Monday Night Football picks and open thread: Ravens at Saints

It’s Monday and the workday is over, meaning it’s time for Monday Night Football. This week showcases the Baltimore Ravens flying south to take on the New Orleans Saints in a matchup of teams trying to get or stay in first place.

The Ravens enter the game at the top of the AFC North, but a loss to the Saints would drop them into a tie with the Cincinnati Bengals atop the division. Meanwhile, the 3-5 Saints can climb into a three way tie for first place atop the NFC South with the Atlanta Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a win.

For the first place Seattle Seahawks, who currently sport a game and a half lead over the second place San Francisco 49ers in the NFC West, it’s not likely a hugely important game. However, should the Hawks stumble during the second half of the season and the Saints get hot, the head to head tiebreaker New Orleans holds over Seattle could come into play, so it’s likely better if the Saints lose. As of writing, the Ravens are two point favorites at DraftKings Sportsbook, with an over/under of 46 for the game.

More importantly, perhaps, with the matchup marking the final game of Week 9, perhaps the most important thing about the game Monday night is that its conclusion will mark the midpoint of the regular season, with nine weeks of play in the books and nine weeks left to go.