posted November 5, 2007 at 18:25 in NFL Betting Trends

This Monday Night Football game tonight between division rivals, the Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers, is a tough game to figure out. The NFL betting line at the BetUS sportsbook says that the Pittsburgh Steelers are 9-point favorites at home against a team that has beaten them the each of the four times they have played over the past two years. While the games from 2005 were both close victories for the Ravens, last year, they were no contest, as Baltimore outscores Pittsburgh by 51 points.

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers – Over/Under 36 points

Both of these teams know that the keys to victory tonight are clock management, controlling the line of scrimmage and focusing on the run game. Failure to hold their ground in any of these three aspects will doom whichever team comes up short. One of them is going to do these slightly better than the other and, barring a freak special teams play, or a surprise turnover, that team will emerge the victor.

The weather forecast calls for definite light rain showers, with winds gusting up to 14 miles per hour and temperatures around 40 degrees. This is not ideal weather for passing for any two teams, much less these two, who struggle with getting the ball through the air.

Both teams love to pound the ball and both love to play tough, smash-mouth football, especially against the other teams in the AFC North, and you should expect no less from either tonight.

In fine weather, the Steelers are allowing just 13 points per game against and the Ravens allow just 17. The big difference between the two is in points scored, where Pittsburgh averages 10 points more per game than Baltimore. Going just on numbers, then, one might be tempted to play the BetUS sportsbook total on this game tonight.

Totals are football betting lines for the total points scored by both teams, and for tonight’s game, that line sits at 36 points. Considering the two defenses taking the field in Pittsburgh tonight, as well as the poor passing offenses, that alone should make one think about taking the under here. Couple that with the poor weather being called for, and the ball-control style both will be playing, and you’d be making a sound investment choice by putting a bet on under 36 points being scored. Sound investments are hard to come by when betting on football, so don’t pass this one up.

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