X-Box Madden Simulation: Baltimore vs Cleveland

Week 10 of the NFL sports betting season concludes on Monday night when the Baltimore Ravens (4-4, 5-3 ATS) invade Cleveland Browns Stadium to crack skulls with the Cleveland Browns (1-7, 3-5 ATS) in a AFC North pro football betting battle; kick-off is set for 8:30 ET and can be seen nationally on ESPN.

You have to go back to the 2007 season to find the last time that the Browns beat the Ravens either SU or ATS. Baltimore has posted three straight double-digit victories in this series, including a 37-27 smack down the last time it paid a visit to the “Dawg Pound”.

Weather: mostly cloudy; lows in the upper 30s

Tonight’s MNF football betting tilt has finds the struggling Baltimore Ravens matched up against the woeful Cleveland Browns. ESPN executives thought it would be cute to pit the former Browns against the current ones thinking the “Man-genius” might have been able to turn the Browns franchise around throughout the first half of the season. Man, were they wrong!

The game was a snoozer from the onset. Both clubs struggled to get anything done throughout the first 15 minutes of play. Both offenses went three and out on their initial possessions, but Baltimore managed to move the chains enough on their third drive enough to grab a 3-0 lead on a K Steven Hauschka 38-yard FG. The Browns failed to secure a single 1st down with QB Brady Quinn leading their charge.

The Browns defense seized a bit of momentum when they intercepted BAL QB Joe Flacco at their own 40-yard line, but once again, the Browns offense did nothing. Instead, the Ravens got an excellent return on the punt and set up shop on Cleveland’s side of the 50-yard line. RB Ray Rice picked up 15 yards on a screen pass, and then Flacco connected with WR Derrick Mason from 37-yards out for the games first TD. BAL entered the break with a 10-0 lead to cover the first half spread.

Cleveland got into Baltimore territory on their initial drive of the second half, but penalties pushed them out of FG range, and HC Mangini elected to pin the Ravens deep. Unfortunately, the punt sailed into the end zone and BAL started at their own 20. After Flacco got BAL out to midfield by spreading the ball to his WR’s, Ray Rice electrified the stadium by rumbling 51-yards on a draw. The Ravens put it on cruise control the rest of the way, and was still able to keep the Browns off the scoreboard. That was until the Brownies elected to scrap its offense and go strictly “Wildcat” the rest of the way. KR/WR Joshua Cribbs then led the Browns on their best offensive series of the night; much to the dismay of Ravens backers. The drive was capped off with a 5-yard plunge into the end-zone that allowed Cleveland in through the back door.