Both hosts bought a road dog on the second leg of a back-to-back road trip, and the size of the number is the reason, not the objection. Baltimore is laying 8.5 on the Saints on Sunday, September 20 at 1:00 PM ET in Baltimore, MD, with the total at 47, and the guys took the points on the NFL Picks Week 2 episode.
Saints vs Ravens Odds
The Ravens are favored by 8.5 points at home. The total is 47. Those were the numbers on the board when the game was handicapped on the show.
Our Picks
- Ryan Kramer (@KramerCentric): NO +8.5
- Sean Green (@SeanTGreen): NO +8.5
Sean’s case is the calendar. Baltimore just went into Indianapolis and, in his words, molly-whopped the Colts as a road favorite under a rookie head coach, which he had flagged beforehand as a tough spot and which the Ravens passed. Now they are home off a blowout win over an inferior opponent with an international game against the Cowboys the next week. He called that a hard week to keep a team sharp, and he noted on air that the Ravens were 2-6 ATS off a win last season. His line on it was simple enough: the Ravens are the better team, but you can be the better team and not cover 8.5.
Ryan came at it from the Saints’ side of the ledger. He pointed out on the show that New Orleans has been a better road team than home team for the better part of a decade, 51-32 ATS away since 2016, as though the market overvalues the dome and shorts them outside it. He also likes the shape of a game where the favorite is winning late and has no reason to keep stepping on the gas. Week one fits the type: the Saints were down 21-0 to Detroit and still turned it into an overtime game.
Neither of them pretended the risk isn’t there. Baltimore lost Zay Flowers and another starting receiver, so both hosts expect a lot of Derrick Henry, and the Saints did not clamp down on Detroit’s run game. Sean allowed that the Ravens could just build a huge lead and never let New Orleans stage the second-half comeback. Ryan’s hesitation was at quarterback, where the first half against Detroit was as ugly as the second half was encouraging, and he thinks the season comes down to whether the young starter keeps it clean and stays out of pick-six trouble. He also thinks that same quarterback is going to sneak in some backdoors, and he is taking half credit for the one against the Lions.
Hear the full breakdown on the NFL Picks Week 2 episode, or listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Watch every game on YouTube, and download the SGPN app at sg.pn/links. See all our NFL Picks.
