We move into Week 7 of the NFL 2024 season, which begins as always with the Thursday Night Football which this week comes from the Superdome as the New Orleans Saints welcome their former coach Sean Payton and his Denver Broncos side to Louisiana.
Both these teams have offered promise at times this season but come into this match off the back of a defeat and with something to prove as we move closer towards the halfway point in the campaign of each side.
New Orleans Saints
When the New Orleans Saints came out of the traps with a couple of wins for their season there were thoughts that they could go on and dominate a largely weak looking NFC South division this season. Those thoughts have quickly evaporated though because they have followed with four straight defeats, the latest of which saw the Tampa Bay Buccaneers putting up a 50 burger on them in a really tame loss, not least because the Saints scored 27 points in the second quarter of that match to lead at one point.
The positive from that match was that their offense showed signs of getting it together after a couple of quiet weeks but there can be nothing nice about their defence being absolutely torched, by a decent offense but certainly not an elite performing one. The Saints are now under pressure here because with the wildcard spots likely to be filled by the NFC North, they are in a position where if they go 2-5 for the year they will be chasing their own tail.
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Denver Broncos
In an opposite trend to their opponents in this match, the Denver Broncos lost their opening two matches and looked like the ordinary side that many portrayed them to be this term. In a tough division and with little in the way of offensive stars it immediately looked like this would be a testing campaign for those in Colorado but to their credit they came flying back with three successive wins and suddenly became dark horses for a shot at the playoffs.
Things were derailed a touch on Sunday when they slipped up against the Los Angeles Chargers in a match where they were beaten much more comfortably than the seven point margin which was eventually the difference between the sides. The Broncos defence has been tough as teak for much of the campaign and there has been improvement in them offensively. You sense they are still a work in progress but the good thing is there is progression and they have a stage here to show that they have moved on once again.
Betting
The Denver Broncos are the favourites for this match, which feels right after the shellacking that New Orleans Saints took at the weekend but I’m still not cut up on Bo Nix enough to be taking a side to cover a field goal on the road on a Thursday night game even allowing for the injury issues that the Saints have right now. I would rather be on Denver than New Orleans but I think a better bet could lie elsewhere in a game scenario where the Broncos do go on and win.
New Orleans have the nasty recipe of a rookie quarterback and a bashed up offensive line on show here on a short week and that could lead to the Denver Broncos’ defence going quarterback hunting, especially if they can take Alvin Kamara out of the game by getting a couple of scores in front. Only the New York Giants have had more sacks this season than the Broncos, who have recorded 22 of them with all but four of them coming in the last four weeks so the Denver defence is having a good time of it getting to the quarterback. Against a rookie who might need longer than he gets to get the passes off and a bashed up o-line which has to go again after being blitzed regularly four days ago, this feels like a great chance for Denver to collect at least four more sacks.
Tips
Back Denver Broncos – Over 3.5 sacks for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Bet365
