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"The Baltimore Ravens may be the most feared team in the NFL Playoffs," states Gambling911.com sports writer, Don Shapiro.
Oddsmakers at SBG Global have given the Baltimore Ravens +1100 odds to win the 2009 Super Bowl. They opened the season as 80/1 long shots.
The Baltimore Ravens are coming off a 5-11 season under Brian Billick, and will play a team that won only a single game last season, the Miami Dolphins. Ironically, it was the Baltimore Ravens who were the only team to lose to Miami last year.
"We couldn't see it at first," wide receiver Derrick Mason said of the Ravens dramatic improvement this year. "We kept fighting as a team, learned to trust in one another and learned to have one another's back."
The concept worked marvelously at the outset. Baltimore opened with a win over Cincinnati, then had a game in Houston postponed by Hurricane Ike - a decision that robbed the team of its scheduled bye week. Undaunted, the Ravens improved to 2-0 by beating Cleveland.
Three straight defeats followed, culminating with a 31-3 disaster in Indianapolis. Rookie quarterback Joe Flacco threw three interceptions in that game, the running attack mustered only 51 yards and the defense yielded 17 first-quarter points.
That left the Ravens with a 2-3 record, but they bounced back with a 27-13 win over the Miami Dolphins on Oct. 19.
And now Baltimore (11-5) is in the playoffs, facing those same Dolphins in the opening round Sunday.
"The Miami game was a turning point. We all bought into that brotherhood of fighting," offensive tackle Willie Anderson said. "Everything was against us. No bye week, and the world was saying we were done after that three-game losing streak when we got smashed in Indy."
The Ravens enter the postseason on a 9-2 roll, and it all started with that uplifting rout of the Dolphins earlier this year. But Harbaugh prefers to look ahead rather than analyze a game the Ravens played over two months ago.
"Turning points and all that stuff, I haven't even thought about it," he said Monday. "I'm thinking about this Miami game, the one coming up, and that's where our focus is."
The Ravens open as a -3 road favorite against the Dolphins.
Since 1992, the Dolphins have won 7 of the last 10 in this series. The home team has split over this time but won 4 of the last 5.
Mary Montgomery, Gambling911.com
