Football And Picks Matt Fargo Sports January 15, 2012 Houston Texans @ Baltimore Ravens

Matt Fargo Sports Available Picks

Fargo's 10* NBA THURSDAY ENFORCER (SWEET 11-1 L12) (Thu 8:00PM)
Heading into Wednesday, Matt is on a BLAZING 6-1 NBA run! Even better, Fargo is on a SIZZLING 11-1 ATS (91.7%) run with his NBA...more

Add to cart ($40) or save more with one of Matt Fargo Sports Packages.

Available Pick Packages

COMBO

Monthly

All Sports 30 Day Package
30 days of premium picks for all sports - guaranteed to win!
$800 | Add to Cart

Weekly

All Sports 7 Day Package
Seven days of premium picks for all sports - guaranteed to win!
$400 | Add to Cart

January, 15 2012 1:00pm EST
ATS: Baltimore Ravens -9 (120)
LOSS for -5 unit(s)

Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens

Photo_nfl

We won with Houston last week against the Bengals and while it was a dominating performance on the scoreboard, it was not so much on the field as the Texans outgained Cincinnati by only 40 total yards. It was the fourth straight game for Houston where the yardage differentials were fairly even and three of those came at home. The lone exception was its loss at Indianapolis. The Texans got their first even playoff win but now getting their first ever road playoff win may be asking too much.

Baltimore has had a week to rest and get ready for a possible run at the Super Bowl and it has the team makeup to do it. Defensively, many are saying the Ravens are not the same as they used to be and while they are getting older, a team that is ranked third in both overall and scoring defense is pretty solid in my book. Baltimore is 8-0 at home including wins in half of those games coming against playoff teams as well as two others against teams that finished .500 or better.

Houston has a defense that statistically is better than that of the Ravens but at this point of the season, I don't think it can compare. The Texans had the best three-game stretch in the NFL on defense as they allowed a total of 494 yards against the Titans, Jaguars and Browns. While it was impressive, the Browns and Jaguars were 29th and 32nd in total offense so it was definitely skewed. The Ravens are 12th in the league in scoring offense and they are nearly 100 percent healthy which is very important this time of year.

Taking a look at the quarterback comparison and you will notice that Joe Flacco and T.J. Yates have nearly the identical passer rating but there is a pretty big difference. Experience alone plays a big role as Flacco has been in this spot and has won in this spot while Yates has yet to make a road playoff start. Also, Flacco does his best work at home as his rating is much better there than it is on the road and he has a career passer rating of 90.0 in 32 home starts compared to 82.3 in 32 road starts.

This is a revenge game for Houston but that doesn't mean revenge will unfold here. The Ravens dominated that first meeting as they outgained the Texans by 129 total yards and held Matt Schaub in check. Andre Johnson did not play in that game but his presence now and Schaub's absence negate each other. It was one of Ray Rice's six 100-yard games this season as the offense tallied 402 total yards, one of only two times Houston allowed 400 or more yards on defense. 9* (114) Baltimore Ravens