There has been a lot of chopping and changing to the NFL schedule over the last few days but the one thing that hasn’t changed is that we have a Monday Night Football which this week comes from the Superdome as the New Orleans Saints host the Los Angeles Chargers.
Neither of these two teams have made the best start to their season so this is a chance for them both to kick things into life in a primetime battle where winning is of huge importance if they want to be a significant factor this term.
New Orleans Saints
When the New Orleans Saints opened their season with a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers they were expected to push on and become a real force over the campaign but it hasn’t really happened like that. Injuries certainly haven’t helped their cause but there are fears that age is beginning to catch up with quarterback Drew Brees, something he will look to prove isn’t the case on the primetime slot he has to perform on here.
Michael Thomas has been a huge loss to the Saints so it isn’t helpful that he has been ruled out of this game for disciplinary reasons with rumours suggesting he punched someone in training. That is likely to keep the offense reduced to short plays and put the onus on the Saints defence to come up with the goods that will win them the match. It would certainly help if the defence steps up to the mark just to take the heat off the offense in case it is unable to make big plays.
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Los Angeles Chargers
The Los Angeles Chargers have had injury issues of their own and that has contributed to them starting their season 1-3 from their opening four matches. In one sense they will have been pleased to see the Kansas City Chiefs beaten on Sunday but given that it was to another divisional rival in the Las Vegas Raiders maybe it wasn’t such a good thing, and only proceeds to put further pressure on the Chargers to get over the line here.
Justin Herbert has taken over from the injured Tyrod Taylor at quarterback and while that looks a significant upgrade, certainly in talent, it hasn’t reflected in the results. After beating the Cincinnati Bengals in their opening game, the Chargers have dropped their last three and only last week did they score more than 20pts in a game. The Chargers need to find a way to be more effective on offense in what is becoming a very high scoring season.
Betting
There won’t be a raucous crowd to get on the back of Justin Herbert in this match but there will be an opposing defence who will be looking to get to him and while there is no doubt that Herbert has plenty of ability, he doesn’t have many wins at this level or much experience either and that was shown last week when he coughed up a silly turnover at a vital time, something he probably won’t be able to do here.
This isn’t a New Orleans Saints that is firing on all cylinders but it is a side who are still putting up plenty of points despite that and I certainly expect that trend to continue here. You sense there is going to be a lot of pressure on Herbert and his offense to continually deliver the goods during this match to stay close to the Saints which they might well do for periods but as the pressure cranks up I suspect they will be found wanting in the end. I’ll take New Orleans Saints to cover a 6.5 point spread.
Tips
Back New Orleans Saints (-6.5) to beat Los Angeles Chargers for a 3/10 stake at 1.87 with Betfred
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