Week 18 of the NFL season is upon us, and we have a few high-leverage matchups on the slate. All roads lead to a Sunday Night Football divisional battle between the Ravens and Steelers, where the winner will take the AFC North title and advance to the playoffs. I have one play in that game, as well as two others from Sunday's schedule. Here are my top NFL Week 18 PrizePicks player predictions, which come with a 6X multiplier if you opt for the Power Play.
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Week 18 of the NFL season is upon us, and we have a few high-leverage matchups on the slate. All roads lead to a Sunday Night Football divisional battle between the Ravens and Steelers, where the winner will take the AFC North title and advance to the playoffs. I have one play in that game, as well as two others from Sunday's schedule. Here are my top NFL Week 18 PrizePicks player predictions, which come with a 6X multiplier if you opt for the Power Play.
Get instant alerts when a line reaches your target via the BettingPros App >>
Best NFL Week 18 PrizePicks Player Predictions
It was a horrific start to the season for the Saints (6-10), but they've bounced back since making the quarterback change to second-round draft pick Tyler Shough. The Saints enter Week 18 riding a four-game winning streak, and they'll try to close out the season against the 7-9 Falcons. Kick-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA.
New Orleans has faced the third-most rushing attempts per game (30.8) this season, but has held up relatively well against the run. This Brandon Staley-led defense is conceding only 4.1 yards per rush attempt, which is the eighth-best mark in the NFL. The Saints have allowed fewer than 128 rushing yards in three consecutive games.
I'll back New Orleans' front seven this weekend against Tyler Allgeier. The 25-year-old back comes into Sunday's game ranked 49th in touches per game (9.3), as well as 48th in yards per carry (3.7). Allgeier hasn’t cleared 34.5 rushing yards in four of his last five games. Overall, this season, he's 11-5 to the less than against a number of 34.5 yards, while registering 10 carries or fewer in 10 of his 16 games. Even if Allgeier does get a healthy workload, I'll bank on this rejuvenated New Orleans defense to keep him in check.
The Bears (11-5) have the NFC North locked up, and a win over the Lions (8-8) would cement them as the No. 2 seed in the conference. This divisional contest gets underway at 4:25 p.m. ET from Soldier Field in Chicago, IL.
Luther Burden III is an elite talent on the outside, but he hasn't been able to showcase his skills since the Bears are a run-first team (10th in rush play% at 46.3%), and when they do pass, they have a ton of mouths to feed. With that said, Burden has been carving out playing time, getting on the field for over 51% of the offensive snaps in four of his last five games. An added boost for Burden stakeholders is that Rome Odunze (foot) hasn't played in over a month. He didn’t practice on Thursday, so it's trending towards him not taking the field on Sunday.
Burden has six or more targets and four or more receptions in four consecutive games, and he has eclipsed this number in three straight games. The Detroit secondary continues to be plagued by injuries, so I anticipate Burden turning in another solid outing in Week 18. The Lions are currently 19th in passing yards allowed per game (218.1) and 27th in yards allowed per pass (10.8). Let's back the red-hot Burden in the Windy City on Sunday.
The Ravens (8-8) and Steelers (9-7) will be playing in a win-or-go-home game on Sunday Night Football. Baltimore is currently a 3.5-point road favorite. This AFC North rivalry is slated for 8:20 p.m. ET from Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA.
Lamar Jackson will be playing in Pittsburgh on Sunday night. The star quarterback has been dealing with several injuries (hamstring, knee, toe, back) this season, but he's set to return for this high-leverage showdown. Despite Jackson not being as explosive as we've become accustomed to, he's still averaging a respectable 5.3 rushing attempts per game.
Dating back to Week 1, Jackson has cleared this number seven times in 12 games, including logging 26+ rushing yards in three of his last four games. In the head-to-head department, Jackson has exceeded 25.5 yards in two straight games against the Steelers, as well as in seven of his last eight meetings versus the divisional foe. With the stakes being so high in this game, we should see Jackson use his legs to make plays when required.
