With stops and starts, successes and failures, the progress made by the Saints has roughly paralleled what New Orleans has experienced since Hurricane Katrina ravaged 80 percent of the city in August 2005.
Time: Sunday 4:05 ET
Venue: Louisiana Superdome
MoneyLine: Jets +260 (-110) / Saints -310 (-110)
Spread: Saints -7
Over/Under: 45
Thousands of people come daily to Patriot Place, the vast shopping/entertainment/restaurant plaza that surrounds Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. Unfortunately, none of the visitors seems to have even a clue about what ails their football team. Up is down and down is up in New England, where the Patriots’ powerful offense has been rendered impotent and a defense that uses players no one has ever heard of has been not that bad.
How high can the O/U go in Saints games? 55? 60? 70?
In racing off to a 2-0 start, Drew Brees and the Saints are already being compared to the 2007 New England Patriots, who won 16 straight in the regular season before that Super Bowl flameout. Tom Brady threw 50 touchdown passes that season, and there is speculation that Brees will challenge that record.
Herds of unicorns will be be photographed roaming the desert outside Phoenix before the Cardinals turn into a run-oriented team. Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin (as long as he sticks around), Kurt Warner and last year’s march to the Super Bowl pretty much guarantee that for the time being, and beyond, the Cardinals will live and die with the forward pass.
At 34-14-1, there is no better team in the National Football League playing its home opener than the Dallas Cowboys. And win or lose, no home opener will be more memorable than Sunday’s night’s cage match against the New York Giants in the new 100,000-seat Cowboys Stadium.
In New England, no one really knows what to make of Rex Ryan.
Since Vince Lombardi was carving up the league in the 1960s, the No. 1 rule was to never say anything that could give an opponent even an extra ounce of motivation on game day.
Ryan has basically blown up that business model, at least when it comes to the New England Patriots. The new Jets coach says he refuses to pay homage to Pats coach Bill Belichick, and furthermore he says he has a decent team in East Rutherford and plans to give NE a run for its money in the AFC East.
Stability in the NFL usually trumps change, but this game will give that theory a good test. The Carolina Panthers return basically the same team which stunk out the stadium in a bizarre playoff loss to the Cardinals last January, while the Philadelphia Eagles come in after jettisoning their best back-7 defender (safety Brian Dawkins) and in the process of figuring out what to do with Michael Vick when the former dog torturer joins the team for active duty in Week 3.
Regular season dominance
The Lakers were a perfect 4-0 straight-up in the four head-to-head meetings during the regular season and this is a bad sign for the Rockets as teams that were swept in the regular season (3+ games) are 0-25 all-time in a NBA playoff series.
Odds: Los Angeles is currently -900 to win this series, while the Rockets are +700.
Nuggets at Hornets (-2½, 193) –
Game 4 – 8:35 pm ET (NBA-tv)
Line movement
The oddsmakers opened the Hornets as a 3-point favorite, but the early money quickly moved the line down to 2 ½ by Sunday afternoon. This is a full two points less than the line in Game 3 which saw New Orleans as a 4½-point favorite.
Bulls at Celtics (-8, 196) – 7:05 pm ET (TNT)
Tale of Two Teams
The Bulls pulled the upset in Game 1 as an 8½-point underdog and they covered from start to finish as they never trailed by more than five points the entire day. Chicago became a better team in late February after they acquired John Salmons and Brad Miller from the Kings. Salmons averages more than 36 minutes per game and finished the regular season ranked second in scoring (17.6 ppg), while Brad Miller averages more than 27 minutes per game and is fifth on the team in scoring (11.8 ppg).
Bulls at Pistons (-4, 196) – 7:35 pm ET (NBA-tv)
Playoff Positioning
The good news for Chicago and Detroit is the fact they have both clinched a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The bad news is that they will have to face Cleveland, Boston, or Orlando in the first round. Chicago (40-40) is currently 7th in the conference and one spot ahead of Detroit (39-41) who is currently seeded 8th. The Bulls could surpass Philadelphia for the 6th seed, but can not move any higher.
Below is a look at the most important NBA game in the Eastern Conference tonight.
Orlando Magic (-3, 194) at Miami Heat – 7:35 pm ET
Playoff Positioning
The Magic have clinched the Southeast division title and a top three seed in the upcoming playoffs; however Orlando is still battling with the Boston Celtics for the overall #2 seed and home court advantage in a probable second-round matchup.
Below is a look at the top matchup in the NBA for Monday night:
Nuggets vs. Suns (-3½, 236½) – 10:05 pm ET
Playoff Positioning
The Nuggets are currently in first place in the Northwest division and one game ahead of Portland in the standings. As a division winner, the Nuggets would automatically earn a top three seed in the Western Conference playoffs and would actually face Portland if the playoffs began today.
Rockets vs. Hornets (-3½, 182) – 8:05 pm ET
Playoff Battle
The Western Conference is once again the dominant conference in the NBA this season with seven of the current eight playoff teams with a win percentage of 61% or better, compared to the weaker Eastern Conference that has just three teams with a win percentage above 58%.
So the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers proved best in the NFL Conference Championships on Sunday and now will face each other on February 1st in the biggest sporting event in the United States, the Super Bowl.
Sports betting fans have to appreciate how the Cardinals beat the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles as online betting underdogs. They beat the Falcons and the Panthers on the road.
The Ball State Cardinals are one of the only unbeaten teams left in college football as they host the Northern Illinois Huskies tonight.
Sportsbook.com has Ball State as 9 ½-point favorites with a Total of 47. ESPN2 will broadcast at 8 pm ET in what should be a challenging game.
