Today's Free Picks for
Posted at 10:00 AM EST. Odds are subject to change.
Baltimore +9½ -110 over Jacksonville
8:15 PM EST. Let's not dress this up. Baltimore's quarterback room looks like a triage ward. Lamar Jackson is on injured reserve after thumb surgery. hurt on the very first snap against Buffalo, Tyler Huntley is done for the season with turf toe, and the Jacoby Brissett trade arrives a game too late, so tonight it's undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano, on a taped-up ankle, making his first NFL start after going 10-of-21 for 91 yards with a pick and a lost fumble in relief on Sunday. That's exactly why this line has flipped from Baltimore -3 to Jacksonville -9½, and it's priced into the number. The total has also crashed from 48.5 to 39.5, and that's the cover math. In a game the market expects to be a rock fight, 9½ points at home on a short Thursday week is a mountain of cushion. Baltimore doesn't have to be good tonight. It has to be stubborn.
The stubbornness has a name, and it's Derrick Henry. He leads the league with 158 carries for 632 yards and eight touchdowns, and he'll get fed until Jacksonville proves it can stop him without the man in the middle who made its run defense famous. Nose tackle DaVon Hamilton, the anchor of that unit, tore his quad on Sunday and is done for the season, safety Eric Murray is also out for the year, and Travon Walker is questionable with busted ribs. The honest counter, and it's a real one: even with Hamilton, this is still the league's best run defense at 77.4 yards a game, it hasn't allowed a 75-yard rusher in 24 straight games, and Henry is grinding along at a career-low 4.0 a carry. But Hamilton's absence is the first crack in that wall all season, Justice Hill's 6.5 yards a pop gives Baltimore a change of pace, and a simplified, run-first script is the one game plan a rookie quarterback on four days can actually execute.
Jacksonville is also limping into a road Thursday nighter, lead back Bhayshul Tuten is questionable after not practising on his ankle, Jakobi Meyers is questionable with a hamstring, and its blind-side tackle spot is already patched after Anton Harrison's season-ending ACL tear. Baltimore's defence, dragged by Roquan Smith (66 tackles) and Kyle Hamilton (57 tackles, eight for loss), doesn't need to shut Lawrence down — it needs two or three empty red-zone trips and a short field or two, the kind of ugly Thursday game where a three-game losing streak and a desperate home crowd do the rest.
Jacksonville probably wins this game. Jacksonville by double digits, on the road, on a Thursday, with its run defense missing its nose tackle and a total sitting under 40, is a much bigger ask. Expect Henry 25 times, Fagnano on a short leash, and a fourth quarter where 9½ feels enormous.
Our Pick
Baltimore +9½ -110 (Risking 2.2 units - To Win: 2.00)