Pundits Debate Whether Ravens Being Favored Over Bills Is Justified

The Bills went 8-0 at home this regular season and finished with a better record (13-4) than the Ravens (12-5), but they are the underdogs in Sunday’s AFC Divisional Playoff game in Buffalo.

Sportsbooks have the Ravens favored by either 1 or 1.5 points. The Bills have hosted 18 playoff games since joining the NFL in 1970, and they were favored in each one, per ESPN.

Analysts on Fox Sports 1’s “Speak” disagreed over whether the Ravens should be favored.

“I’m shocked,” Paul Pierce said. “You go on to the road to Buffalo, where Buffalo is undefeated … They have a 133-point differential at home, highest in the NFL, and they’re not the favorite. That doesn’t make sense to me.”

Keyshawn Johnson said he’s “not surprised at all” by the line.

“[The Ravens] beat the brakes off of them in Week 4,” Johnson said. “They’re both different teams, but in Week 4 it was 35-10.”

Johnson also noted that the Bills lost in the Divisional round at home the past two seasons – to the Kansas City Chiefs last year and the Cincinnati Bengals the previous year.

Ultimately, who is favored is meaningless. The Ravens are a confident group, but they are keenly aware of the challenge awaiting them in Buffalo.

“These Divisional [Playoff] games are really hard to win because you’re playing the best teams,” Head Coach John Harbaugh said. “[The Bills are] just a super talented, well-coached type of a team. On that stage, in their place – it’s going to be cold; it’s going to be blustery [and] all that.”