Happy Holidays! In the spirit of the Holidays, the NFL decided to give us three excellent games on Christmas. The Raiders and Chiefs is the first game of the day in Kansas City, and that will be followed by the Giants and Eagles in Philadelphia before ending with the Ravens and 49ers in San Francisco. I’ve found two player prop best bets for Monday Night Football which focuses on Lamar Jackson and Brock Purdy, so without further ado, let’s get into it.
Check out our Baltimore Ravens vs San Francisco 49ers predictions
Lamar Jackson (BAL) Over 55.5 Rushing Yards (-114)
In the first half of the season, the strength of the 49ers was their offense. But after a few moves, the San Francisco defense might be just as scary now. Chase Young, Nick Bosa and Fred Warner have been wreaking havoc on opposing quarterbacks and forcing them to make much quicker decisions. For a lot of quarterbacks, that would cause errant throws and bad passes. However, I’m expecting it to be different for Lamar Jackson. Jackson’s elite speed has been a big part of his success in the NFL since he is not afraid to take off if the pocket collapses.
He should be under constant pressure and likely won’t have his normal amount of time to throw which is a perfect recipe for Jackson to use his legs. In his last two games, Jackson has 97 and 70 rushing yards. He’s going to take off roughly 10 times, so if he can get a little over 5 yards a rush, he should be able to hit this number. The best part? Jackson averages 5.48 yards per rush this season.
Brock Purdy (SF) Over 19.5 Completions (-138)
From Mr. Irrelevant to MVP frontrunner in just two seasons. Brock Purdy’s Cinderella story has been one for the ages, and if he has a good game on Christmas, the MVP award could very well be his. Purdy will be facing an elite Baltimore defense that allows the 10th fewest rushing yards and the 6th fewest passing yards per game this season, so we’re getting a slight discount on his completions due to Baltimore’s above-average defense.
In my opinion, this line is a Holiday gift. Here is how many completions the Ravens have allowed in their last five games: 25, 23, 29, 19, and 20. The 19 competitions were between Joe Burrow and Jake Browning when Burrow got injured, so it’s slightly skewed. Regardless, the Ravens are consistently allowing over 20 completions a game. Christian McCaffrey will certainly take away throwing opportunities, but the Baltimore defense line is strong and could force Purdy into more throwing chances on 2nd and 3rd down.
