NFL Bargain Bets for Week 16
December 23rd 2010 - Old Man Winner             

Bal -3.5 @ Cle

Am I missing something? Is Joe Flacco playing blindfolded? Has Ray Rice been placed on IR? Has Ray Lewis finally been sent to jail? I haven't heard that any of these are true!

Then why is this spread so low? The Browns haven't played the Ravens this close since 2007 when they won by a field goal in OT. The Ravens have won the last five match-ups by an average of 16 points. The Ravens only loss in their last five games was to a quality Pittsburgh team and that was by a field goal. Besides, these guys are jockeying for their playoff position and have a bye week to gain best case and a seat at home worst case. This game matters.

The Browns, on the other hand, have lost their last two games to Cincy and Buffalo (who have a combined 7 wins this year). They have lost 4 of their last 6 games and one of their two wins was against Carolina - the worst team in the league. Peyton Hillis, a stud earlier in the season, rushed for less than 60 yards in two of their last three games - ever heard of 'hitting the rookie wall'? And, although Colt McCoy has looked serviceable, he certainly is no Joe Flacco. And one more thing, if you can name more than one WR on the Browns, then you likely know more than 99% of even the most fanatical football fans.

I hate making these picks when they are this easy. It usually means Vegas knows something that we don't and come Monday morning everyone is shaking their heads and mumbling "how did that happen?"

But Old Man Winner will not be scared off by this most obvious of trap games. I'm all-in on the Ravens this week!

Bal 31 Browns 10