Baltimore Ravens @ Kansas City Chiefs AFC Wild Card Weekend Pick

Baltimore Ravens @ Kansas City Chiefs AFC Wild Card Weekend Pick: Baltimore put up 12 wins to just 4 losses, but they’ll be headed to Kansas City where the Chiefs didn’t lose until their final game of the season. The Chiefs sure played awesome football at times this year. Jamaal Charles was special, and he’ll give the Ravens match-up problems for sure. Matt Cassel was very efficient in his 2nd full season as the Chiefs’ signal caller, and Dwayne Bowe really came into his own this year. Defensively, they are playing well, and while they’ve definitely had some down games (Raiders in Week 17, Chargers in Week 14 to name a couple), they’ve been a consistent force all season long.

The Ravens lost just 4 games, but never looked like the dominant team many expected them to be. Ray Rice and the running game didn’t come on strong until late, but they are looking good right now. The team is beat up a little bit, with Michael Oher and Ed Reed at less than 100%, but both are expected to play on Sunday.

Baltimore and Kansas City could go a lot of ways, but the Chiefs just aren’t playing great football over the last handful of games. They’re 3-2 over their last 5 games, but they only beat the Titans, Rams, and Broncos – and Denver was playing terrible when the Chiefs won just 10-6. Oakland and San Diego just stomped them, and what worries me for them is how big that San Diego game was at the time. Will they shrink in a big game? I know Baltimore won’t.

So I’m taking the team I know. Baltimore has a lot of toughness, at the very least. This is an older team that will recognize their chances won’t be around forever, and I think that makes them play a little harder, and a little better than the Chiefs. That should get them the win on the road.

Baltimore Ravens (-2.5) @ Kansas City Chiefs