Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints are picking up steam lately. They’ve won four of their past five games and are certainly looking to stretch that run for as long as they can. Up next on their schedule is a showdown with the visiting Tennessee Titans at Mercedes-Benz Superdome this coming Sunday. Will they take care of business again? Or will the Titans pull off the huge upset?
Read on below for a full breakdown of this intriguing clash. And while you’re at it, check out our other NFL Week 9 previews: Raiders vs. Steelers and Rams vs. Vikings. Enjoy.
[sc:NFL240banner ]The Tennessee Titans are still having a hard time in getting their second win of the season. They suffered another loss in Week 8, falling to the Houston Texans, 20-6. The Titans have now lost six-straight games, currently the longest losing skid right now in the NFL. The Titans, who are now 1-6 this year, will hope to finally get back on track when they pay the New Orleans Saints a visit this coming Sunday.
For that to happen, the Titans need to get things together particularly on offense, wherein they’ve been outscored 68-23 in the past three games. Playing a big role to their struggle is the absence of their prized rookie quarterback, Marcus Mariota, who’s been temporarily replaced by Zach Mettenberger for the past two games due to a persistent knee injury. In that stretch, the backup quarterback Mettenberber has completed 44 of his 66 passes for 358 yards, one touchdown and three picks while being sacked eight times.
Things could finally start clicking for the Titans this time around, though. The Saints’ defense has been shaky thus far this year with 406.2 total yards allowed per contest this season, the third-most in the league currently. That said, expect the pair of running backs in Dexter McCluster and Antonio Andrews to try taking advantage of this weakness.
McCluster has only rushed for 43 yards on 13 carries in his last two outings but still holds a team-best 176 rushing yards this season. Andrews, meanwhile, is coming off back-to-back solid performances, wherein he’s posted 121 yards on 26 rushes. The air game could prove to be another weapon that the Titans could utilize later through Kendall Wright and Delanie Walker. The two receiver have combined for 621 passing yards on the year along with four touchdowns.
Tennessee is 1-9 and 3-7 ATS in its previous 10 games as the underdogs.
After a 0-3 start, the New Orleans Saints are beginning to find their stride. The Saints have won four of their past five games and are currently on a three-game winning streak. Their most recent win was a pretty thrilling one, as they outlasted Eli Manning and the rest of the Giants Sunday night, 52-49, to improve to 4-4 on the season.
Drew Brees didn’t play like a 36-year-old at all in this one. He was on-point straight on and arguably had the best game of his career. Brees completed 40 of his 50 passes for a career-high 511 yards and became the eighth player in league history to throw for seven touchdown passes.
Furthermore, the Saints couldn’t have won that game without the solid efforts from TE Benjamin Watson and WR Marques Colston. The two combined for 261 receiving yards on 17 receptions to help their team capture the hard-fought victory.
Moving forward to Week 9, the key for New Orleans is to sustain their momentum when they play host to the visiting Tennessee Titians this coming Sunday. They have to pretty happy about this matchup since the Titans have been giving up an average of 22.6 points per contest in their previous three games.
Expect Brees and company to continue utilizing their air attack that’s currently ranks second-best in the league with 323.9 yards per contest. The pair of Watson and Colston is bound to be in for another big-time performance and also even Willie Snead and Brandon Cooks, who have combined for 905 receiving yards with two scores to their names this season.
New Orleans is 4-6 SU and 3-6-1 ATS in its last 10 home games.
