AFC North Odds And 2020 Season Win Totals

Baltimore Ravens are Prohibitive Favorites In AFC North And Tied For League High 11.5 Season Wins

The Baltimore Ravens are getting plenty of buzz heading into the 2020 season. As one of the Super Bowl favorites, the Ravens are tied with the Chiefs with a league high season win total of 11.5 wins.

The schedule is favorable for the Ravens with one of the easier schedules in the league despite playing a pair of 2019 AFC division winners in the first three weeks of the season. Baltimore travels to Houston in Week 2 and hosts the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in Week 3 on Monday night football.

I cover the AFC North division odds and season win totals with a focus on the Ravens in my recent article at Forbes, and chip-in the Ravens 2020 schedule and betting lines below.

Baltimore Ravens 2020 Schedule and Advance Lines (DraftKings)

Week	Opponent	Line
1	Cleveland	-8
2	at Houston	-5.5
3	Kansas City (Mon)	-2.5
4	at Washington
5	Cincinnati
6	at Philadelphia	-2.5
7	Pittsburgh	-6
8	Bye
9	at Indianapolis	-2.5
10	at New England *	-3
11	Tennessee
12	at Pittsburgh (Thurs)	-2.5
13	Dallas (Thurs)	-4.5
14	at Cleveland (Mon)	-4.5
15	Jacksonville
16	New York Giants
17	at Cincinnati

The Ravens are the prohibitive favorites to win the AFC North, but both the Steelers (9) and Browns (8.5) have season win totals that suggest they are playoff contenders in 2020. Still, William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich is bullish on Baltimore and told me the Ravens are  “every bit as good as the Chiefs if not better.” Nick noted the Ravens had a very good off season in free agency and the NFL Draft, which scored top rankings by some draft analysts.

Team	Division	Win Total	Odds
Baltimore Ravens	-260	11.5	Under -125
Pittsburgh Steelers	370	9	Over -125
Cleveland Browns	500	8.5	Under -110
Cincinnati Bengals	3000	5.5	Over -140

Check out the strength of schedule and other data and NFL analytics provided by Sharp Football Analysis. The Ravens exceeded expectations during a record-breaking regular season last year while also posting the second-best scoring differentigal (+249) since 2006 when the 2007 New England Patriots went a perfect 16-0 during the regular season. But like the Ravens last year, the Patriots playoff performance was not complete and ended in a Super Bowl loss to the NY Giants as a 13.5 point favorite.

The Ravens offense averaged a league-high 33 points per game last season, and Baltimore looks good heading into the 2020 season and has a very favorable schedule. But as Pro Football Focus notes, since 2006 there have been 60 teams that managed a record of 12-4 or better. Just 19 of them were able to win at least 12 games in the following season, and 14 of those teams were quarterbacked by either Tom Brady or Peyton Manning.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson may have won the MVP last season, but he’s not in Brady or Manning’s class. Only the elite quarterbacks are Hall of Famers, A healthy Jackson for an entire season and more good fortune could result in another 14 win season, but I wouldn’t bet on it.