{"id":8219,"date":"2010-09-25T17:19:21","date_gmt":"2010-09-25T22:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=8219"},"modified":"2010-09-25T17:19:21","modified_gmt":"2010-09-25T22:19:21","slug":"free-nfl-picks-falcons-vs-saints-nfl-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/free-nfl-picks-falcons-vs-saints-nfl-predictions-8219\/","title":{"rendered":"Free NFL Picks: Falcons Vs Saints NFL Predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Matt
Matt Ryan and the Falcons are 3.5 home underdogs on the point spread against the defending champs<\/figcaption><\/figure>The New Orleans Saints (2-0) are still looking to break out offensively as they host the Atlanta Falcons (1-1) on Sunday in a key NFC South matchup.\u00a0 The Saints -3.5 on the current NFL odds\u00a0have outscored their first two opponents by a combined eight points \u2013 averaging just 297.5 yards to rank 21st<\/sup> in the NFL \u2013 and hope quarterback Drew Brees can break out with a big game here.<\/p>\n

Brees is 7-1 all-time against the Falcons, averaging 292.2 passing yards with 16 touchdowns and five interceptions.\u00a0 He has yet to turn the ball over this season and is completing over 74 percent of his passes, but he is averaging just 245.5 passing yards with three touchdowns.\u00a0 Brees will also be without offensive weapon Reggie Bush, who suffered a broken leg in Monday night\u2019s 25-22 win at San Francisco.<\/p>\n

The Saints were outgained by 130 yards against the 49ers but were able to force four turnovers, including three when San Francisco was inside the 30-yard line.\u00a0 New Orleans will have a difficult time duplicating that feat against a Falcons team that was hitting on all cylinders in a 41-7 rout of Arizona last week.<\/p>\n

Atlanta got an outstanding performance from running back Jason Snelling against the Cardinals in relief of the injured Michael Turner, who hurt his groin but is expected to play.\u00a0 Snelling rushed for 129 yards and two touchdowns, earning named NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors.\u00a0 Turner had rushed for 75 yards on nine carries before leaving the game with the injury.<\/p>\n

Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan also improved to 10-0 when he has a passer rating over 100 after he completed 21 of 32 passes for 225 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.\u00a0 Ryan will get wide receiver Michael Jenkins back from a shoulder injury as well, giving him another option in addition to Roddy White, who is tied for the league lead in receptions with 20.<\/p>\n

The Atlanta defense has surrendered just two touchdowns through the first two games and will concentrate on stopping Brees since the Saints running game has not performed well, averaging an NFC-low 2.6 yards per carry.\u00a0 Without Bush, New Orleans will also not have the same type of field position or the same type of safety valve out of the backfield on third-down plays.<\/p>\n

The Saints won but did not cover both meetings with the Falcons last season.\u00a0 Atlanta is 9-4 against the spread in its last 13 games against conference opponents compared to a 2-7 ATS mark in the last nine under that scenario for New Orleans.\u00a0 The OVER is 4-1 in the last five games between the teams with the winner averaging nearly 32 points.<\/p>\n

If you haven’t already visit the free nfl picks page which gives you the ability to get our free winners via email\u00a0and as well as see what is on tap for premium members.\u00a0 For this Atlanta Falcons Vs New Orleans Saints game, here is a free pick, take Atlanta +3.5.\u00a0 We expect more sharp money to pile on the Falcons in the AM and taking +3.5 now is the smart play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New Orleans Saints (2-0) are still looking to break out offensively as they host the Atlanta Falcons (1-1) on Sunday in a key NFC South matchup.\u00a0 The Saints -3.5 on the current NFL odds\u00a0have outscored their first two opponents by a combined eight points \u2013 averaging just 297.5 yards to rank 21st in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":5425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[123,2539,2992,427,1930,1922,2480,3157],"class_list":["post-8219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-football-betting","tag-free-nfl-picks","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-nfl-odds","tag-nfl-picks","tag-nfl-predictions","tag-saints-falcons-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8219","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=8219"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8231,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8219\/revisions\/8231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}