The Kansas City Chiefs are early underdogs against the Baltimore Ravens at Arrowhead Stadium next weekend. Various NFL odds have the Ravens anywhere from 1 to 3 point favorites over the Chiefs next Sunday at 12:00 p.m.
Agree? Disagree?
I have to agree with this. A 16-game schedule has shown us the Ravens are clearly the better team this year. They should be the favorites and they should be expected to win. But the Chiefs do get some credit for the home crowd, which propelled them to 7-1 at Arrowhead this year.
The home team usually gets a couple of points but it's not like the Ravens haven't shown they can win on the road in the playoffs. They have, several times. They went on the road and beat the Dolphins and Titans in 2008 before losing in the conference championship game and followed that up by handing the Patriots a butt whoopin' in New England last year before losing to Indy.
The Ravens, as much as any playoff team out there, can win on the road.
So 1-3 points is the current line and we'll see how that goes up and/or down throughout the week. But a point spread that close tells you the money folks (who really know what they're talking about) feel these are two evenly matched teams.