Best NFL Monday Night Football Betting Picks for September 18 - Ride the Line Ep #58

A new episode of Ride the Line with Grant Mitchell and Tanner Kern is now live on all WSN platforms!

NFL Monday Night Football Betting Picks

This week of Monday Night Football is a rare double-header featuring the New Orleans Saints vs. the Carolina Panthers and the Cleveland Browns vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Grant’s first pick of the matchups is the over of 39.5 points in Saints vs. Panthers. Derek Carr threw for more than 300 yards in Week 1 and now gets to attack a Panthers secondary that is short its budding star Jaycee Horn, who has a hamstring issue. Bryce Young also had a decent NFL debut and now gets to play his first game in front of his home fans.

Tanner is 50/50 on this pick and expects the matchup to be very close in all respects. He also feels like the world doesn’t know enough about either team to properly predict how this one will go.

What Tanner does like from this matchup is Jamaal Williams over 56.5 rushing yards. Williams only had 45 yards last week, but that was against the best rushing defense in the league of the Tennessee Titans, and he was still handed 18 carries. With Alvin Kamara still serving a suspension, Williams will be featured heavily yet again.

The Panthers don’t do a great job defending the run, and Williams’ sheer volume makes this line too good to ignore.

Grant’s second pick is the Pittsburgh Steelers moneyline against the Cleveland Browns. He believes Cleveland’s lopsided Week 1 victory had more to do with Joe Burrow’s health, and he isn’t blaming the Steelers for being caught flat-footed by one of the best teams in the NFL in the San Francisco 49ers. 

Mike Tomlin is 51-28-3 against the spread as an underdog as an NFL head coach, and the Steelers have won 20 straight home Monday Night Football matchups (a streak that dates back to 1991). Grant expects a solid performance and a win for the Steelers.

NFL Monday Night Football Players Props 

The next three picks on the show are all player props. The first of this bunch is from Tanner, and he likes Nick Chubb over 83.5 rushing yards. Chubb went over in the first matchup between the two last year and almost hit the over in the second meeting despite only receiving 12 carries.

The Steelers don’t have the kind of offense that will force the Browns to abandon the run, which means Chubb should play a prominent role from start to finish. The Browns also have one of the best offensive lines in the league and just helped their star back run for 106 yards last week.

Grant’s final pick is Deshaun Watson under 204.5 passing yards. Following the same logic of the Steelers lacking a dominant offense, Watson won’t be put in a position where he has to repeatedly air the ball out. He also threw for just 154 yards last week and still looks a far cry from his Houston self.

Watson is averaging 174 yards passing in his seven-game Browns career and has only thrown for more than 170 yards twice during that time. Right tackle Jack Conklin is out with an injury, and T.J. Watt, who had three sacks last week, should cause headaches for Cleveland’s QB all night.

Tanner’s final pick is George Pickens over 42.5 receiving yards. With Diontae Johnson out and nursing an injury, Pickens will be the primary wideout in the Steelers passing attack. Kenny Pickett has struggled to get the ball to wideouts, but Pickens has enough talent to make himself available.

The co-hosts agree that the Steelers have no hope if Pickens can’t hit this total. Pickett was terrible in Week 1 but perfect in the preseason, and Pickens should have an even greater role than usual because of Johnson’s injury.

Check back next Wednesday for a new episode of Ride the Line with even more NFL betting picks!