The Saints will name a starting quarterback before Week 3’s game against the Cardinals. So what does that mean for the Saints in their game against the Cardinals? Let’see the NFL odds.
Saturday, August 28, 2021 – 08:00 PM EDT at Caesars Superdome
Both of these two teams have opposite headlines after their Week 2 preseason games. The Cardinals scored just 10 points and were not sharp offensively at all behind Colt McCoy who went 13-for-18 with 113 yards and an interception. Kyler Murray was given a drive and went 1-for-4 with just two yards passing. Ultimately, the offense gained just 239 yards on offense and the defense allowed the Chiefs to score 17 points with 458 yards gained.
The Cardinals went three-and-out three times in the game. At this point, the Cardinals haven’t stated whether or not Murray will get a chance in Week 3 against the Saints. The offense was so bad at moving the ball down the field that the Cardinals defense had to defend 77 plays while the offense had just 49 plays on the night.
The Cardinals defense should be fatigued if anything. On the other hand, the Saints haven’t announced their official starter for the regular season. Head coach Sean Payton did acknowledge that he wanted to name a starter before this game but hasn’t made the decision at this time. Either way, the Saints will have a reliable quarterback under center for this game and a competition between two quarterbacks that are very capable of moving the ball down the field. At this point, it looks like Jameis Winston won the job.
He went 9-for-10 against the Jaguars in one quarter, along with two touchdowns. Each completion went for an average of 12.3 yards and he had a quarterback rating of 157.5 in that quarter. Taysom Hill went 11-for-20 in the same game and threw for one touchdown without running at all. Hill is still capable as a quarterback and would be better used in short gaining plays along with goal line plays.
This is Winston’s team. It still looks as though both quarterbacks can get some action in the game along with Trevor Siemian. All three quarterbacks have NFL experience and could absolutely move the ball down the field against non-starters. With the Saints offense thriving and the Cardinals offense slowing down, it looks as though the Saints, at home, have the edge.
I should also point out that the Saints played 80 snaps on the defensive end. Therefore, both defenses should be fatigued going into this game. Most of the time, the players finishing the game haven’t had this much game action back-to-back in a couple years. There might be scoring on both sides against these defenses.
Right now, Kyler Murray is still uncertain to play in this game. He didn’t even look good in the 11 snaps he had last week. The defense of the Cardinals struggled and the backups are likely fatigued at this point. The Saints defense also had to play a lot of downs, as stated earlier, in their game, but at least they got time off between drives! Let’s roll with the Saints in our NFL picks to conclude the preseason with a big win.
NFL Pick: Saints -3.5 (-110) with BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.