New Orleans Saints vs. San Diego Chargers Preview
Where: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego
When: Sunday, October 2, 2016, 1:00 PM ET
Line: New Orleans Saints vs. San Diego Chargers – view all NFL lines
TV Broadcast: FOX
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Betting on the New Orleans Saints
There was nothing for the Saints’ defense to be proud of Monday, as New Orleans lost a gun battle with Atlanta at home, 45-32.
The Saints run defense was particularly bad with Atlanta finishing with 217 rushing yards. All told, Atlanta compiled 442 total yards against New Orleans. Such defense would be a deer in the headlights of San Diego next week, as the Chargers also boast of a prolific offense albeit one that is missing some key pieces.
Defense has long been a problem for the Saints and seeing their stop unit gutted again next week wouldn’t come as a surprise. All these point to another huge responsibility for Drew Brees and the Saints offense to carry the team.
Brees was solid on Monday despite not having Willie Snead down field. Brees passed for 376 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. It was encouraging to see Coby Fleener show signs of life after being a non-factor in the first two weeks of the season.
Fleener caught seven passes and turned those into 109 receiving yards with a touchdown. Fleener could hit pay dirt again versus San Diego defense that ranked just 23rd against tight ends over the first two weeks of football per Football Outsiders.
New Orleans is 3-0 ATS in its last three road games.
Betting on the San Diego Chargers
Phillip Rivers deserves some praise for his efforts of keeping San Diego’s afloat amid the rash of injuries that hit the offense.
Like the Saints, San Diego is looking to bounce back following a 26-22 loss to the Colts Sunday. Rivers wasn’t able to pass for a touchdown but completed 26 of 29 passes for 330 yards with no interceptions. That’s some performance from Rivers considering that he’s missing Keenan Allen, Danny Woodhead and Antonio Gates. Up against New Orleans’ problematic defense, Rivers appears to have a better week ahead of him.
Hopefully, the same is true for San Diego’s backfield, which spat out just 37 rushing yards in the Colts game. Melvin Gordon ran for only 35 yards despite 16 carries.
With Woodhead out with an ACL injury, Gordon is expected to be the bell cow moving forward, though he has to show more consistency to keep opponents from ganging up on the Chargers’ passing attack. The Saints are the worst in defending against the run this season so Gordon’s eyes must be flashing with excitement right now. San Diego is 14th in the NFL with 114.0 rushing yards per game.
San Diego has a classy record of 2-0 ATS in its last two home games.
Writer’s Prediction
New Orleans wins, 37-31.
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