Tank Bowl take 2?
It’s a special holiday weekend in the NFL as the league has two games on Christmas Day, which is also the start of Hanukkah, and a Thursday night matchup on the first day of Kwanzaa! Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Raiders will be taking on the New Orleans Saints in a battle of two non-playoff teams for the second week in a row. Also, we’re nearing the end of our Silver and Black Pride Pick’em competition!
To get things started, let’s take a look at the lines for the Raiders-Saints matchup, courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook, and make some picks.
Raiders vs. Saints
- Spread: LV -1.5
- O/U: 37.5
- LV ML: -118
- NO ML: +100
Holder’s picks: LV -1.5, Over 37.5, LV ML
While the Saints have played better under interim head coach Darren Rizzi, they looked really bad last week and became the first team to get shutout. Granted, it was against a good Packers team but New Orleans is trending down while Las Vegas is coming off a win. So, I think the Raiders win back-to-back games for the first time all season and move to 3-1 as the favored team in 2024.
Pick’em Competition
Moving onto S&BP’s Pick’em competition, below is a look at how our writers have fared through 16 weeks.
- Ray Aspuria 173-66 (72%)
- Matt Holder 169-71 (70%)
- Bill Williamson 167-73 (70%)
Bill and I tied for the most correct picks last week with 12 each while Ray was only one behind. That did allow me to pick up a game on Ray, but he’s still the odds-on favorite to win the writer’s trophy this year with a four-and-a-half-game lead heading into the last two weeks of the regular season.
Community Standings
t-1. Running With the Night 174-66
t-1. Bodega Bay Raider 174-66
t-3. Kid Dynamite 172-68
t-3. The Assassin 172-68
t-5. DARTH RAIDER 171-69
t-5. Roosky Raiders 171-69
t-7. Mooniac 169-71
t-7. radrntn 169-71
t-7. dafe2cat 169-71
t-10. Passer Tucks Ball 168-72
t-10. Raider Nation 168-72
Week 16 Top Pickers
AA 14-2
diehardSINCE76 13-3
LawrencevilleRaider 13-3
BoKnowsFootBall 13-3
Passer Tucks Ball 13-3
Hot Mo 13-3
The community leaderboard has a tie for first place, again! Running With the Night made a comeback last week to even things up with Bodega Bay Raider, adding more drama to the competition. We also have six people within three picks of each other. Shoutout to AA for being this week’s top picker and we had 23 more people get at least 12 games right!
Remember to get your picks in and may your picks be good! There are a couple of Wednesday games this week and three on Saturday, so make sure to be on top of your picks!
