GREG COTE’S NFL WEEK 7 THURSDAY PICK

BRONCOS (3-3) at SAINTS (2-4)

Line: DEN by 2 1/2.

Cote’s pick: DEN, 20-17.

TV: 8:15 p.m. Thursday, Prime Video.

If you had Bo Nix vs. Spencer Rattler before the season as your Week 7 QB matchup, congrats. You’re alone, globally. Nix, yeah. But Rattler as an emergency deployment on account of Derek Carr’s injury could not be foreseen. [Fun fact: Rattler is a German-origin surname that, according to geneanet.org, is derivative of “prattle or malicious gossip; hence a nickname for a prattler or possibly for a bony man, someone with clanking bones.”] Where were we? Oh yeah. Football game. Coach Sean Payton returning to Superdome to face his ex-Saints in Denver duds is the other storyline here. Payton will want this win badly and should get it in the first meeting in this occasional series since 2020. Saints make a very tempting home ‘dog, though, especially with Denver likely without top cornerback Pat Surtain to a concussion. Nix is 2-1 starting on road but the difference will be the Broncos’ top-five defense, even sans Surtain. The bony man with clanking bones, Rattler, took four sacks in his pro debut last week and Broncos are second in league in QB plundering with 22 of those.

(Betting line courtesy ESPNBet as of afternoon Wednesday.)

©2024 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.