Baltimore Ravens vs Pittsburgh Steelers Betting Predictions Props, Odds, Lines, & Picks
The Thanksgiving matchup between the Ravens (6-4 SU, 4-6 ATS) and the Steelers (10-0 SU, 8-2 ATS) not only didn’t take place on Thursday, in the originally scheduled time, but it has been moved three times since. The Covid-19 outbreak raging through the Ravens squad caused the NFL to postpone the game to Sunday, then move it to Tuesday, and the latest news is that the game will be played on Wednesday, also moving Pittsburgh’s next matchup vs Washington to Monday. There’s been plenty of questions about why is this game even being played with over 20 Ravens players sent to the Reserve/COVID-19 list, but the NFL seems determined to make this match happen.
Baltimore Ravens vs Pittsburgh Steelers Betting Line Movement
Due to the events surrounding this game we’ve seen line fluctuate more drastically than usual. The opening odds had the Steelers favored by just -2.5 with the line moving to -4.5 before Thursday when the game was supposed to take place. Further news from the Ravens camp has now pushed the line all the way to -10.5 in Pittsburgh’s favor. The total has also seen some change due to the new situation, dropping from 44.5 to 40.5.
Notes On The Baltimore Ravens
The troubles just seem to pile on for Baltimore. After losing three of their last four games and seeing their playoff spot slowly slipping away, they now have a Covid outbreak in the ranks and will have to enter the must-win game in Pittsburgh without some of the most important players. The Ravens did beat the Steelers last year with their backups playing the prominent roles, but that was under totally different circumstances and these teams are at a much different place now. After losing running backs Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins on Monday, on Thursday the Ravens were hit by the news that their QB Lamar Jackson, among others, has also tested positive and is unavailable for this game. Robert Griffin III will start in his place. Losing so many players will certainly affect Baltimore’s strongest weapon, the running game, but we can still expect them to try to make things happen on the ground.
RGII is not on the level of Lamar Jackson, but he is the player in a similar mold and we can expect him to contribute to teams rushing at least to some extent. Still, the Ravens will mostly rely on RB Gus Edwards who could put up big numbers without having to share his carries with Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins.
Notes On Pittsburgh Steelers
The news from the Pittsburgh camp is that the Steelers players are pretty ticked off with the several postponements of this game. They see it as the league doing everything to accommodate the Ravens and apparently are not too happy about it. It just adds a bit more fire to the game which they were already entering fully motivated as it can effectively clinch them the top spot in the division. They also have a Covid case on their hands as running back James corner is on the COVID-19/IR list. We can expect the Pittsburgh defense to go aggressive against Robert Griffin III from the start to try to secure an early lead and lean on Benny Snell to move the chains for the rest of the game.
In the absence of James Conner, Snell could be in for a great game against the depleted Ravens defense. If the Ravens manage to keep the game close we may see some more actions from the receiving corp, especially rookie Chase Claypool who gets better with every game.
Tuesday Night Football Betting Pick & Prediction: Pittsburgh Steelers -10.5
Due to so many unknowns, this game is very difficult to predict, but ultimately, all of the absent players should be too much for Baltimore, and we expect Big Ben and co to be able to handle the Baltimore second-stringers.
