Saints home underdogs for second straight week despite shutout upset over Raiders

After a dominating home win against the Las Vegas Raiders, the New Orleans Saints are looking to keep things rolling in a struggling NFC South. According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Saints open as 3-point home underdogs against their Week 9 opponent, the Baltimore Ravens.

Because home teams are typically favored by 3 points as a matter of course, a 3-point line here means the odds-makers believe the Saints to be almost a touchdown-worse than the Ravens if the two teams played on a neutral site. For what it’s worth, the Raiders were 2.5-point favorites heading into the Saints’ Week 8 contest, and New Orleans shut out the Raiders by a 24-0 score.

Derek Carr was far from a mobile quarterback, and if there’s one thing that’s continued to give the Saints problems historically, it’s been quarterbacks who can run. At the same time, the two mobile quarterbacks the Saints have played this season - Marcus Mariota and Geno Smith - the Saints were able to beat. Lamar Jackson, though, is on a different level.

For the Saints, the key will be if their defense can continue to play like we just saw against the Las Vegas Raiders. Despite odds-makers liking the Ravens in this matchup, if the pass rush especially can replicate what they did against the Raiders - and also if Marshon Lattimore, Jarvis Landry, and/or Michael Thomas are able to return this week - this is most definitely a game the Saints could steal.

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