NFL Week 16 Picks: Vegas Odds, Props and Predictions Before Saturday Night

The New Orleans Saints lost their first two games of the year, the second of which came at home against the New England Patriots.

They have not dropped another in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome since then, reeling off six straight home wins. They have a chance to close out their home schedule with a seventh straight victory, as they host the Atlanta Falcons in their penultimate game of the season.

It is a vital game for both teams, as the Saints can clinch the NFC South with a win and a loss or tie by the Carolina Panthers. The Falcons are in the NFC's second wild-card position, and they are fighting to stay in the playoff structure. A loss would hurt their chances.

The Falcons hung on to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-21 in the Week 15 Monday night game, but that victory was not the result of a stellar performance. Atlanta barely hung on against a below-average team, and they face the best team in the division in Week 16.

The Falcons have a crew of explosive offensive players, led by Matt Ryan, Devonta Freeman and Julio Jones, and they should be good enough to run out to big leads in a majority of their games. While that is what happened in 2016, it has not taken place often this years.

That's a problem heading into this game. The Saints dropped a 20-17 decision in Atlanta in Week 14, and they are pointing to this game to help them secure first place and to get a bit of revenge against their most hated rival.

New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees is having another excellent year, having completed 71.8 percent of his passes for 3,850 yards and 21 touchdowns, and the Saints are getting excellent production from running backs Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara, who were both named to the Pro Bowl Tuesday.

They became the first pair of running backs from the same team to make the Pro Bowl since Jim Otis and Terry Metcalf of the St. Louis Cardinals accomplished the feat in 1975.

Wideout Michael Thomas has caught 94 passes for 1,085 yards with five touchdowns and has 19 receptions of 20 yards or more. Explosive Ted Ginn has also been productive, and tight end Coby Fleener is also a threat.

The Saints are 5.5-point favorites, and the Falcons have not shown the consistency to stay with this motivated team for 60 minutes on the road. Take the Saints to win and cover.

NFL Week 16 Matchups, Odds

Indianapolis at Baltimore (-13.5)  | O/U 40.5 

Minnesota (-9) at Green Bay* | O/U 40

Atlanta at New Orleans (-5.5) | O/U 52.5

Buffalo* at New England (-11.5) | O/U 47.5

Cleveland at Chicago (-6.5) | O/U 38

Denver at Washington (-3.5) | O/U 40.5

Detroit (-4.5) at Cincinnati | O/U 43

L.A. Chargers (-6.5) at N.Y. Jets | O/U 42

L.A. Rams (-6.5) at Tennessee* | O/U 47.5

Miami* at Kansas City (-10) | O/U 43

Tampa Bay at Carolina (-10) | O/U 46.5

Jacksonville (-4.5) at San Francisco* | O/U 42.5

N.Y. Giants at Arizona (-3.5) | O/U 40

Seattle at Dallas (-4.5) | O/U 47

Pittsburgh (-8.5) at Houston* | O/U 44

Oakland* at Philadelphia (-9) | O/U 47.5

*Will cover spread but fail to win game.

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

Detroit Lions at Cincinnati Bengals

The Detroit Lions are a game behind the Falcons for the final NFC playoff spot with two gameweeks to play, and Atlanta has the tiebreaker edge based on a last-second head-to-head victory earlier this year.

However, all is not lost for the Lions, as the Falcons have a tough closing schedule, with games against New Orleans and the Carolina Panthers to come.

If the Lions win against the Cincinnati Bengals and in their regular-season finale against the Green Bay Packers and the Falcons lose both, the Lions would have a one-game edge.

That would be enough to get them into the playoffs, even if the Dallas Cowboys or Seattle Seahawks (they play each other in Week 16) win out. The Lions have the tiebreaker edge over both, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.

If the Lions win out and the Saints lose to the Falcons and then the Bucs in their regular-season finale, they could get in if there is a three-way tie between the Lions, Saints and Cowboys or Seahawks or a four-way tie between the Lions, Falcons, Saints and Cowboys or Seahawks.

The Saints would take the playoff spot if they are in a two-way tie with the Lions.

The Lions have to take care of business against the Bengals. Matthew Stafford is playing well, completing 66.3 percent of his passes for 3,920 yards with 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He has a pair of dependable wideouts in Golden Tate and Marvin Jones, while tight end Eric Ebron continues to improve.

The Bengals don't appear to have much left. After pushing the Pittsburgh Steelers hard in Week 13 before losing, they have been blown out in consecutive weeks by the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings.

While a loss to the Vikings on the road is understandable, getting roasted at home by the Bears is not. It appears the Bengals will part company with head coach Marvin Lewis at the end of the season, and they won't put up much resistance Sunday.

The Lions are 4.5-point road favorites, and they will win by double digits.

Prop Bet

We are looking at the Vikings-Packers game at Lambeau Field for Week 16's prop bet. 

The focus is on the first touchdown scorer in the game, and it's not surprising that five Vikings are mentioned prior to any Packer. Green Bay announced Tuesday that quarterback Aaron Rodgers is going on the IR list, and that means the team will turn back to Brett Hundley.

Adam Thielen, Latavius Murray, Stefon Diggs and Kyle Rudolph are all 7-1 to score the first touchdown, per Oddschecker, followed by Jerick McKinnon at 8-1

Running back Jamaal Williams is the first Packer listed at 10-1. His teammate Davante Adams is also 10-1, while Jordy Nelson 12-1 and Hundley is 16-1.

We are going to roll the dice and go with Hundley. The belief here is he will lead the Packers to an early drive and scramble into the end zone from a maximum of 10 yards to score the game's first touchdown.

The payoff will be solid, and it's worth a play.

All spreads according to OddsShark.