The Baltimore Ravens had a minor scare in their playoff opener against the Houston Texans, but in the end they dominated their Divisional Round matchup. The Texans kept it close in the first half playing to a 10-10 draw at halftime, but the Ravens, as has been the case all season, never trailed Saturday.
The Ravens trailed just once entering the fourth quarter this season, which is tied with five teams for the fewest games in a season trailing entering the final quarter in the Wild Card era. Three of those teams — '92 Cowboys, '04 Patriots, '10 Packers — went on to win the Super Bowl.
Lamar Jackson reversed some bad playoff history with his win. As a home favorite, Jackson was just 28-10 straight up, 15-23 against the spread entering the Texans game, which ranked 213th of 220 quarterbacks as home favorites ATS over the past 20 years. In the playoffs, Jackson was 1-3 SU/ATS as a favorite at home.
Now the Ravens find themselves in a similar spot for next week no matter which team they face. According to FanDuel, the Ravens are hypothetical favorites against both the Buffalo Bills (spread: Ravens -3) and the Kansas City Chiefs (spread: Ravens -3.5).
The Ravens also closed the gap on the San Francisco 49ers in the latest Super Bowl odds with their win. Prior to the game, the Ravens were listed at +270 to win the Super Bowl but have moved to +200 since.
