{"id":7096,"date":"2010-09-08T16:30:26","date_gmt":"2010-09-08T21:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=7096"},"modified":"2010-09-08T15:58:18","modified_gmt":"2010-09-08T20:58:18","slug":"nfl-picks-vikings-vs-saints-football-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-picks-vikings-vs-saints-football-predictions-7096\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Picks: Vikings Vs Saints Football Predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The super bowl champs open up as 4.5 point home favorites according to the NFL odds makers<\/figcaption><\/figure>The Minnesota Vikings visit the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints to kick off Thursday night\u2019s 2010 NFL regular season in hopes of avenging a heartbreaking loss in last year\u2019s NFC Championship Game.\u00a0 The Vikings covered the 4-point spread for NFL picks handicappers as road underdogs in the last meeting back on January 24 that left them just short of making the big game in a 31-28 loss.\u00a0 But you can bet Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre decided to come back for another season rather than start his retirement just so he could try to redeem himself after his interception at the end of the fourth quarter cost his team a shot at a potential game-winning field goal.<\/p>\n

The Saints begin defense of their first-ever title as similar favorites at -4.5 on the current NFL odds line with the total set at 48.\u00a0 They will do so though without starting free safety Darren Sharper, who tied for the league lead with nine interceptions last season, including three that were returned for touchdowns.\u00a0 Sharper is a former teammate of Favre\u2019s from their days with the Green Bay Packers and played a vital role in turning around the New Orleans defense under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.\u00a0 Instead of facing Favre again on opening night in the NFL, Sharper will begin the year on the physically-unable-to-perform list following micro-fracture knee surgery in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Sharper is not the only key member of the Saints defense who will miss the regular-season opener against the Vikings, as starting weak-side linebacker Jonathan Casillas suffered a foot injury in the preseason finale against the Tennessee Titans and defensive end Bobby McCray was cut last Saturday.\u00a0 McCray is best known for his illegal hits on Favre that cost him $20,000.<\/p>\n

Favre is coming off a rocky preseason following offseason ankle surgery and could be vulnerable against the New Orleans pass rush again in this rematch.\u00a0 He will be without his top receiver Sidney Rice, who recently underwent hip surgery to help fix an injury he suffered against the Saints.\u00a0 Minnesota also will not have star cornerback Cedric Griffin due to a torn ACL he is rehabbing while starting center John Sullivan is still recovering from a calf injury.\u00a0 The offensive line remains a major concern for the Vikings, who must be able to protect their aging quarterback.<\/p>\n

Many experts blame Minnesota\u2019s five turnovers (two interceptions were thrown by Favre and the team also had six total fumbles, including two coughed up by star running back Adrian Peterson) for the loss in the NFC Championship because the Saints were dominated in most statistical categories.\u00a0 New Orleans certainly seemed to have destiny in its favor, using takeaways to not only beat the Vikings but also topple the favored Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV.<\/p>\n

Saints quarterback Drew Brees had a lot to prove against both Favre and Indy\u2019s Peyton Manning before going on to win Super Bowl MVP honors, and now he enters the 2010 campaign with a target on his back.\u00a0 Minnesota\u2019s defense held Brees in check for the most part in the NFC Championship but did a much better job against the run, limiting New Orleans to only 68 yards on 23 carries.\u00a0 Expect a much different offensive gameplan for New Orleans here with Brees looking to attack a Vikings secondary that lacks depth and could be very prone to giving up big plays.<\/p>\n

Maddux Sports has released a premium football\u00a0pick for this game.\u00a0 You can get signed for this easy winner by visiting the NFL picks<\/a> page on our website.\u00a0 We started off the football season winning 75% of our picks, and will continue the run in pro football.\u00a0 Dont miss out this season, start profiting from day 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Minnesota Vikings visit the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints to kick off Thursday night\u2019s 2010 NFL regular season in hopes of avenging a heartbreaking loss in last year\u2019s NFC Championship Game.\u00a0 The Vikings covered the 4-point spread for NFL picks handicappers as road underdogs in the last meeting back on January 24 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":5410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[73,427,2615,2216,1930,1922,2838],"class_list":["post-7096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-nfl-football-lines","tag-nfl-football-picks","tag-nfl-odds","tag-nfl-picks","tag-saints-vikings-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7096"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7255,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7096\/revisions\/7255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}