The Baltimore Ravens head to the Big Easy for a game that looks to be anything but simple against the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football. Lamar Jackson and Andy Dalton reunite in a battle of former AFC North rivals, as the Ravens play one last time before the bye and the Saints look to close the gap in the NFC South.
Throughout the NFL season, our VSiN experts will combine to give their best bets on every game.
Odds are from DraftKings (unless noted) as of Sunday night.
Monday, 8:15 p.m. ET
Dave Tuley: This line has come down from Ravens -3 to -1.5, but the Saints are still worthy of a teaser as we can take them up through the key numbers of 3 and 7. While chalk teasers have underperformed all season, underdog teasers like this have been gold, including Sunday with our teasers using the Jaguars +8, Seahawks +8 and Rams +8.5 all cashing.
The Saints (3-5 SU and ATS) have been inconsistent all season, especially on defense, but they’re coming off a 24-0 shutout of the Raiders. Whether it’s Andy Dalton (229 yards, 2 TDs last week vs. the Raiders and 361 yards, 4 TDs the week before vs. the Cardinals) spreading the ball around or Taysom Hill running some run-pass option, the Saints should be able to keep up with the Ravens, especially as the Baltimore defense has been having trouble holding leads.
We also teasing the Under as we like the Under 46.5 anyway, but we can take it up to 52.5. The total has been bet down from 48 to 46.5, with 50% of the bets on both sides but 61% of the money (usually an indicator of the sharp side) on the Under at DraftKings as of Sunday night.
Pick: Saints +7.5/Under 52.5 Teaser
Adam Burke: The Ravens look to be shorthanded on Monday, as Mark Andrews has been ruled out for the first time in his career and Rashod Bateman is done for the year. As much as Lamar can put the game on his shoulders by running around like a madman, somebody is still going to have to make some catches to keep the defense honest.
That somebody in my estimation is Isaiah Likely. While the Saints have been stingy on defense against opposing tight ends, we know how well Greg Roman scripts plays for Andrews and how Likely can have a very similar route tree given his size and what he does well. He played 51 offensive snaps last week with Andrews banged up and caught six passes for 77 yards. With extra time to work into the playbook and get some more first-team reps in practice, it seems likely (pardon the pun) that Jackson will find his new weapon at tight end early and often.
Pick: Isaiah Likely Over 39.5 Receiving Yards (-115)