Monday Night Football Props & Odds: Ravens vs. Browns

Monday Night Football: Ravens vs. Browns

This week’s MNF should be a treat as a battle between the Browns and the franchise formerly known as the Browns (the Ravens) will conclude this week’s slate of games. The Browns are set to finish this season with a winning record for the first time since 2007, while the Ravens have seemingly curbed the midseason struggles that they faced. It’s awfully strange to see Cleveland favored against Baltimore, but they’ve been playing some great football on both sides of the ball. A victory for either team will be a massive confidence booster, so expect a tight game until the end. Using the Odds Comparison Tool supplied by BettingData, let’s take a look at this division battle. 

Game Info

• Spread: Browns +3
• Total: 45.5
• See Live Odds

The Ravens find themselves as underdogs for a variety of reasons. First off, they’re a road team this time around. Though they murdered the Browns by a score of 38-6 in Week 1, playing in Cleveland this time around could make a big difference. As we’ve seen, teams have been able to figure out the run-centric gameplan of this offense in the last couple of months, limiting Lamar Jackson from doing what he does best. Both of these teams will look to establish the run, as they feature the two best rushing offenses in the league this season, with Baltimore averaging 169.0 rushing yards-per-game and Cleveland right behind them with 157.8 rushing yards-per-game. Both teams are undefeated when forcing more than one turnover in a game, so fumbles and interceptions will be the category worth monitoring. Victory can be all but assured by protecting the ball and controlling the clock.  

Baltimore Ravens

• Overall: 7-5, 6-5-1 ATS
• Road: 4-2

Baltimore is averaging 26.3 points-per-game this season and in games where they exceed this total, they are 6-0. Suffice to say, the results of this game will depend heavily on the performance of Lamar Jackson and the Ravens’ offense. With Mark Andrews, Mark Ingram, and J.K Dobbins all back in the lineup, the Ravens’ offense needs to get back to basics — running the ball and using play-action effectively. Cleveland’s defense is filled with talented players, but it’s also allowed the 19th most yards-per-game as a unit. There’s a road to victory for Baltimore this week and it’s a two-pronged pavement plan. The first element is easy. Run the ball effectively and for goodness sake DO NOT get too cute on offense. By sticking to the plan, running hard, and searching for big plays when they’re there — rather than forcing them — the Ravens’ offense should get the job done. However, the defense needs to be up to par this week as well. Wink Martindale must dial up some creative blitzes and turn up the heat on Baker Mayfield, which hopefully will result in some forced fumbles or interceptions. Let the blitz do the work and trust your coverage in one-on-one situations, as the Browns’ receiving core has been underwhelming for almost this whole season. This is a very winnable game for the Ravens — as long as they don’t beat themselves as they did against New England and Tennesee. 

Cleveland Browns

• Overall: 9-3, 5-7 ATS
• Home: 5-1

It’s safe to call the Browns’ an overachieving team, as six of their wins have come by less than one score, five of those against teams with losing records. Recency bias factors into the odds for this game in a huge way, as the Browns have looked really great during their four-game win streak, particularly on defense. But this is still the Browns we’re talking about. Nick Chubb’s unbelievable play of late has been the key to victory for Cleveland, as he’s rushed for 364 yards and three touchdowns since returning from IR. Those outings did come against Houston (32nd ranked rush defense), Philadelphia (14th), Jacksonville (22nd), and Tennessee (4th) with the last of those coming as a result of the game script following Cleveland’s early lead. If the Ravens can bottle up Chubb, the rest of the Browns offense should take a hit in turn. As great as Kareem Hunt has been — and still is — this team is a different animal with Chubb in the backfield. The Browns will have to play their best game of the year if they hope to extend their winning streak. 

Best Player Props

These odds and more found at DraftKings Sportsbook.

Nick Chubb | +100 to Score a Touchdown

Chubb has seven touchdowns in eight games this season. I like the positive odds on him to score this week despite the tough matchup on paper. 

Nick Chubb | +120 to Get 1.5+ Receptions

Chubb again? Yup. While he’s only caught more than one pass in a single game this season, I think the Browns will look to throw to their running backs early and often in this one. Though it’s a bit of a longshot, my gut instinct tells me that Chubb could see some targets in the passing game.

J.K Dobbins | +110 to Get 1.5+ Receptions

The rookie has at least five games this season with two or more receptions. Dobbins seems to be the passing down back in Baltimore so I’m liking this prop a lot.