points per game. The Packers run defense will definitely be tested, facing what is arguably the leagues best offense of line and top running back DeMarco Murray.

Indianapolis at Denver (-7, 54) 4:15 PM CBS

The last game of the divisional round will feature Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos facing Manning’s former team, the Indianapolis Colts led by none other than Andrew Luck. These two teams met back in week one, with Denver winning 31–24. The Broncos held on for the win despite a late rally in the fourth quarter by the Colts. Indianapolis advanced two Sundays divisional round match up by defeating Cincinnati 26–10. Andrew Luck completed 31 of his 44 pass attempts for 376 yards and 1 touchdown in the victory.

For years and years, the debate has raged about QB Joe Flacco and whether or not he should be considered an elite quarterback or not. He doesn’t have the numbers of a truly elite star, but he has made it here to battle it out on the Super Bowl 47 odds, and this year, he has bested some of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game. Check out some of the Joe Flacco Super Bowl props available at SportBet Sportsbook

Passing Yards Over/Under 235.5: Flacco threw for 240, 331, and 282 in his three respective playoff games, and he did show against some pretty darn good defenses. This time around, he gets a San Francisco ‘D’ that has looked shoddy at times in the second season, but generally has been awesome over the course of the whole year, ranking fourth in the league. This is a big hill to climb for Flacco, and we think that getting +130 on this number of yards seems to be a nice price.

Will Flacco Throw an Interception?: Flacco is playing the best ball of his career, and for all intents and purposes, it has been basically five full games worth of game time since he has thrown a pick. The 49ers haven’t been as ball hawking in the secondary as you might think this year, especially of late. -155 says that Flacco will toss one to a guy wearing the wrong color, but +135 seems to be the better of the options.

Flacco Throws a TD Pass or an INT first?: Again, we question as to whether Flacco really is going to throw a pick or not in this game. He has taken such good care of the football that we think we have to stick with him to toss a touchdown before a pick, though that -210 price is a bit steep for our preference.

Pass Attempts Over/Under 33.5: You have to think that the Ravens are going to play this game from behind at some point, just off of the NFL betting lines, and that would insinuate that Flacco is going to toss it at least 34 times. However, he threw it just 34 times against the Broncos, and there were over five quarters of football played in that game. With OC Jim Caldwell calling the shots, it’ll be more run and less pass in the Super Bowl.

Longest Completion Over/Under 41.5 Yards: We saw the Falcons tear this secondary up for big time passes in the NFC Championship Game, but that just isn’t going to be the case this time around. Flacco does throw some deep balls, but not as often as it seems. Plus, the likelihood that Flacco hits a pass like the one he did to Jacoby Jones that forced the game in Denver to overtime isn’t all that good. This is just too many yards to expect Flacco to uncork one.

TD Passes Over/Under 1.5: The 49ers are tough to throw on, and they’re tough to score on, too. However, the Falcons did the job in the NFC title game, and Flacco has just been absolutely on fire over the course of the last several weeks. It’s only +100 for him to throw more than one TD in this one, and we think that there’s a decent chance of greater than 50/50 that he does find the end zone through the air twice.

Rushing Yards Over/Under 3.5: Over the course of the last two games, Flacco has a total of 19 rushing yards, which sort of insinuates that he is going to get on the go at least a couple of times in this game. However, we’re really not all that sure that he is going to have the ability to do that. Remember that he had a negative number of rushing yards against five of his final six foes in the regular season, and he had -3 yards against the Colts, too.

Scores a Rushing Touchdown?: Let’s be realistic here about Flacco. He isn’t rushing for a touchdown in this game. He did so three times over the course of the season, and that now covers 19 games. However, do some quick math here. Three rushing touchdowns divided by 19 games means that Flacco has found his way into the end zone in one out of 6+ games. That +525 price doesn’t seem so bad when you look at it that way, and it seems better than a -750 price seems.

They didn’t take the easiest road in the world to get here, but the Baltimore Ravens have made it to the Super Bowl for the second time in their franchise’s history. They’ll get a chance to claim their second ever Lombardi Trophy on February 3rd, but they have a long road to climb to be able to get to that point. Check out our Super Bowl keys to the game and what the Ravens needs to do to beat the San Francisco 49ers in New Orleans.

Click Here For The 2013 NFL Playoff Bracket, the 2013 NFL Playoffs Schedule, and all of our NFL Playoff Game Previews

#4 Baltimore Ravens vs. #2 San Francisco 49ers
Superbowl 47 Location: Mercedes Benz Superdome, New Orleans, LA
Superbowl Date/Time: Sunday, February 3rd, 6:30 p.m. (ET)
Superbowl TV Coverage: CBS

Key #1: Joe Flacco has to come up with one more “elite” game
We’ve had this one drilled down our throats for weeks, months… and heck, even years! QB Joe Flacco isn’t an elite quarterback. We know this. All we have to do is look at the way that he stands in the pocket, the way that he ultimately plays under pressure from time to time, and his numbers, and we know that he isn’t the second coming of John Elway or Joe Montana. However, what Flacco is, is a winner. He has brought his team to the playoffs for five straight seasons, has won at least one playoff game for five straight seasons, has made it to the AFC Championship Game three times in the last four years, and now, he has his team just one game away from the Lombardi Trophy. Something different has happened this time around, though. Flacco is actually outplaying some of these truly “elite” quarterbacks. QB Tom Brady looked like a chump in the second half of the AFC Championship Game in comparison to Flacco, while the week before, Flacco was throwing big time passes, while QB Peyton Manning was busy getting picked off in overtime. The former first round pick of the Ravens has thrown for 853 yards and eight TDs over the course of his last games here in the postseason. Sure, some of it was luck, and sure, had that 70-yard floating pass not found its way into the hands of WR Jacoby Jones, we’d probably still be talking about Flacco as the man that has never won the big game in his career. But now, Flacco can say that he is a winner. He has been in the Super Bowl. And with one more game with the stats of an elite quarterback, there might be no way to avoid putting Joe Cool in the same discussion with Brady and Manning.

Key #2: Torrey Smith has to find space deep in the San Fran secondary
The 49ers can be had in their secondary, and we have seen it time and time again over the course of the last few weeks. They allowed WR Julio Jones to catch 11 passes for 182 yards and two TDs against the Atlanta Falcons, and he hasn’t nearly been the only receiver of late to make some big plays happen against these 49ers. Roddy White did it (7 catches, 100 yards). James Jones did it (4 catches, 87 yards, 1 TD). Michael Floyd did it with Brian Hoyer throwing him the football (8 catches, 166 yards, 1 TD). Brandon Lloyd did it, too (10 catches, 190 yards). Four of these five names all share the same thing in common: They aren’t No. 1 receivers on their own teams. In fact, short of the NFC Championship Game, there really aren’t any top targets that have beaten up the Niners. It’s always been the No. 2 or No. 3 guy in the pecking order. Smith is that type of receiver, and he is a man that can get up the field in a hurry. It isn’t a prerequisite for him to score, and he doesn’t even have to have one of these games where he catches 10 passes for 130 yards. Smith just needs to break through the 49ers in the back end a time or two over the course of the game, and the passing game could really open up.

Superbowl 47 Odds at Diamond Sportsbook
Baltimore Ravens +4
San Francisco 49ers -4
Over/Under 48.5
Click Here to Bet Your Ravens vs. Ravens Picks!

Key #3: The offensive line has to keep Aldon Smith out of the backfield
The best games that the 49ers have had this year have seemingly all involved big outings from LB Aldon Smith. The man from Mizzou had 19.5 sacks this year, and in games in which he logged at least one sack, the team allowed 13.1 points per game. In games in which Smith doesn’t get a sack, which now includes five games in a row, the Niners have conceded 24.6 points per game, and they certainly have looked beatable. Of course, we know that there are some fallacies in there, as Smith is getting more attention and room is opening up for some of the other members of the front seven to get to the quarterback. However, this is a real key in this game. When the Ravens were struggling at their worst this year, they were allowing men like DE JJ Watt or DE Von Miller wreak havoc on Flacco and the offense. If the offensive line and the combination of tight ends and FB Vonta Leach can figure out how to put a hat on Smith, it’s going to make life a heck of a lot easier for this offense for the whole game.

Key #4: The defense has to confuse Colin Kaepernick
It is clear that the more time that QB Colin Kaepernick has to throw the ball and get into space, the more likely he is to make the big time play to burn the Baltimore defense. We have seen that time and time again. Teams just underestimate how fast this guy really is, and in the end, he has blown just about every unit he has faced up, especially here in the playoffs. However, Kaepernick isn’t without his struggles, and he has made some young mistakes. There isn’t a defense that has more ornate schemes than this Baltimore ‘D’, especially with two weeks to game plan for the mobile quarterback. Though the Atlanta defense didn’t end up having the most success in the world, it was clear that it had a better chance to get off the field when Kaepernick was in the pocket than when he was out of it, but that doesn’t have to remain the case when push comes to shove. Remember that the pick six that Kaepernick threw against the Green Bay Packers at the outset of that game came while he was on the move, and he made a poor decision. Whatever it takes to make Kaepernick make some of those bad decisions, as rare as they are, is what will be the key factor here for Baltimore defensively.

Key #5: The emotion just can’t run out
If you really look at the talent level that the Ravens have been playing with and playing against over the course of the last several weeks, you have to think that they have just been overmatched. They certainly weren’t a more talented team than either New England or Denver, but they were able to persevere in spite of the fact, largely because of the emotions that are coming from the squad in purple. Oh sure, LB Ray Lewis’ pending retirement is helping the team ride that wave, as is the fact that the team has that “us against the world” mentality to it. However, there is always a danger, especially with the long layoff before this one kicks off, that any team is going to fall flat. The Ravens have to keep this intensity up for the next two weeks, because they are running into a very businesslike team in the 49ers that are going to be in the Bayou for business and business only, not a party. If that intensity isn’t high from the start of practice on Monday through the very last second of the Super Bowl, the Ravens are going to be in some trouble for sure, and they run the risk of getting their doors blown off.

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The New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens are set to continue the 2013 NFL playoffs, and as a part of our analysis of the AFC Championship Game betting lines, we are taking a look at some of the best NFL props on the board for this crucial clash.

Joe Flacco Over/Under 34.5 Pass Attempts: Flacco attempted 523 passes in his first 15 games of the season (we’ll throw out Week 17 when he played just two drives against the Cincinnati Bengals), an average of 34.9 pass attempts per game. Over the course of the last several weeks since Jim Caldwell took over as the team’s offensive coordinator, the run game has been a significantly bigger part of the game. So forget about the fact that Joe Cool put the ball in the air 39 times when these two met the first time, and forget about that average. Instead, look at the fact that Flacco threw the ball 34 times last week against the Denver Broncos… in a game which lasted over five quarters and the team played catch up for a good chunk of the second half. The Baltimore defense is just on the field for too many plays right now, 87 in each of the last two weeks, for Flacco to get to this type of a number of pass attempts. Joe Flacco Under 34.5 Pass Attempts (+100)

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Will Ray Rice Score a Touchdown?: This seems to be an odd line. Rice only at -140 to score a touchdown? That basically insinuates that he is only going to score in nine of the 16 games in the regular season, and about 10 of the 18 that he has played this year including the playoffs. Again, throw out Week 17, and Rice has 10 TDs scored in eight games this year. Still, one of those touchdowns came against these Patriots, and it feels as though the team has to get close enough to the goal line for Rice to get in. Remember that last year, Rice had 15 total touchdowns in his 16 games, and we think that he has a lot better than a 60/40 chance to find pay dirt against a sometimes suspect New England defense. Ray Rice To Score a Touchdown (-140)

Ray Lewis Over/Under 9.5 Tackles: We apologize to the big man out of Miami, but asking for Ray Ray to get to 10 tackles in this game is tough. A lot of the tackles made against the Patriots are done so in open space and are more often done by safeties than anything else. (For that reason, Ed Reed Over 5.5 Tackles is probably a great play.) Yes, Lewis has had 13 and 17 tackles in his two playoff games, and yes, he had at least 10 tackles in four of his six games before getting injured, but a lot of that came against teams that prefer to run the football. This is more of a high octane passing attack that gets the ball out on the edges and doesn’t run the ball inside quite as much. Lewis could ultimately suffer when push comes to shove. Ray Lewis Under 9.5 Tackles (-105)

Tom Brady Rushing Yards Over/Under 1.5: Brady isn’t going to openly run the ball all that much, and he only had 23 rushing attempts all year long. That being said, especially in these short yardage situations when the team is running the hurry up offense, Brady has been known to get up under center and sneak it straight forward. He faked that a couple of times against the Texans last week and get the ball on the edge to his running backs instead, but we know that the option is still there for him to do so. The numbers suggest that Brady will end up with exactly zero yards rushing. We think that he is going to end up with at least a few yards when push comes to shove. Tom Brady Over 1.5 Rushing Yards (-115)

Will Shane Vereen Score a Touchdown?: Let’s be realistic about Vereen here for a second. He only scored four TDs all year long in the regular season. Yes, Brady loves to keep the offense out there in the form that it is in, and yes, Vereen did score three times last week and caught some big time passes out of the backfield, but he still has five games with a touchdown scored out of 14 games including the regular season, and that just isn’t going to cut it with us. Get last week’s game out of your mind and play this one by the numbers. Shane Vereen To Not Score a Touchdown (-135)

Ray Rice (-4.5) Rushing Yards vs. Stevan Ridley: It’s an interesting comparison for sure. Ridley rushed for more yards in the regular season, accounting for 1,263 yards on the ground, and he is the one going against a defense that allows a lot more yards on the ground than the Patriots do. Of course, what we saw last week out of the Texans is that RB Arian Foster was able to move the ball against this unit on the ground when he was given the opportunity to do so, especially as the game wore on. Don’t think that Caldwell wasn’t looking at that and thinking that he had some real opportunities. Ridley isn’t also necessarily the only back that is going to touch the football. Rice will split some with RB Bernard Pierce, but he is still the horse that the team rides upon. Go with Rice here to outdo Ridley with an experience-driven game.

Who Will Score First New England Touchdown?: This is a sneaky one for sure. The team scored 59 touchdowns this year in the regular season, and Brady threw 34 of them, so there is a good chance that it’s going to be a passing score. TE Aaron Hernandez is the receiving favorite at 4 to 1, but there are a lot of other great options as well. But instead, the man that we are going to be keying in on is Brady. Remember how we talked about his rushing yards earlier? Brady had four rushing scores this year, which is only two fewer than WR Wes Welker (who is 9/2) and the same as WR Brandon Lloyd (13 to 2). We know we’re losing more often than not, but it’s still a great play to make on Brady to score first for the Pats more than one out of 15 times. Tom Brady To Score First New England Touchdown (+1500)

The 2013 NFL playoff picks are going to be difficult to make, and in this one, the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots are set to do battle with one another. Check out our Ravens vs. Patriots predictions and the keys to the AFC Championship Game for Baltimore vs. New England.

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#4 Baltimore Ravens @ #2 New England Patriots
Ravens vs. Patriots Location: Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, MA
Ravens vs. Patriots Date/Time: Sunday, January 20th, 6:00 p.m. (ET)
Ravens vs. Patriots On TV: CBS

Key #1: The Ravens need to figure out how to keep from being on the field for 80+ snaps
There are only so many snaps that a defense can be on the field for. The Baltimore defense has been on the field for exactly 87 plays over the course of the last two weeks against the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos. The team only allowed three field goals against the Colts, and though there were 35 points allowed to the Broncos, 14 of those points were allowed on special teams. Conceding 21 points in over five quarters on the road to the No. 1 team in the AFC is nothing to be ashamed of. Though emotion has gotten this team thus far, and LB Ray Lewis has been tremendous in his farewell tour, there is still only so much that can be asked of for a team that allowed 350.8 yards and 21.5 points per game this year. QB Tom Brady is the master of running play after play and taking advantage of a tired defense. He did it all last week against the Houston Texans, and he might be able to take advantage of that against the Ravens as well. New England ran 77 plays when these two teams met the first time. If it does that again, Baltimore is going to be in a heck of a lot of trouble. If the Ravens can get the job done on defense and keep control of the ball on the ground with RB Ray Rice, this could be a very interesting game.

Ravens @ Patriots Odds at Diamond Sportsbook
Baltimore Ravens +9
New England Patriots -9
Over/Under 51
Click Here to Bet Your Ravens vs. Patriots Picks!

Key #2: The Patriots have to get over all of their injuries
Brady might be healthy and ready to get back to the Super Bowl for the second straight year, but he doesn’t quite have the healthiest team in the world around him. TE Rob Gronkowski is out for the rest of the year with his second forearm injury of the campaign, and RB Danny Woodhead might be out of the lineup as well. Granted, last week, we saw RB Shane Vereen step up with three total touchdowns, and RB Stevan Ridley had himself a great game, too. Ridley only had 37 yards on 13 carries when these two teams met the first time around, and both Woodhead, RB Brandon Bolden, and WR Julian Edelman were the three offensive touchdown scorers. Bolden will likely have to suit if Woodhead sits, and Edelman’s season is said and done with. All of a sudden, there is a huge difference from entering last week’s game when the Pats were as healthy as they have been all season long, and now when they have a few vital injuries that could prove to be costly. Just about everyone is going to be on notice this week to get into the lineup for New England, and whomever it is that is out there is going to have to be at his best beat the Ravens.

Key #3: Joe Cool has to stay calm and continue to deliver the big time throws
QB Joe Flacco ended up with a raw deal last year. He is still looked upon as the man that is never going to take his team to a Lombardi Trophy, yet in the AFC Championship Game, he still played his heart out. On a day when RB Ray Rice and RB Ricky Williams combined for just 89 yards on 27 carries without a touchdown, and on a day where the weather was awful and the New England defense was swarming, Joe Cool threw for 306 yards and two TDs against one pick. What’s worse for Flacco is that he delivered the ball right on the money that would have won the game if it weren’t dropped by WR Lee Evans, and it’s anyone’s guess as to whether he would have won the game in overtime had K Billy Cundiff not missed that chip shot of a field goal attempt. Over the course of the last two weeks, Flacco has thrown for 613 yards and five TDs without tossing a pick, and the argument could be made that it is the best stretch of football that he has played in his entire career in the postseason. If that continues, the Ravens will have a shot at winning once again. If it doesn’t continue and Flacco resorts back into the quarterback that is largely known for blowing it when the games count the most, Baltimore has no chance.

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The 2013 NFL playoff picks are going to be difficult to make, and in this one, the Baltimore Ravens and the Denver Broncos are set to do battle with one another. Check out our Ravens vs. Broncos predictions and the keys to the game for Baltimore vs. Denver.

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#4 Baltimore Ravens @ #1 Denver Broncos
Ravens vs. Broncos Location: Sports Authority Field at Mile High, Denver, CO
Ravens vs. Broncos Date/Time: Saturday, January 12th, 4:30 p.m. (ET)
Ravens vs. Broncos On TV: CBS

Key #1: The Ravens need another inspired effort defensively
The statistics on the win against the Indianapolis Colts weren’t the prettiest in the world for the Ravens, but when push came to shove, they got the job done against a very good offensive unit. The Colts did move the ball quite a bit, getting 25 first downs and 419 total yards, but the defense managed 12 pass defenses over the course of the day and picked up three sacks, 2.5 of which came from DT Paul Kruger. LB Ray Lewis, playing in his final home game of his career, had nine tackles and four assists, and he looked like his old self. QB Andrew Luck only completed 51.9 percent of his passes and was picked off once, and a lot of his yards came after the game was a bit out of reach. The Ravens aren’t going to be able to afford allowing over 400 yards to the Broncos if they want to win, but they do need to play with that same sort of intensity, especially when Denver gets down in the red zone if they want to have a chance of pulling off the upset against the top seed in the AFC.

Ravens @ Broncos Odds at Diamond Sportsbook
Baltimore Ravens +9
Denver Broncos -9
Over/Under 45.5
Click Here to Bet Your Ravens vs. Broncos Picks!

Key #2: The General has to continue to command the field
There aren’t many quarterbacks like QB Peyton Manning out there. Manning came back this year after missing the entire 2011 season with a neck injury, and he really is as good as he has ever been. Manning completed a whopping 400 passes and finished with 4,695 yards and 37 TDs against 11 picks. Manning averaged 297.5 passing yards per game over the course of his last 14 games of the season after getting his feet wet with his brand new team. He has posted 13 straight games with at least a 90 quarterback rating and has had nine games in his last 14 with at least three touchdown passes. The bugaboo on Manning though, is that he really hasn’t been able to win the biggest games of his career. Little brother, Eli has one more Super Bowl title than does the elder Manning brother, and little Eli has beaten QB Tom Brady twice, something that has always plagued Peyton. This isn’t the biggest game in the world that Manning has ever played, but it comes against a team that has a defense that really can frustrate him. That being said, in nine games against the Ravens in his career, Manning has averaged 275.2 passing yards per game, has completed 64.7 percent of his passes, and has an 18/5 TD/INT ratio. With a suspect running game, Manning needs to keep that up if he is going to lead his team to the AFC Championship Game.

Key #3: Ray Rice has to hold onto the football
Over the course of his entire 77-game career, RB Ray Rice had only fumbled the ball seven times and lost six of them. He had never had a game with two fumbles ever, but he was stripped twice last week by the Colts, and the team lost both fumbles. Granted, that paved to way to a 100+ yard day for backup RB Bernard Pierce, but this time around, we know that it is going to be Rice that has to be the dynamic one to win this game. The Ravens have run for 396 yards in their last two serious games (forget about a Week 17 loss that meant nothing to the Cincinnati Bengals), but in Week 14, they only ended up with 19 carries for 56 yards as a team against these very same Broncos. Rice had just 38 yards on 12 carries, and he really hasn’t looked totally the same since that point. We’re going to go out on a limb and say that the Ravens need to account for at least 120 yards on the ground to have a chance in this one, and means that Rice has to not only hold onto the football, but continue to rumble through this stout Denver defense to have a chance at the upset.

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Our 2013 NFL playoffs predictions continue on Sunday, January 6th with the Indianapolis Colts vs. Baltimore Ravens. We are set to make our Colts vs. Ravens predictions, tips, and keys to the game for this crucial duel in the first round of the playoffs.

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#5 Indianapolis Colts @ #4 Baltimore Ravens
Colts vs. Ravens Location: M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, MD
Colts vs. Ravens Date/Time: TBD
Colts vs. Ravens On TV: TBD

Key #1: The stage can’t be too big for Andrew Luck
You’re not going to find a rookie quarterback that put up a better year in 2012 than QB Andrew Luck. The highly touted No. 1 pick of last year’s NFL Draft immediately came in as the starter for the Colts, and he is clearly the face of the franchise and looks like a future Hall of Famer. Luck finished the year with 4,374 passing yards, the most ever for a rookie, and he had 23 TDs against 18 INTs. Yes, those 18 picks were clearly far too many, but he has five scores without a pick in his last three games. The problem that Luck has though, is that he really didn’t play well in the biggest games of the year. He hasn’t completed more than 54 percent of his passes in any game that he has played since Week 12, and he tossed three picks in games both against the New England Patriots and the Chicago Bears. The Ravens don’t have the same type of defense that they have had in the past, but they are still going to be revved up for this one and could put a heck of a lot of pressure on the rookie to get the job done, something that is rare at this level.

Colts @ Ravens Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
Indianapolis Colts +6.5
Baltimore Ravens -6.5
Over/Under 46.5
Click Here to Bet Your Colts vs. Ravens Picks!

Key #2: The Baltimore defense has to be fierce
When you look at the stats of the Baltimore defense this year, you have to be underwhelmed to say the least. The team finished by allowing 350.8 yards and 21.5 points per game, and the squad allowed 25.0 points per game against teams that finished .500 or better this year. However, when you really look closer at it, S Bernard Pollard missed three games, LB Ray Lewis missed 10 games, DT Haloti Ngata missed two games, LB Terrell Suggs missed eight games, and LB Jameel McClain missed three games. It’s still early in the week, but as of Sunday night, it seems as though all of these players are going to be able to give it a go in the playoffs. Suggs is the most suspect right now with a bicep injury. It’s not about the yards, or even so much the points as much as it is the fact that the team has to be intimidating. It has always been a nightmare for an offense to go into Baltimore to play a game, especially with men like Lewis and S Ed Reed waiting in the wings to get the crowd and the rest of the defense fired up. When Luck gets under center, Lewis needs to look him square in the face and strike some fear into him and the rest of these young offensive players for the Colts. If that turns out to be the case, everything should be just fine for the Ravens. If Luck and the gang get some confidence right away though, there could be some real problems.

Key #3: Baltimore has to pound the ball on the ground
When the Ravens have been at this best over the years, they have always been able to run the ball in the most crucial of situations. Recently though, they have put more on the back of QB Joe Flacco, and this year, the team actually threw the ball 35.0 times per game, as opposed to the 27.8 rushing attempts per game. That’s why it really didn’t feel like the greatest year in the world for RB Ray Rice, who only finished up the campaign with 1,143 yards and a total of 10 TDs. Whether it be Rice or RB Bernard Pierce, it is clear that the Ravens are going to need their rushing offense to get the job done in this one. The Colts had a rush defense that was absolutely atrocious at times this year, and this has really always been the soft underbelly that this club has brought to the table in the playoffs. Indy’s rush defense ranked 28th in the league this year at 137.5 yards per game allowed, and the team allowed 352 rushing yards against the Kansas City Chiefs just two weeks ago, proving that it is a team that can still be had for sure.

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