As the 2021 NFL season draws closer and rosters continue to take shape, plenty of predictions will be made. With the league announcing their first “U.S. sportsbook partnership“, they are now entering the sports betting realm with a few official partners.
One of those partners, Caesars Entertainment, released an initial over/under win total for each NFL team via the William Hill sportsbook. While some of the over/under totals from Caesars William Hill were surprising, the Baltimore Ravens will have high expectations after coming off an 11-5 season in 2020.
AFC North over-under win totals
Ravens 11
Browns 10
Steelers 9
Bengals 6.5Source: Caesars William Hill
— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) April 16, 2021
Initially, Baltimore has the highest over/under win total in the AFC North, with the Cleveland Browns coming in second with 10 wins and the Pittsburgh Steelers not far behind with nine. The Cincinnati Bengals don’t have as bright of an outlook, with an over/under of 6.5 wins.
ESPN’s Jamison Hensley looked at the Ravens’ over/under totals over the last few seasons, and based off of the results, Baltimore has had a mixed bag when it comes to hitting, missing, or going over the predicted value.
Ravens' over-under win total opened at 11, per Caesars William Hill.
Baltimore has gone over twice in the last five seasons:
2015: Over-under was 9 (Under)
2016: 8 (Push)
2017: 9 (Push)
2018: 8 (Over)
2019: 8.5 (Over)
2020: 12 (Under)— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) April 16, 2021
When looking at this year’s over/under totals, they have different meanings than in previous seasons. With the NFL adding a 17th game to the schedule, if the Ravens were to push on their 11 win prediction, it would mean that Baltimore would finish with a worse record in 2021 at 11-6 than they had in 2020 at 11-5.
For the Ravens, their initial over/under total is fair, especially with the final roster not yet intact. The win total will most likely change over the course of the coming months, but for now, Baltimore has their over/under prediction set at the same amount of games that they won last year.