Baltimore Ravens (8-4) at Pittsburgh Steelers (5-7), 1 p.m., CBS
Line: Steelers -2.5 | Total: 37
Last year when the Ravens were 8-4, Lamar Jackson hurt his ankle, and Baltimore didn’t win another game all season. This week, Jackson is likely to be out with a sprained posterior cruciate ligament, with Tyler Huntley filling in. Even without Jackson, the Ravens’ defense is good enough this year to beat the Steelers, who only average 17.8 points per game. Pick: Ravens +2.5
Kansas City (9-3) at Denver Broncos (3-9), 4:05 p.m., CBS
Line: Broncos +9.5 | Total: 43
This was scheduled as a quarterback duel, but the Broncos’ defense remains the team’s main draw this season. Kansas City owns the league’s highest scoring offense (29.2 points per game) and Denver has the lowest scoring offense (13.8), but the difference may come from Kansas City’s defense, which gives up an average of 237.3 passing yards per game. Russell Wilson and company should manage to cover the 9.5-point spread at home 5,200 feet above sea level. Pick: Broncos +9.5
Carolina Panthers (4-8) at Seattle Seahawks (7-5), 4:25 p.m., Fox
Line: Seahawks -3.5 | Total: 43.5
The Seahawks are nothing if not efficient. Geno Smith has the best completion percentage in the N.F.L., the team averages 244.4 passing yards per game, and Seattle’s 26.5 points per game is the fifth-highest in the league. But Seattle’s defense struggles against the run, a fault that Panthers running back D’Onta Foreman will surely try to take advantage of. And yet, Carolina hasn’t won a game on the road yet this season. Pick: Seahawks -3.5
Monday Night’s Game
New England Patriots (6-6) at Arizona Cardinals (4-8), 8:15 p.m., ESPN
Line: Cardinals +1 | Total: 44.5
The Patriots are on the postseason bubble, having lost to the Bills and the Vikings, two defeats that knocked New England’s playoff chances down to 18 percent, according to The Times’ playoff projections. They’ve struggled offensively, scoring just 21 offensive touchdowns all season, but the good news is that the Cardinals seem to hate playing at home. Arizona has lost 11 of its past 12 home games. That’s part of the reason 90 percent of the money wagered so far has come in on the Patriots, who are slight road favorites. Pick: Patriots -1
How Betting Lines Work
A quick primer for those who are not familiar with betting lines: Favorites are listed next to a negative number that represents how many points they must win by to cover the spread. Buccaneers -2.5, for example, means that Tampa Bay must beat the Seahawks by at least 3 points for its backers to win their bet. Gamblers can also bet on the total score, which is whether the teams’ combined score in the game is over or under a preselected number of points.
Betting-market data is taken from Action Network’s Public Betting data, and lines are taken from Unabated’s real-time-odds tracker.
