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Baltimore Ravens vs. Denver Broncos Gambling Predictions & Week 1 Preview

Baltimore vs Denver NFL Football Spread/Handicapping

These two teams met last year in the playoffs, a game famously won by the Ravens on their way to winning the Super Bowl last season. Less than a year later there will be a lot of new faces on the field when they kick off the NFL season on Thursday Night.

Baltimore Ravens (0-0) vs. Denver Broncos (0-0)
Thursday September 5
Invesco Field – Denver, CO
8:30PM
Moneyline: Denver -380, Baktimore +315
Spread: Denver -9.5
O/U: 48
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The Ravens are almost unrecognizable with longtime defenders Ray Lewis and Ed Reed no longer providing the emotional and actual backbone of the vaunted Ravens defense.

The Broncos are also missing a key defender in speedy linebacker Von Miller, who is suspended for the first 6 weeks. With questions on defense on both sides it means that marquee quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Joe Flacco will have to duel each other for a victory.

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Advantage Denver though I think that number is way off.

Baltimore

As alluded to earlier Baltimore begins its defense of the Super Bowl as a very different team from the one we saw beat San Francisco. Lewis and Reed are just the most obvious of the defensive losses but they also lost LB Paul Kruger and big hitting safety Bernard Pollard.

On offense they no longer have receiver Anquan Boldin, who made so many clutch catches throughout the season and playoffs.

The Ravens do have their MVP QB Joe Flacco returning as well as one of the best backfield tandems in the league in Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce but there are questions about whether their receiving corps is good enough. [soliloquy id=”82219″]

With so many new faces on defense the assumption is that the offense will have to carry things early but Ravens GM Ozzie newsome did a great job getting younger and faster with his replacements which might make the D better once they get a few games under their belt.

Denver

The story all off-season for Denver has been the acquisition of WR Wes Welker to an already fantastic receiving corps.

Last year Peyton Manning was pretty impressive for a guy coming off multiple neck surgeries and now he has another weapon in his arsenal to go with Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas, both were 1000+ yard receivers last season.

Both are also big and physical so when Manning is looking or someone in a tight space like, the end zone, he will be more likely to look their way as good as Welker is.

On defense Denver was very good last season as a compliment to the high powered offense. They are definitely going to take a step back with Miller suspended for 6 games and DE Elvis Dumervil having moved on to Baltimore of all places.

Without a pass rush Flacco could have an easy time of it even though he doesn’t have the cccompliment of weapons than Manning does.

Spread Pick: Baltimore +9.5
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Denver 35 – Baltimore 31

By The Wiesguy

The Wiesguy is a newcomer to the handicapping scene. Hailing from Toronto, Canada he is always sweet on the underdogs and you can often find his thoughts, musings and picks at moneydogs.blogspot.com.