Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints Betting Preview
Opening Line: Cardinals +7 / Saints -7 O/U 57
Time: 4:30 PM EST Saturday January 16, 2010 on FOX
The New Orleans Saints host the Arizona Cardinals in this Saturday's NFC playoff match up that may be a barnburner to say the least. Don't look for a lot of defense in this game, as the Saints and the Cardinals can really light up the scoreboard. Drew Brees leads the Saints and their dynamic offense against Kurt Warner and a Cardinals team that scored 51 points in last week's Wild Card win over the Green Bay Packers. The Saints lost their last 3 games of the season, but they should be ready and healthy for this game.
This season the Saints were 6-2 at home and 8-8 ATS and the Cardinals were 6-2 on the road and 9-7 ATS.
The Cardinals are 4-4 ATS in away games and the Saints are 6-2 ATS at home.
Kurt Warner leads the Cardinals and their 14th ranked offense that blew up last week in the win over Green Bay. Warner was almost perfect in the Green Bay game going 29/33 for 379 yards with 5 TD's. The Saints' defense will key on Warner and to take some pressure off him the rushing offense needs to help him out, which they did not do this season. However, rookie RB Beanie Wells had 91 rushing yards last week and if he can run like that again Arizona has a legit shot to score the upset in the Big Easy. WR Anquan Boldin is questionable for this game, but the Saints' secondary still has to have good coverage on Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston, who last week were solid combining for 13 receptions, 207 yards, and 3 TD's. The Saints' defense ranked 25th in the league this season and how will they stop the Cardinals offense that racked up 51 points against Green Bay, who had the league's 2nd ranked defense?
The Saints had the league's top-ranked offense and they are well balanced with Drew Brees (4,388 yds 34 TD 11 INT) and the RB duo of Pierre Thomas (793 yds 6 TD) and Mike Bell (654 yds 5 TD). If these 2 can pick up some yards rushing the ball it will give the Saints a HUGE advantage, as it will help keep the Arizona offense on the sidelines since New Orleans will be able to control the clock. The Cardinals ranked 20th in the league on defense this season, but they are better at defending the run than the pass, as they gave up an average of 233.7 passing yards per game. Arizona gave up 45 points to the Packers last week, so the big question is can they stop the Saints from scoring a ton of points this week?