With Baltimore needing a victory to win the AFC North and the Cleveland Browns sitting several key players, the Ravens are a 20-point favorite for Saturday’s divisional matchup as of Friday afternoon on ESPN BET. It’s the largest spread in Ravens history and the biggest in the NFL since 2021, when the Arizona Cardinals (-20) beat the Houston Texans 31-5 in Week 7.
Baltimore can guarantee itself a division title and the No. 3 seed in the playoffs with a win Saturday, while Cleveland is fully out of postseason contention and is expected to start Bailey Zappe at quarterback. The Browns have ruled out running backs Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong , tight end David Njoku and cornerback Denzel Ward for the contest.
The Ravens opened as an 18.5-point favorites at ESPN BET (with some sportsbooks starting at -17.5) and jumped up to -20 upon the news Thursday that Zappe would get the nod. While a majority of the betting public is backing Cleveland, based on the number of tickets, many big money bettors appear to be supporting Baltimore, with BetMGM reporting 53% of the spread handle on the favorite; the sportsbook characterized it to ESPN as “good action both ways with the large spread.”…