The New Orleans Saints marathon preseason comes to an end tonight when they face Tennessee Titans at LP Field in Nashville (7:00pm ET start time). NFL Preseason New Orleans Saints at Tennessee Titans Odds have Tennessee pegged as a winner in this game with the Titans currently giving 3.5 points to the Saints. This evening’s game total is presently set at 40 points.
New Orleans opened its exhibition slate on August 5th when it beat Arizona 17-10 in the Hall of Fame game. The Saints followed that contest with a ‘go through motions’ practice session with New England, which it lost 7-6. Then came home meetings with Jacksonville and Houston.
The latter of those two represented the Saints regular season dress rehearsal as the starters saw extensive action in a 34-27 win over the Texans. If that game provided any indication of how the team will perform when the games count for real, New Orleans should be just fine.
The Saints defense was suspect in some regard, but opportunistic as usual generating three Texans turnovers. As for the offense, it did not miss a beat, moving up and down the field, thanks in large part to Drew Brees (17-of-25 for 179 yards and two touchdowns), against one of the league’s best defenses from a season ago.
Suffice it to say not as much effort will be put into tonight’s game. The team, after having played four preseason games is, no doubt, looking to the regular season. And Hurricane Isaac forced New Orleans out its normal routine earlier this week, sending the team to Cincinnati where it conducted practices at Paul Brown Stadium in preparation for tonight’s meeting with Tennessee as well as its upcoming season opener against the Redskins.
The Titans will not pull out all the stops for this evening’s game either. Head Coach Mike Munchak already made the biggest decision of the preseason by naming Jake Locker the opening day starter over veteran Matt Hasselbeck. So this game is all about roster cuts for Tennessee, a reality that typically results in some sloppy football.
It should be an offensive slop-fest, though, especially with Chase Daniel, who has always shown well in the preseason, taking a lot of the snaps under center for the Saints.
Free Pick: Take the Over 40 points in tonight’s game.
NFL Preseason New Orleans Saints at Tennessee Titans Odds:
New Orleans Saints +3.5 (-110), Over 40 (-110)
Tennessee Titans -3.5 (-110), Under 40 (-110)
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