[Arky]

Eeesh, Walter of Walterfootball.com like the Ravens so much that he made it his September Pick of the Month... Some fair reasoning but I hope he's wrong....

RECAP: This is my September NFL Pick of the Month. I love the Ravens for the following reasons:

1. This spread makes absolutely zero sense. Texans -2.5 at Ravens would translate to Texans -8.5 at home versus Ravens. Houston was -8 over Tennessee, so this is saying that the Titans are a half point better than Baltimore. What?

2. That brings me to the misconception the public has of these two teams. Average bettors think the Ravens are garbage because they can't score, but as noted above, that's simply not true. Baltimore put together some quality drives against a tough Cleveland defense last week. In the opener, the Ravens struggled because Michael Oher suffered an injury, and the coaching staff couldn't adjust for a fifth-round rookie tackle blocking Shaun Phillips. Baltimore has a great defense and a solid running attack, even if Rice is out.

Meanwhile, the Texans could very easily be 0-2. They needed a crazy comeback and help from the officials to beat the Chargers. They then were trailing in the second half at home against the Titans. Why are they road favorites against a decent team?

I have Houston and Baltimore Nos. 7 and 11 in my NFL Power Rankings. The Texans are slightly better, so my calculated line would normally be maybe Ravens -2. So, why is it -3.5? Read on...

3. The Texans just won in overtime. Home teams that prevail in an extra session and then have to travel usually struggle in terms of covering.

4. The Ravens have a pretty strong homefield advantage. They're a ridiculous 24-3 as hosts since 2010, with only the Packers (25-3) maintaining a better record in that span. Two of the three defeats have been to the rival Steelers, who know how to play in Baltimore, while the other was to Peyton Manning last year. Last time I checked, Matt Schaub was no Peyton Manning.

5. This is a big revenge game. Houston beat Baltimore last year, 43-13. Do you think a prideful team like the Ravens will let something like that go? The Texans were obviously not 30 points better than Baltimore last year, so what happened? Well, that was the first game in which Ray Lewis was out. Suggs happened to return from an Achilles that contest, but he wasn't himself quite yet. The Ravens were simply out of sorts, while Houston was out for blood after losing to Baltimore in the playoffs the year before. Well, it's the Ravens' turn for vengeance.

6. While the Ravens will be hyped up to get a victory here, the Texans don't really need this game. They're 2-0 right now. Following this contest, they have to deal with the 49ers and Seahawks. Those are non-conference foes, but they're perceived to be the top teams in the NFL (perhaps aside from Denver). Houston may have one eye on those two tilts.

7. Home underdogs seem to be the way to go this season. It's a small sample size, but thus far, they're 6-3 against the spread.

8. There's a great trend that supports the Ravens: Home underdogs who will be road favorites (Baltimore is at Buffalo next week) are fantastic bets in between Weeks 2-10: They were 61-26 against the spread since 1989 (that's how far back my records go).