NFL-X Thursday Preview – New Orleans vs New England
Before NFL gambling fans turn their attention to other sports betting events this week, we have the Thursday NFL Preseason game of the day pick for you. It’s time for our weekly Football preseason picks for online NFL betting action.
Pre-Season Record:
New Orleans: 0-0-0 SU
New England: 0-0-0 SU
NFL Preview For Thursday August 12, 2010: New Orleans Saints @ New England Patriots (-1 ½)
Let the sports betting being on the NFL preseason. Now that the Hall of Fame game is in the books, we can get to figuring out which players will be staying with what teams. NFL betting in the preseason can be tricky and almost frustrating. The thing to keep an eye on in the preseason is the teams that perform well in the second half of their games. Those are the teams with the depth that could cause problems in the regular season.
The New Orleans Saints made very few changes from their Super Bowl championship roster, which was to be expected. But the Saints will have to deal with the distraction that will come with the Reggie Bush NCAA football betting scandal. Bush is accused of accepting gifts that violate a lot of NCAA football rules, and the NCAA is not fooling around on this.
The rest of the Saints are in place, including undisputed team leader Drew Brees. Brees has the likes of wide receivers Marques Colston, Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem to throw to, along with Bush out of the backfield. The Saints have a solid offensive line, and their running game this season will feature a full season of Pierre Thomas.
The online football betting world is curious to see what this version of the New England Patriots will look like. Gone are the days of a Richard Seymour/Tedy Bruschi defense that no one could run against, and gone are the days of that perfect mix of veterans and rookies in the secondary. This defense is made up mostly of first and second year players.
On offense the Patriots still have some weapons in Wes Welker, Randy Moss and the addition of wide receiver Torry Holt from the Rams. Quarterback Tom Brady is still at the helm, and when Brady and head coach Bill Belichick are together anything can happen.
The Patriots problem this season will be with depth. As in, they have none. If Brady gets hurt there is no Matt Cassel waiting in the wings to take over. If anyone on the Patriots offensive line gets hurt then the passing and running games are in trouble. The Patriots are set at running back with Laurence Maroney, Sammy Morris and newest acquisition Fred Taylor. But if the line cannot block, then these guys are not going anywhere.
The thing to watch in this game is how the new-look Patriot defense will hold up to the first-string Saints offense. While both sides will be running generic schemes, the fact is that if the Patriots’ first string defense gets rolled up in this game then it could be a very long season for the New England fans.
On the Saints side of the ball the thing to watch is running back Pierre Thomas. Drew Brees will get the ball to his receivers just like he did last season, but Thomas is not the power running back that Deuce McAllister was. The power of McAllister and the speed of Bush is what made the Saints running game go. Thomas is speed with some impressive power. It will be interesting to see how the Saints use Bush now that he is no longer needed as a running back.
Pick: New Orleans Saints 20-10
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Poolside Rants hails from beautiful Bozeman Montana by way of Toronto, Canada. (Blame his wife for the move). He’s a Dallas Cowboys football honk. But please….don’t hold that against him. The man knows his sports and has uncanny knowledge when it comes to picking games.
