NFL Week 12 Betting – Desperate Saints, Ravens Battle on MNF

Baltimore Ravens at New Orleans Saints (-3, 50.5 o/u)

Coming off a late-season bye week, the Baltimore Ravens (6-4, 2-3 away) have to be happy about their play so far, which has them in the hunt in the AFC North.

Said Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, “Players took some time off and kind of emotionally and physically recharged a little bit. You don’t realize how exhausted you are until you get a chance to take a deep breath and relax.”

Tonight, it’s time for the re-charged Ravens to get back to work against an underachieving yet still dangerous New Orleans Saints squad (4-6, 3-2 home).

After all three of their division-mates posted week 12 wins, the Ravens need a W to keep pace. Though the Saints have lost two straight at home, the Superdome has been one of the toughest stadiums in which to post a road win during the Drew Brees/Sean Payton era. The Ravens know the challenge that lies ahead.

Said Harbaugh, “We’re going to have a tough environment. They’re coming off two losses, they’re a very proud team, very well coached, very talented. Great quarterback, aggressive defense.”

Those Saints losses include a 27-24 OT game against the San Francisco 49ers and an embarrassing 27-10 defeat against the Cincinnati Bengals. Prior to those two games, the Saints had won 11 in a row at home.

Despite a lackluster season so far, the Saints find themselves on top of the NFC South (after Atlanta lost on Sunday). But the division lead has not skewed reality for the struggling squad.

Said quarterback Drew Brees, “We can’t escape the reality of where we are right now. You are what your record says you are. We’re a 4-6 team right now. None of us feel that because we’re still in contention that that’s good enough. We still have a lot of work to do.”

New Orleans head coach Sean Payton hopes his team can turn it around in the latter part of the season and perhaps surprise a team or two in the playoffs.

“There have been a number of tough losses, close losses, and what that means is at this point in the season, that margin for error becomes that much more slight,” he said. “We’re playing a six-game season right now. The emphasis will shift very quickly to Baltimore and our preparations. We have to find a way to get a win this week.”

Despite their recent home woes, New Orleans (-3) is probably your safest bet.

(By dbking (originally posted to Flickr as _MG_5421) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)