Pro football team Baltimore Ravens typify home/road by Jim Feist

Well, how about those Baltimore Ravens!

In back-to-back games they looked like world beaters, shutting
down the New York Jets (34-17) and the Dallas Cowboys (29-14), covering both
with ease. That put them at 3-0 both straight up and against the spread at home
this season, including that opening day shellacking of the Steelers, 35-7.

Then again, a different Baltimore Ravens team can show up on
the road, as we saw on Monday night in a 12-7 loss at Jacksonville Jaguars…as a
10-point road favorite! That’s common with some pro and college football teams
as the home/road disparity in sports is often remarkable.

Look at the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle Seahawks started this
season with two losses, both on the road, giving up 57 points. The Seattle
Seahawks came home and got their first victory as a dog, allowing just 10
points.

Seattle is situated in the northwest, so road trips can be long
affairs as when playing at Pittsburgh. The reverse is true, of course, when
Seattle Seahawks are at home and many opponents have to travel a long way.

Their next four home games are against teams traveling quite a
distance – Baltimore, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and St. Louis. In fact,
those last three games are part of a nice three-game home stand for Pete
Carroll’s squad.

When they were a playoff team, the Seahawks went 9-3 SU/8-4 ATS
at home covering two seasons, but 3-10 SU/4-9 ATS on the road during that same
stretch. The offense on the road has been particularly pitiful this season,
scoring 10, 6, 17 and 10 points.

Historically, the Seahawks have had an excellent home field
edge with their outstanding fan base known as the “12th man.” Seattle had a
four-year run of 25-6 SU, 20-10-1 ATS in home games.

Naturally teams want to play better in front of the home folks.
Part of it is pride and fans paying good money for entertainment. No team wants
to send the locals home unhappy, like the Jaguars did last Monday night against
the Ravens.

Jacksonville started winless on the road this season scoring 3,
10 and 13, but played like a very different team in beating the Titans and
Ravens, the latter on national TV with the whole country watching. Home field
combined with other incentives (rivalry, revenge, national TV, coaching changes)
can make a team even more fired up.

Visiting teams have to spend time in airports, sleep in
unfamiliar hotel rooms, have their sleeping patterns disrupted. Home teams get
to spend the week working at their own practice facilities, sleeping in their
own bed, eating home-cooked meals, driving to the stadium on familiar
routes.

Any coach can get his players to give it their all in front of
60,000 screaming fans. The really good coaches can get their players to perform
just as effectively on the road.

The Patriots under Bill Belichick have a history of playing
well no matter where the venue, a sizzling run of 45-22 ATS on the road.

Many times young teams, or ones with new coaches, will play
their best football at home, but look like a very different team on the road.
New Orleans started 3-0 at home this season, but 2-2 away.

The Saints are a team built for speed on the artificial indoor
carpet of the Superdome. The fast offense can be hindered on natural grass on
the road, such as in a 23-10 win at Jacksonville and a 26-20 loss at Tampa Bay.
Not much offense from one of the most explosive in the game.

It’s important from a handicapping angle to carefully break
down home and road stats. The Detroit Lions just dropped two straight at home to
the 49ers and Falcons. Road games at the Bears, Saints and Packers are on
deck.

You can see why NFL teams play hard to secure the home-field
edge for the playoffs. Sometimes who you’re playing is not as important as
where.

 Jim Feist’s NFL articles and FREE winners can be found right here at www.aasiwins.com. Visit www.aasiwins.com for all your FREE NFL winners, news, articles, and updates.