NFL Football Betting: Buffalo Bills at Baltimore Ravens

With the Toronto Blue Jays idle on Thursday this is a good opportunity to look ahead to Sunday and the start of the NFL football season. The season ‘officially’ gets going Thursday night in Denver as the Broncos and Carolina Panthers play in the opening game of the year. For Canadian NFL fans, the season gets underway on Sunday as the country’s ‘adopted’ NFL team–the Buffalo Bills–begin play. The Bills are coming off a .500 season going 8-8 while the Ravens are off a very disappointing campaign (5-11). Baltimore’s struggles weren’t entirely their fault, however, as they were devastated by injuries a year ago.

Baltimore is getting their injured players back though it might take them some time to get back in sync. Assuming they can stay healthy you have to think that Baltimore will improve dramatically just by having QB Joe Flacco, Steve Smith and Terrell Suggs back in the lineup. You also think that they’ll be a much better ‘investment’ at home as the Ravens are on an 0-7-1 ATS run as a home favorite. Then again, they’ve been a poor ATS investment both as a favorite (6-12 ATS) and at home in all roles (5-10 ATS) over the past two seasons. They’re also on a 0-10-2 ATS run as a chalk.

The Bills, meanwhile, have been a very strong play as an underdog in recent years going 10-7 SU/11-5 ATS. Buffalo has also been an excellent play in their season opener going back over a decade as they’re 9-2 ATS in this situation. To be sure, John Harbaugh has a significant coaching edge over Rex Ryan but that’s negated somewhat here as all that will get his team back in sync is gameplay. Flacco isn’t exceptionally mobile at his best and he’s coming off ACL surgery. You have to think that he’ll be a vulnerable target for the hirsute Rob Ryan and his blitzing defense.

There’s plenty of reasons to think that Baltimore will be a much better team this year. There are few teams in the NFL that are so well coached. Were this game played in late October we might come to a different conclusion but in the opener we’ll take the points with the road team.

BET BUFFALO BILLS +3 OVER BALTIMORE RAVENS