Totals bettors seeking fireworks and an OVER candidate in the first week of NFL action likely need to look no further than Thursday’s opening-night contest between the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
Saints Vs. Packers, NFL Picks: Can Green Bay Cover The Spread In Week 1?
The Packers and Saints open the NFL season on Thursday Night Football in Green Bay, but can the Packers cover the spread? The experts at Odds Shark take a closer look.All content courtesy of OddsShark.com.
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The last time these two teams clashed in November of 2008 they combined for 80 points, turning in the fifth straight OVER result in a Packers vs Saints matchup. And none of those OVER plays were squeakers – the combined scores of those last five meetings were 80, 61, 55, 55, and 57 points.
It’s no wonder, then, that oddsmakers tracked by SB Nation’s lines provider Odds Shark have gone high with the OVER/UNDER for Thursday’s contest – it sits at 48 points at the online shop, with the users at OddsShark sticking with the trends and going with the OVER at a rate of 71%.
Defending-champion Green Bay is also the 4.5-point home favorite at Bodog against the Saints, and they’ll be looking for a little revenge after they were thumped 51-29 in that 2008 matchup; 59% of OddsShark users are going with the Packers to cover on Thursday.
Back in 2008 that Saints loss came in the middle of a five-game losing skid for Green Bay, as Drew Brees threw four touchdown passes for New Orleans and Aaron Rodgers was picked off three times for the Packers.
“It eats at you because we felt like we were better than that,” Charles Woodson told FoxSports this week. “You get in a situation sometimes where, as a team, you don’t make any adjustments. You just keep trying to do what it is you do as a defense or offense or whatever. We just continued doing one thing throughout that whole game and we paid for it.”
That, though, was in Rodgers’ first season as the team’s starter – since that campaign he’s thrown 58 TD passes vs. 18 interceptions. Oh, and he’s led his team to a Super Bowl win.
Props bettors for Thursday can wager on whether Rodgers will go OVER/UNDER two touchdown passes in the opener (+130 for OVER), and whether Brees will do the same (+125 for OVER). Saints rookie running back Mark Ingram’s OVER/UNDER on the total yards prop for the game sits at 37.5.
Kickoff for Thursday’s game is set for 8:30pm ET on NBC. For the latest line and total for the contest and all the Week 1 NFL matchups head to OddsShark.com.
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