Baltimore Ravens (1-0 1-0 ATS) at Houston Texans (0-1 0-1 ATS)
The Ravens were more than impressive in their season-opening win and head to the Lone Star State to take on a Texans’ team that did not so much against the Super Bowl champ[ions in their opening game. In Week 2 the Ravens are favored by a TD with a total at 52.
The public has been laying money on the Ravens, as the Texans opened as a 6-point dog and are now a 7-point dog as of Wednesday.
The Ravens blew out the Cleveland Browns in Week 1.beating them 38-6 in Week 1 while the Texans lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 34-20 in a game that was not as close as the score indicates.
These teams did not meet last season and Houston will get their first look at reigning MVP Lamar Jackson that has had his issues in the playoffs but tossed three TD in the last game.
One thing the Texans have going for them is that they are facing a Baltimore club that may have not been great in their opener with 377 total yards but forced three turnovers without committing one.
The Texans only had nine fewer overall yards in their loss to the Chiefs but were down 31-13 in the middle of the second quarter.
Jackson is the Man
MVP Jackson passed for 275 yards with three TD and no picks in the opener facing the Browns and also led Baltimore with 45 rushing yards.
The other running backs for the Ravens did not do that much in the win over the Browns and they have to help Jackson out this season.
The Houston run D did not play bad against Patrick Mahomes in their opening loss but did give up 166 rushing yards. Look for Jackson and the Ravens to have a field day on the ground against a Houston run D that has major holes.
Marquise Brown and Willie Snead IV combined for 165 receiving yards in the win over the Browns and Houston have to shut down the passing game since their run D is more than suspect.
Watson is Key
DeShawn Watson signed a huge contract extension in the off-season but can he shoulder an 0-2 start? In the loss to KC, he was 20/32 for 252 yards with a TD and a pick and Will Fuller was his main target by far with 112 receiving yards.
Watson made some bad passes and some questionable calls in the loss to the Chiefs and the team that is paying him a ton of money needs him to be THE guy.
Look for Houston to try to establish the run game early and David Johnson rushed for 77 yards on 11 carries in Week 1. He will face a Baltimore run D that was great last season but did give up 138 yards in the ground in their opener against the Browns.
Jason’s Prediction
The Ravens have covered the spread in their last five games on the road while the Texans have failed to cover in seven of their last 10 home games.
This is the regular season, so look for Jackson to have a big game. However, I think the Texans will regroup on both sides of the ball and play much better than they did in Week 1. Houston will keep it close and they will cover the spread in their house in what will be a pretty close game.
PICK: Texans +7
Bettorsworld’s Pick
Well, certainly the quality of opponent in week 1 for these two teams was vastly different. The Texans in off taking on the Super Bowl Champs while the Ravens had the hapless Browns.
So, we won’t overreact to last weeks results. But it seems as though perhaps these two are picking up where they left off last season. The Ravens are clearly the better team here. Last years meeting was a 41-7 lambasting.
Even if we give the Texans a pass for that game and suggest they had an off week and we take all of their data from last season and run it through our model, we still come up with a Ravens win of 11 to 13 points.
Yes, the public is all over the Ravens but you know what? Even the public wins 50% of the time!
Ravens -7 or better and UNDER 51.5