Thursday Night Lock: 2023 Week 16

Craig Ebinger
2 min readDec 21, 2023

--

Saints @ Rams (-4), O/U 45.5

Big, big game here on Thursday Night. Both of these NFC teams sit at 7–7 and right in the thick of the Wild Card race, with the Saints also still being in a race for the putrid NFC South crown. Both teams playing decent football lately. This should be a good one.

The Saints hang their hats on their defense primarily. Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave are as talented as they come, but Derek Carr has disappointed mightily in his first year in New Orleans. Taysom Hill, as always, will be a huge X-factor. But this team will need to stop the Rams offense to have a shot.

Speaking of the Rams offense, they’re playing well. Matthew Stafford continues to ball out, despite nobody really talking about him. Kyren Williams is a stud. And Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua provide a lethal duo for Stafford to get the ball too. Defensively, they’ve been holding their own. They really have been playing well of late and are the only team in the Wild Card race (outside of Dallas/Philly) that I could see winning a playoff game if they get in.

I’ll lay the points with the Rams here. I see this one being a comfortable win by the Rams. Quarterback play will be the difference. I’ll take the under as well.

Picks: Rams -4 (Fort Knox), UNDER 45.5 (Deadbolt)

--

--

Craig Ebinger

I like sports. I’m very opinionated. I like sharing my opinions and arguing senselessly with anyone who wants to argue.