The New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints got a sneak preview of each other earlier in the week when they practiced together, meeting for the first time since the defending Super Bowl champions made a big statement in a 38-17 rout on Monday Night Football last November. The Saints still need a couple more championships to equal the Patriots, who find themselves as small favorites at -1.5 in Thursday’s preseason opener for both teams. Line is current of the time of publish, but preseason betting odds do move quickly so check out the NFL betting lines page of the website for up to date point spreads.
While New Orleans head coach Sean Payton does not put a huge emphasis on winning in the preseason, his teams have still managed to go 8-5 combined over the last three years following a 1-3 mark in his first season. New England’s Bill Belichick led his team to a 3-1 mark in the preseason last year after going 0-4 in 2008. The Patriots have gone 7-4 in preseason openers under Belichick.
The good news during training camp for New England so far has been the incredibly rapid recovery of WR Wes Welker, who is coming back from knee surgery and was not originally expected to be ready for the regular-season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals. Instead, Welker participated fully in 11-on-11 drills against New Orleans and showed no signs of his injury.
The bad news for the Patriots though has been the absence of Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins – who is sitting out due to a contract dispute – along with OLB Derrick Burgess. The loss of Mankins was somewhat expected because he is actively pursuing a trade, but Burgess has been a no-show and is mulling retirement, which could hurt the team’s sorely needed pass rush. The defense was counting on Burgess and might need to find help elsewhere. The Pats are one of three teams currently rumored to be going after former Buffalo Bills LB Aaron Schobel.
The Saints have no such problems, although star WR Marques Colston is coming off minor knee surgery and S Darren Sharper may need to start the season on the PUP list following offseason knee surgery. Colston played in last Saturday’s Black and Gold scrimmage and had four catches for 73 yards. Sharper will likely need extra time to recover, but second-year player Malcolm Jenkins has done a great job filling in. The bigger issue for New Orleans is trying to become the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since the Patriots in 2005. Payton is learning as much as he possibly can from Belichick this week, which can only help his preparation.
Defensively, the Saints still feel like they have a lot to prove and will continue to play with a chip on their shoulders despite possibly knocking two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks (Arizona’s Kurt Warner and Minnesota’s Brett Favre) into retirement in their last two games. The New Orleans defense dominated the Black and Gold scrimmage after surrendering a touchdown to Drew Brees & Co. on their first series. Brees started the scrimmage by completing his first four passes but went 2-of-12 the rest of the way. The Saints hope to do the same to Tom Brady and the Pats.
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