Playing with Fire – Baltimore vs. Denver – NFL Saturday Night Pick – Divisional Playoff

Peyton Manning leads the Denver Broncos against Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens.

Here is the Pick for Ravens vs. Broncos

Baltimore: 11-6

Denver:  13-3

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Ravens vs. Broncos -  The Denver Broncos have the home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and we’ll see how much of an advantage that is beginning on Saturday when they take on the Baltimore Ravens.  And it can be a tremendous advantage in Denver as we’ve seen in the past.  When John Elway was the QB, the Broncos made five Super Bowl appearances.

With Peyton Manning at the helm things look favorable.  But as we know the road team typically comes into these divisional games with an “us against the world” mentality.  They have nothing to lose because no one expects them to win anyway, and that makes the road team dangerous.

However, I don’t think that will be the determining factor with Peyton Manning in this game.  The only factor with Peyton is how will he perform, good or great?  We’ve seen in previous years, Manning doesn’t always come up big in the big games.  But with the Broncos defense playing so well, they don’t necessarily need Manning to have a big game, but something tells me he will.

The Ravens will be battle tested and highly confident coming into this game, having withstood the challenge of the Indianapolis Colts.  Also, this may be Ray Lewis’ last game ever, so this will add to the Ravens motivation, and Lewis will be matching wits with Manning all game long.  The Ravens also recently suffered a defeat at the hands of the Broncos, so the revenge factor will also be in play.

I look for the Ravens to come out strong maybe even building an early lead, while the Broncos shake off some of the rust of their bye week.  I think the John Harbaugh will devise a good defensive game plan to combat Peyton Manning, and it may work initially.

But in the end I think the Broncos will withstand the early push by the Ravens, and will take control down the stretch.  Manning will get things going, and the defense should take it from there.  Broncos move on.       27-20 – Broncos

Packers vs. 49ers – pick

Seahawks vs. Falcons – pick

Related Articles

• Ravens Will Have Their Hands Full Against Peyton Manning (baltimore.cbslocal.com)
• Baltimore Ravens vs. Denver Broncos: Why the Ravens Won’t Beat the Broncos (bleacherreport.com)

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