When it comes to NFL online betting, a multiple loss regular season start is, for the New Orleans Saints, par for the course since 2014. Not so, though, for the New England Patriots, who, since 2001, have not had a 0-2 start. Something, since they can’t both win, will have to give this Sunday. “We learned a lot against Kansas City, certainly in the fourth quarter,” Pats head coach Belichik said, per ESPN, of being outscored 21-0 in the final 15 minutes. “Hopefully we can improve on it and do a better job here the next time around.”
"We’ll have to have a really good performance on Sunday. That’s what we’re working towards."
Belichick presser: https://t.co/mcFxL7L5Qp pic.twitter.com/0saii997Eb
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 13, 2017
- Date: Sunday, 17th September
- Time: 1:00 PM
- Venue: Mercedes-Benz Superdome
Sportsbook Online NFL Betting Website Odds:
Patriots -6½ (-115) 55½ (-110) -280
Saints +6½ (-105) 55½ (-110) +230
A little less Wayne Brady and a little more Tom Brady
Patriots starting quarterback Tom Brady is, according to the Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian, “going to light it up against the Saints at the Superdome in New Orleans.” Among her reasons, and this not verbatim, is the fact that, if the Saints, whose pass defense was the, and continues to be amongst, the worst in the league, made Sam Bradford look like Tom Brady, then they should make Tom Brady look like a state-of-the-art robot from the future. That would, under normal circumstances, most certainly be the case, but the Pats’ shortcomings, both defensive and offensive, don’t seem, as seen against the Chiefs, to be of the kind that can be fixed, Belichik or no, in a week. History, at the very least, is on the Patriots’ side. The Pats have not, since 2015, lost, whether SU or ATS, straight games; on the contrary, they have bounced back in 17 of their last 20 games following a loss. New England, moreover, won their eight 2016 away games – six by double digits – and covered the NFL online betting spread in seven.
How bad is the Saints’ defense?
New Orleans’ defense is so bad that it doesn’t just seem that they are undermanned; they had, in fact, just 10 men on the field for their first play against the Minnesota Vikings. “We had it initially as a nickel call, and we ended up with just two corners instead of the third corner,” was head coach Sean Payton’s explanation. That was, all things considered, blooper-reel stuff. The truly preoccupying part was that, though Sam Bradford isn’t a deep ball kind of guy, the allowed him many deep balls, the Saints did.
One can help but wonder what, if his arm is screwed on right, Tom Brady could do to them. Then again, one could, by the same token, speculate on what Drew Brees could do, were he to face the same Pats that Alex Smith did. Two veteran gunslingers going up against two defenses that, like Casper the Friendly Ghost, are barely there? That is, right there, a recipe for the NFL online betting total going over, as has been the case in seven of the last nine games between the Patriots and the Saints.