Saints Season Outlook

By: Grant

New Orleans Saints Season Betting Outlook

MY BET: SAINTS WIN TOTAL OVER 8.5 +100
The idea that Vegas really thinks that the Saints will have a losing season this year is
ludicrous to me. They were as bad as I’ve seen them last season since 2016 and still were a 17-0
blown lead away from making the playoffs last season at 9-8. As I mentioned in the bet
previously, New Orleans is a much-improved team from a season ago.

I have been a Saints fan my entire life. There have been many ups and downs, but mostly
disappointing downs when the team really could have gone deeper into the playoffs than they did
or had the worst defense in the league year after year. So, I’ve seen a thing or two with the Saints
and know a few things about them as well.

Last season was the first time since 2016 that the Saints missed the playoffs. That being
said, the offense was the worst I have ever seen it. While people might lean toward the fact that
this was the first season the Saints had without Drew Brees as to the reason why the offense was
so terrible this past season, these folks are sorely mistaken. These people must not have
remembered the way that 2020 went for Drew. Although his statistics were decent, the injury
bug plagued him and it was clear that his arm strength was no longer there. That team, 2020,
made it to playoffs and really could have won the Superbowl. Now, why is that? The reason is
the spectacular play from the New Orleans defense.

The notable losses on the defensive side of the ball are Marcus Williams, who signed a 5
year, 100-million-dollar contract with Baltimore, and Malcolm Jenkins. Williams, an outstanding

safety for the Saints, will certainly be missed. However, the Saints signed Tyrann Mathieu and
Marcus Maye to replace him. This will translate well to the Saints defense because the secondary
is already outstanding, but they needed more safety help. Mathieu will play the centerfield role
that is missing with Williams leaving and Marcus Maye should be another good addition, given
that he comes back well from his ACL injury. Beyond Mathieu and Maye, this defense is
absolutely loaded.

Marshon Lattimore is one of the best corners in the game. Jalen Ramsey, who is widely
regarded as the best corner in the league, even said that Lattimore is the second best.
Furthermore, Lattimore is in the prime of his career and is posed to lock down your favorite
receiver every Sunday this fall. His counterpart, Paulson Adebo, is going into his second season
in the NFL and already has an entire year’s worth of experience. He widely exceeded
expectations in year one, and is beginning to look like a younger version of Lattimore. In
addition, all the news out of Saints training camp is that Adebo is the camp’s MVP up to this
point. In terms of the linebackers, Demario Davis seems ageless as he continues to be one of the
best linebackers in the league even into his 30s. Beyond that, Pete Werner is coming off an
outstanding rookie year and should have no issue stepping up into a more permanent, starting
role next to Davis. Finally, the defensive line is led by Cameron Jordan who should end up being
a Hall of Famer one day. His production is still extremely high and is able to get pressure on the
quarterback on just about every other play.

In addition to the defense being just as good, if not better than they were last year, they
should actually have an offensive counterpart this season. What teams can you think of went

from having their WR1 from a year ago become their WR4 at best? If you can think of one that
isn’t this year’s Saints, I would love to know who that team was and what they were able to
accomplish that season. Last season, former Vol Marquez Callaway was the best receiver on the
team. A major contributer to that was the absence of star Wide-Receiver Michael Thomas for the
entire season. Thomas is on track to come back for week 1, and if he is anything like he was pre-
injury (2019 OPOY, Offensive Player of the Year) then Jameis Winston will be very happy with
that.

The Saints landed a guy who is destined to be a star in this league in Chris Olave in the
draft. He is the perfect idea of what you would want a counterpart of Michael Thomas to be. He
is quick, with outstanding route running and a deep threat down the field. Jameis Winston is a
guy who wants to sling the ball deep down the field, so Olave will certainly be a name to watch
out for. Lastly, the Saints added reliable veteran Jarvis Landry to the receiving corp. Landry is
fantastic at getting open in the short range and should be a much better option for Jameis than
Callaway was last season.

Outside of the Receiver room, the Saints have a few more good weapons for a healthy
Jameis Winston to use. Alvin Kamara is probably the first name that comes to mind, and with
each passing day it seems to be more and more clear that he will be on the field and not
suspended for week one. If Kamara is suspended, he will likely only miss six games (if Watson
only gets eleven no way Kamara gets anything). Additionally, Taysom Hill will go back to his
Swiss-Army knife role since he will not be needed to play quarterback.

So, now that my rant on the quality of the offense and defense is over, I will conclude this
section with a question to you. Do you really believe that a team with a defense this good and a
much-improved offense will do worse than they did last year at 9-8 when they were the worst
offense in the NFL after Jameis got injured?

MY BONUS BET: SAINTS -5.5 @ ATLANTA (-110)

For getting this far in my article, thank you. Now, you may be tired of hearing about the
Saints in this, but this bet is money. These two rivals are going in opposite directions where the
Falcons look like they are in a complete rebuild whereas the Saints are looking to build on their
streak of five straight winning seasons.

New Orleans is more than comfortable in Atlanta as they have won there in four
consecutive seasons. Part of that comfortability comes with New Orleans fans nearly
outnumbering Atlanta fans in Atlanta. The Saints will not have to deal with crowd noise, and
playing a dome is nothing new for this group.

The non-game conditions are set up well for the Saints, but I believe the on field play
benefits the Saints the most. Their defense is going to have a field day against Marcus Mariota
and should score enough to support them. Mariota’s weapons will have zero space to get open
and he will not be able to scramble the way he wants to due to Demario Davis’ and Pete
Werner’s range. As aforementioned, Mariota’s weapons will struggle. Kyle Pitts may be a
matchup issue, but having a guy like Mathieu on him will challenge Pitts physically and he will
also likely have to deal with double teams all game. His only other true option, Drake London,

will be making his NFL debut against Marshon Lattimore. That is certainly going to be a rude
welcome to the league for London as there are no other quality receivers on the roster.

On the other side of the ball, I don’t see how Atlanta will be able to stop New Orleans.
Last matchup, the Saints were able to drop 30 on them with Taysom Hill and Trevor Semien as
the quarterbacks. This time, the Falcons will not be so fortunate in terms of opponent injury.
Jameis Winston is healthy and has weapons (Michael Thomas, Chris Olave, Jarvis Landry,
Taysom Hill, Alvin Kamara, Deonte Harty, etc) who are going to shred through this weak
defense.

All of that said, lock it in that the New Orleans Saints will not only win in week 1 against
their rival Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta, but they will also win by six points or more. Thank you all
for reading this article, and I will catch you later with my week 1 picks and recap.