NFL
Preseason Preview: New England Patriots at New Orleans Saints
Written
By David Hess (Follow me on Twitter @DavidHess311)
When: 7:30 PM ET, Saturday,
August 22, 2015
Where: Mercedes-Benz Superdome Louisiana, New Orleans
Televised: Locally
Where: Mercedes-Benz Superdome Louisiana, New Orleans
Televised: Locally
Odds: The
Saints opened as 2 points favorites and it has been bet down to 1 or 1.5 in
most shops. The O/U Line opened at 42 and has been bet up to 43.
The Patriots have had a ton of distractions in the
offseason, mainly because of Deflate game and maybe some of that spilled over
to their opening game vs the Packers in which they lost 22-11. It was a very
lackluster effort from the team and it really looked like the offseason took
had a negative impact on them. In that game the Pats could must just 117 yards
through the air and were outgained by 195 yards overall. It was not a good game
for them. Brady only played for 1 series and was 1-4 for just 10 yards. If Brady
doesn’t play on opening day then it will be Garappolo getting the nod and while
he was 20-30 for 159 yards, he also threw a pick and was sacked 7 times in the
game. They will need a much better effort from him if he plays the first few
games for the Pats and I would expect them to continue to give him a lot of
time in the preseason.
The Saints are also coming off a loss in their first
preseason game of the year, but they played a bit better than that Pats did in
their game. New Orleans lost by a score of 30-27 to Baltimore, while outgaining
the Ravens by 6 yards in the contest. Drew Brees didn’t [play in the game, but
still the Saints had 266 yards passing, with Ryan Griffin leading the way with
112 yards and 1 TD on 10-17 passing. RB Khiry Robinson was really star of the
offense as he has 35 yards rushing on 2 carries, plus 3 receptions for 37 yards
and a TD. One this that the Saints really want to look at is thir depth in the
secondary in this game. They really struggled last week and need to shore that
up as the season approaches. The backups should get plenty of time as much of
the starting secondary may be out for this one.
I can see this game going over the total. The Pats cannot
be as bad as they were on offense last week and will be taking on a much weaker
secondary than they did vs the Packers. I expect Brady to get a bit more reps here
and Garappolo should have a better showing than he did last week. The Saints
can score and Brees should get some time this week, but when he is not in there
they still showed the ability to score. The Pats defense is solid as far as
starters go, but they also lack good depth just like the Saints do. We’re going
to go high in this one.
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