Beating the Spread: Los Angeles [email protected] Orleans Saints

This Monday Night matchup has all the earmarks of a high-scoring shootout between veteran Drew Brees and red hot rookie Justin Herbert. The Chargers are coming off a loss in Tampa where Herbert let his presence be known with an outstanding game. Brees on the other hand lit up the Detroit Lions defense en route to a 35-29 win.

To see how the teams fair this Monday night matchup and every other game this weekend, there are NFL odds for the upcoming games out now. Looks like the Saints are going in hot this week.

Will Michael Thomas Return from his Ankle Injury?

This is a huge key for the Saints in any game they play. A glimmer of hope existed last week that Thomas might play but that diminished as game time approached. With the Saints on a bye week next week it’s a very real possibility that they hold Thomas out this week and give him the extra two weeks to heal his ankle. If they do though, the Saints still have enough weapons to put up 30 plus points.

The Saints need to force mistakes from Justin Herbert

Herbert has played well but he is still a rookie. The Saints will need to be patient defensively and apply constant pressure to have success against the rookie gunslinger. The Saints need to eliminate Herbert’s deep throws and keep everything in front of them in the secondary.

The Saints need to run the ball and control the clock

The Saints need to control the time of possession and, as crazy as it may sound, they need to avoid a track meet. The Chargers do not have a great run game, and if the Saints can control the flow of the game, then the Chargers are more likely to make critical mistakes on offense.

Prediction: The Saints will have to weather an early storm from the young Chargers. I believe they will, and the running of Alvin Kamara will slowly wear down a solid Chargers defense.

New Orleans will pull away in the fourth quarter for a comfortable win. Saints 34  Chargers 21