Saints vs 49ers – Week 2 NFL Picks

Predictions

When perusing wagering sites like http://bettingsitesonline.net there are a couple of different lines that will stand out as ones that would be safe bets but there are few that look as close to sure things as the matchup between the New Orleans Saints and the San Francisco 49ers. If you are looking for any two teams that are going in opposite directions then you have most decidedly found them with the Saints and Niners. Run; don’t walk to any of your favorite sites like Bodog or Legends.com to put as much money as humanly possible on New Orleans to easily cover their 5.5 line as the favorite.

While the Saints were hardly overpowering in their Thursday night opening week matchup against the Minnesota Vikings one has to take into account the level of opponent they were matching up against. The league’s first game of the year featured a rematch of one the more well played and hard fought NFC Championship and the Saints still managed to emerge the victor yet again. Quarterback Drew Brees was hardly perfect but he was exceedingly efficient, completing 27 of 36 yards passes for 237 yards and a touchdown pass. On the ground, the Saints’ Pierre Thomas rushed for 71 yards on 19 carries and the team’s other touchdown.

For the Vikings, Adrian Peterson was able to gather over 80 yards on the ground but a stout Saints defense held the Vikings’ quarterback in check as Brett Favre completed 15 of 27 passes for just 171 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco 49ers spent Sunday and then most of the rest of the week imploding. On the field, a team that came into the season with high hopes of taking a step towards their dominant past and stepped off the field looking a lot like the same old very bad team they’ve been over the last several seasons. The 31-6 loss to divisional rival Seattle was especially insulting considering that the Seahawks were under a new head coach and was supposedly still trying to find its way after a couple of horrid seasons. Nothing went right for the 49ers’ offense. Despite throwing 45 passes, quarterback Alex Smith completed just 26 of them for 225 yards, no touchdown and two interceptions.

On the ground, the Niners were bottled up even more completely with star running back Frank Gore managing just 38 yards on 17 carries. While San Francisco’s defense actually held their own, allowing just 242 yards, Matt Hasselbeck was quite efficient completing 18 of 23 passes for 170 yards. He threw for 2 touchdowns and ran for another while dealing just one interception. Since that game, the 49ers have been at each others’ throats pointing fingers and blaming coaches for the poor outing.

None of these factors point to the 49ers even being close to the same league as the Saints. New Orleans helps their own cause with very good play against the spread including going 6-0 in their last six games in September.