Ravens vs. Broncos odds, picks and predictions

The divisional round of the NFL playoffs starts with the Baltimore Ravens visiting the AFC's top-seeded Denver Broncos on Saturday afternoon in a rematch of a Week 15 game that, as far as prognostications go, feels to be heavily leaning towards the home team.

Denver opened the week as 9½-point favorites, according to OddsShark, and the line remains there as of Friday morning. The over/under point total for the contest began at 44½, however, and has since shifted to an even 46. In their last 11 games of the regular season, the Broncos were 9-2 against the spread.

As far as predictions go, SB Nation's Joel Thorman thinks the balanced Broncos will be too much for Baltimore:

All signs are pointing to the Broncos in this game. The Ravens are talented enough on defense that I'm not ruling out a big day defensively, but I can't find any area in this game where Baltimore has a clear advantage. There's a reason the Broncos are 9.5-point favorites.

The pick: 30-20, Broncos.

All but Mike Golic sided with Denver on ESPN's 12-man panel of NFL analysts, and Yahoo! Sports' three-man group of Mike Silver, Jason Cole and Les Carpenter picked the Broncos unanimously as well.

CBSSports.com and their eight-man panel of predictors didn't veer too far from the above consensus, with only Mike Freeman taking the Ravens to earn the road win. Five of the eight, however, think that Baltimore will cover the nearly double-digit spread.