Lions vs Saints Wildcard Weekend Gambling Preview
The Lions reached the 10-win plateau this season to make the playoffs, but they have a tall task to advance facing a red-hot Saints team.
Venue/ Stadium: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, LA
Time/Date: 8 PM EST Saturday, January 7, 2012
NFLOdds From: BetOnline
Moneyline: Lions +480 / Saints -610
Spread (ATS): Lions -10.5
Over/Under: 59
Detroit Lions vs. New Orleans Saints Preview
New Orleans has won 8 straight games and at home, where they did not lose this season, they averaged over 42 ppg. NFL lines have the Saints as big 10.5-point home favorites with a total of 59.
To end the regular season the Saints crushed the Carolina Panthers 45-17 and the Lions lost a 45-41 shootout to the Green Bay Packers.
This season Detroit was 7-7-2 ATS with an O/U record of 10-6 and New Orleans was a solid 12-4 ATS with an O/U record of 9-7.
These 2 NFC team met on December 4th in the Big Easy and the Saints beat the Lions 31-17.
New Orleans QB put up a record setting season breaking Dan Marino’s record for passing yards in a season and one of the main reasons is that he has one of, if not the, best WR corps in the league and TE Jimmy Graham, who had the 7th most receiving yards in the league. The Detroit pass defense only ranks 22nd in the league and in their loss to Green Bay they were facing backup QB Matt Flynn and gave up almost 500 passing yards and 6 TD.
RB’s Darren Sproles and Pierre Thomas lead the Saints and their 6th ranked rushing offense and Detroit and their 23rd ranked run defense has to keep these guys from having a big game.
It is pretty basic for the Lions, as they have to really step up on D and facing the Saints that is a tall order and for Detroit to pull off the shocker their offense may have to light up the scoreboard. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Lions’ QB Matt Stafford passed for over 5,000 yards this season and has one of the best WR’s in the game in Calvin Johnson. He also has a deep WR and a great TE in Brandon Pettigrew and will be going up against a Saints’ pass defense that only ranks 30th in the league. Stafford may have to do it all, as the Lions’ run game is far from solid and they did not have 1 RB that rushed for over 400 yards on the season.
For the Lions to win Stafford needs some help from the defense and he has to avoid the turnover. In the earlier loss to the Lions Stafford passed for 408 yards and in last week’s loss he passed for over 500 yards. I mean, he has over 900 passing yards in those games and the Lions lost both of those games.
Betting Trends
The Lions are 0-3-1 ATS in their last 4 road games, 1-4-1 ATS in their last 6 games, and in their last 7 games when they are a road underdog they have an Over record of 5-1-1.
The Saints have been a great betting team over the last couple season in their house going 11-1 ATS in their last 12 road games, are 8-0 ATS in their last 8 games overall, and in their last 4 games at home they have an Over record of 4-0.
Jason’s Pick: Hard to go with a double digit favorite in the playoffs, but the Lions will have no chance in the Super Dome to keep up with the Saints and their dynamic offense. The Saints will win and cover the 59-point spread and even though the earlier game between these 2 teams went Under I would take the Over in this game.
