The New Orleans Saints and the Cleveland Browns meet Saturday in NFL action from FirstEnergy Stadium. New Orleans is 5-9 overall this year. The Saints beat the Falcons in their last game. As for Cleveland, they’re 6-8 on the season and fresh off a win over the Ravens. Check back all season long for free NFL picks at Sports Chat Place.
New Orleans went just 2-5 over their first seven games this year, beating only the Falcons and Seahawks. The Saints are 3-4 in their last seven outings, losing to the Ravens, Steelers, 49ers and Buccaneers with wins over the Raiders, Rams and Falcons.
Matched up against the Falcons on Sunday, the Saints were up 14-3 by halftime. New Orleans was outscored 15-7 from there but still won 21-18. Andy Dalton threw for 151 yards and two scores, while Alvin Kamara rushed 21 times for 91 yards.
Over on the Cleveland side, they hit a 2-5 run over their first seven games with wins versus the Panthers and Steelers. The Browns are 4-3 since then, taking out the Bengals, Buccaneers, Texans and Ravens along the way.
Last Saturday versus the Ravens, the Browns went into the locker room with a 6-3 advantage. Cleveland shut down the Ravens in the second half for a 13-3 win. QB Deshaun Watson put up 161 yards with one TD, and Nick Chubb added 21 carries for 99 yards.
The Saints are 4-1 ATS in their last five Saturday games and 5-2 ATS in their last seven in Week 16. New Orleans is 39-19 ATS in their last 58 road games.
Meanwhile, the Browns are 5-0 ATS in their last five Saturday games and 3-8 ATS in their last 11 after an ATS win. Cleveland is 1-4 ATS in their last five in Week 16.
PICK: I’ll probably stay with the Browns in this one. Cleveland posted a nice effort in a smash-mouth game versus the Ravens over the weekend—helped in at least some small part by the absence of Lamar Jackson. The Browns didn’t play great on offense, though: they hit just 283 yards (140 passing), 19 first downs and 5-of-15 on third-down conversions.
As for New Orleans, they held Atlanta to just 89 passing yards in their win over the weekend. The Saints gave up 231 yards on the ground but their early first-half success allowed New Orleans to stay on top. This one will likely be a close, relatively low-scoring game and a fun one to watch.