Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens Preview 09/27/2012

Thursday Night Football: Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens -13 OvUn 43.5 – Thursday, September 27th 8:30 EST

The Ravens and Browns meet Thursday Night in an AFC North divisional matchup in a game that always seems to have some bad blood. With a win, the Ravens (2-1) would take their share of the AFC North lead, and be a top the division with a Cincinnati loss at Jacksonville. The Browns (0-3) have a lot of ground to make up if they want to compete in this division.

The Ravens finished off Week 3 with a last second field goal and an inspired effort from Torrey Smith, who caught two critical touchdown passes, after the getting news his brother passed away the evening before. Ray Rice also added 101 rushing and a touchdown. The Patriots lead most of the game before ultimately falling to the Ravens 31-30.

The Browns have started off the season with three straight losses, and fell again to Buffalo last week 24-14, in what has a been a extremely tough start for the franchise. Rookie Quarterback, Brandon Weeden has struggled so far in a Browns’ offense that is ranked 26th overall. Still, the Browns believe in their young core and hope to catch the Ravens on a short week, and avoid a disastrous 0-4 start.

The Line

The number opened at Baltimore -12 and has quickly gone to -13, an awfully big number for Week 4. The total opened at 40.5 and is now at 43.5 at most online bookmakers.

The Play

A number this large so early into the season is hard to stomach wagering on. Though, the Ravens are a vastly superior squad, they are coming of a huge emotional win on Sunday Night, and come into the game on short week. Baltimore’s defense has not been the Baltimore of old, and is ranked 27th in total defense after three weeks. Of course, it is early but we don’t like the Ravens’ aging defense on 3 days rest. The way Baltimore has played defensively, is reason enough to bet against them against laying 13 points. The Browns have kept it close in their three matchups so far, losing by 1, 7 and 10 points. We’ll take the Browns and the points.

We’ve gone for the Browns +13 to beat the spread. For a list of the best places to bet on this game, check out our list of US friendly betting sites here.