It’s never a bad game for gambling
The 2024 NFL regular season is approaching its end—there are just two more weeks to go. That means some teams are still trying to earn a playoff spot, control their division, or get completely out of it and develop for next year.
On Monday Night Football, the Green Bay Packers are hosting the New Orleans Saints, with one team keeping pace in their division and another with nothing to play for.
The Saints are already eliminated from contention. They fired head coach Dennis Allen back in November and are at the point where they may want to see who they have on the roster to keep around for 2025. They nearly beat the Washington Commanders last week but failed to get the two-point conversion. They’ve had a revolving doors of quarterbacks since Derek Carr was injured; going from Spencer Rattler to Jake Haener and back to Rattler. Yes, injuries were involved, but the Saints are a mess when you see the position doing that.
Speaking of injuries, it gets worse. Carr remains sidelined, and running back Alvin Kamara is also out for the game. That makes the offense pretty much inefficient. Uh-oh.
The Packers need no introduction. They do not yet have a playoff spot and play in the hyper-competitive NFC North. Their rivals, the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings have clinched playoff berths but not the division. At this point, the Packers are on the outside looking in for the division crown, but they can still get a Wild Card spot with a win tonight.
It’s a simple “win and they’re in” here. It’s the Saints, so it’s not like they have a difficult opponent, but we watched the Dallas Cowboys come out yesterday and beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers so that the Saints could be dangerous.
The difference is the Saints have no offense. At all.
FanDuel Sportsbook has the Packers favored by 14.5 points. That’s quite a point spread. While I’m tempted to take the Saints and the 14.5 points, I just can’t. They are that bad. I’ve seen how the Packers have been rolling teams. Give me the Packers, and I hope they keep the momentum. The over-under is set at 43.5 points. Given the two touchdowns the Packers need for me to win this thing, I’m taking the under here. 43.5 points is assuming the Packers score all the points. That’s possible, but 43.5? Eh, I’ll roll the dice. I’m not feeling particularly good about that one.
However, I’m interested in a prop: the New Orleans Saints’ total points. It’s set at 13.5 points. Take the under. Without a quarterback and Kamara, the Saints’ offense isn’t going to score much. Plus, this isn’t in a dome.
Good luck.