Texans vs Saints NFL Week 1 Odds, Preview & Pick

The last time we saw the New Orleans Saints in a meaningful NFL game, they took a controversial loss in the NFC Championship to the Los Angeles Rams. A missed pass interference call (which led to a rule change that now allows challenges for missed pass interference calls) kept the Rams alive, and the failure of the Saints’ defense to stop the Rams (along with a Drew Brees interception in overtime) did not help matters, as the Rams would prevail in overtime. Now they finally get to take the field in a game that matters, a prime-time Monday night affair against the visiting Houston Texans. The chip on the Saints’ collective shoulder has to be mammoth in size, and they welcome a Houston team that has gone through a bizarre series of trades, sending Jadeveon Clowney to Seattle to save money and then blowing three draft picks (including two first-rounders) on a new offensive tackle in a move that will also eat the savings from the Clowney deal, eventually. Both teams seem to be in a bit of turmoil as they meet in the opener. Who will prevail? Don’t miss our sports betting preview.

Texans vs Saints NFL Week 1 Odds, Preview & Pick

There’s nothing like Monday night.#HOUvsNO | @Bose | #WeAreTexans pic.twitter.com/rN1HHo9gV4

— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) September 5, 2019

When: Monday, September 9, 2019, 8:10pm ET Where: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans TV: ESPN Radio: Westwood One Live Stream: ESPN+ NFL Odds: New Orleans -7 / O/U 53.5 

Why should you bet on the Texans?

Houston had an impressive, winning 11 games and an AFC South title. With the surprising retirement of Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts and a distinct lack of excellence so far in Tennessee or Jacksonville, Hosuton has their sights set on another division title. They have played well on the road, winning five of six, but they are just 3-3 in their last six season openers. With an injury to tailback Lamar Miller and the Clowney trade, the Texans are missing two of their biggest difference makers. Quarterback Deshaun Watson does have Duke Johnson Jr to lean on in the running game, along with receivers Will Fuller V and DeAndre Hopkins. But are these enough to keep up with a motivated Saints team? If you like Houston, then you see the Texans’ offense taking off and making a track meet out of this game. Watson and Hopkins draw a lot of energy from prime-time opportunities against elite opponents, and despite the fact that the Texans under Bill O’Brien have faltered in many of these opportunities, the Saints could come out showing a bit of a hangover, allowing the Texans to jump out to an early lead. Houston bettors are banking on both of these possibilities turning out to be true.

Why should you put your money on the Saints?

New Orleans has made the divisional playoffs and the NFC Championship in the last two seasons, respectively, seeing both campaigns come to an end thanks to unlikely sequences. In 2018, the Minnesota Vikings completed an incredible Hail Mary to edge the Saints, and then in 2019, we already discussed how the Rams ended the Saints’ season. Drew Brees returns as one of the most venerable quarterbacks in the game — although ESPN’s Bill Barnwell has detailed how Brees’ numbers faded off in the last third of the 2018 regular season and continued that decline in the postseason. Alvin Kamara is one of the game’s top tailbacks, though, and wide receiver Michael Thomas makes the Saints’ offense explosive. That potential remains a factor in their status as a favorite to go to the Super Bowl at the end of this season. The New Orleans secondary is led by P.J. Williams and Marshon Lattimore and can shut down passing games when their system is right. New Orleans has failed to cover in any of their last five games, in any of their last four home games and just once in their last five games on Monday night. However, when they have played the Texans, the favorite has covered in each of the last four meetings. If you like the Saints here, you see them coming out with the right kind of motivation and taking the game right to Houston, and you see the Texans unraveling under the Saints’ intensity.

Expert Pick and Final Score Prediction for Texans vs Saints

I enjoy watching Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins on offense, but I just see the Saints coming out with way too much energy for Houston to hang with them, and the Saints have the talent and the scheme to make that lead last. I predict a final score of New Orleans 31, Houston 20.