AFC Championship Predictions - Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots

• Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

  By  Ken Williams

  

  The New England Patriots are favored at home as they host the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game on Sunday. This is the first of the two championship games on Sunday with CBS televising the game. You can make AFC Championship predictions right now at Diamond Sportsbook.

  Patriots -8, total 50.5

  New England is favored by more than a touchdown at home and even though the Ravens have the better defense, it is hard not to like the Patriots in NFL betting. The Ravens did win last week as they beat Houston 20-13 but it was an ugly win that did little to impress anyone. Baltimore’s offense is not considered good enough to score enough points to beat Tom Brady and the Patriots. "I think it would be safe to say we are going to have to score points to win this game," rookie wide receiver Torrey Smith said.

  The New England Patriots are coming off a 45-10 rout of Denver last week as their offense was unstoppable again. Tom Brady is playing at a very high level and unless the Ravens get pressure on him on Sunday they are not going to win. Baltimore did win at New England two years ago in the playoffs but this is a much more potent New England team this time around. In that loss, the Patriots did not have Wes Welker and they didn’t have the potent duo of tight ends that they have now in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.

  Game Notes

  A couple of big trends point to the Patriots in AFC Championship predictions. The home team is 4-1-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings in this series and the Ravens are 1-3-2 ATS in their last 6 meetings at New England. The Baltimore Ravens are 5-11 ATS in their last 16 games in January. The Patriots are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 vs. the AFC. The Patriots are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 playoff home games. Looking at the total, the Over is 4-1 in the Ravens last 5 road games but overall the Under is 7-3 in the Ravens last 10 playoff games. The Under is 11-5-1 in the Patriots last 17 playoff home games.

  Go to the BetDSI Facebook page today for more NFL betting news and information.