Baltimore Ravens vs. Buffalo Bills Prediction, Playoff Preview, and Betting Lines

Baltimore Ravens vs Buffalo Bills: How to Watch the AFC Divisional Playoff, Game Preview

Date: Sunday, January 19, 2025
Game Time: 6:30 pm ET
How To Watch: CBS
Venue: Highmark Stadium, Orchard Park, NY
Teams: Buffalo Bills (13-4), Baltimore Ravens (12-5)
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Why Baltimore Ravens Will Win

Why mess with what works?

The Ravens came up with its third-best rushing game of the year in the first meeting. The best game was last week with almost 300 yards of rushing against the Steelers.

The offensive line bashed away, Henry ripped off yards in chunks, and Buffalo has to prove it can stop what it knows is coming.

On the other side, the Ravens have to make Josh Allen a passer.

Of course he can throw, and of course he’s been able to figure out how to be careful with the ball, but in the first game he couldn’t get the O moving, was held to 21 yards on five carries, James Cook was bottled up, and again, there’s no reason to fix anything here that’s not broken. However …

Why Buffalo Bills Will Win

The Buffalo run defense has become a whole lot nastier since late September.

Yes, Baltimore ran for 271 yards in the first meeting. No one else ran for more than 153 against this bunch, and everything will be keyed on 22 to keep him from taking over right away.

If Lamar Jackson is going to get hot and start hitting the midrange passes early on, so be it. But that means the offense has to control the game.

Baltimore runs down teams and keeps it going for a full four quarters. The Bills are awful defensively on third downs, so time of possession matters here, Allen and Cook converting third-and-short matters here, and …

Baltimore Ravens vs Buffalo Bills: Who Will Win?

All Buffalo has to do it keep two Hall of Fame MVP type players from going off.

The Ravens might have the defense, and the power, and the ground game, and the momentum, but it needs the yards. The team is 12-1 when it comes up with 389 yards or more, 0-4 when it doesn’t. 

When the starters played a full game - Week 18 sort of doesn’t count against New England - Buffalo is unbeaten going 12-0 when allowing fewer than 425 yards.

This might not be a wild shootout, and there might not be a ton of yards, but that’s fine by Baltimore. It has the ability to grind in games like this better than the Bills.

Baltimore Ravens vs Buffalo Bills AFC Divisional Playoff Prediction, Betting Lines

Prediction: Baltimore 23, Buffalo 20
Line: Baltimore -1, o/u: 51.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2
Must See Rating: 5