Divisional matchups have been the order so far this season on Monday Night Football and this week the Atlanta Falcons are in New Orleans to close off the Week 8 NFL betting card. It’s the first meeting of the season for these two NFC South rivals who split the series in 2008 with the home side winning each contest straight-up and against the spread.
The undefeated Saints (6-0) are one of only two remaining team in the league with a perfect record after the Denver Broncos lost on Sunday in Baltimore (Indianapolis (7-0) is also perfect after an 18-14 win vs. San Francisco).
For the sports betting community, if you are looking at betting on an undefeated team this late in the season, it means you’re going to be laying points, probably a lot of them. That is the case in this matchup, as the online sportsbooks pegged the Saints as double-digit favourites.
The Saints have been attracting a lot of the betting action throughout the week, as the line has moved all the way up to -12. Online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com reported 78% of all the betting volume on the Monday nighter had come in on New Orleans as of late Sunday night.
NFL Trends: Road favorites in Week 7 were 7-0 SU/ATS including the Patriots at Tampa Bay, even though it was neutral site game, and it wasn’t by small margins that the chalk teams were winning or covering, either. San Diego, Indianapolis, Green Bay and the New York Jets won by a combined margin of 132 points – that’s 30.5 points per game!
Results this Sunday (Week 8) by big home favorites like the Colts and Chargers, who both won straight-up but failed to cover the big spreads, did little to sway bettors away from New Orleans and it could have something to do with the Saints performance last week in Miami.
Trailing 24-3, the Saints offense went to work while the defense stymied the Wildcat and New Orleans made a statement. Starting with a QB Drew Brees rushing TD in the final seconds of the first-half, New Orleans went on a 43-3 run lasting 28 minutes to cement the win and become the first NFL team in history to score 45-plus points in four of their first six games.
Atlanta was in Dallas last week and learned what an explosive offense can do when the Cowboys put up 37 points – the most points the Falcons have allowed in the Mike Smith-Matt Ryan era.
Did you know? Since Week 6, 2006 there have been 10 double-digit favorites on Monday night and the favorites are just 2-8 ATS in those games.
This is the seventh divisional Monday Night game of the 2009 season and favorites through the first six games are 4-2 SU but only 2-4 ATS. All six games have gone "Over" the posted total and in fact the only Monday Night game this season that did not land on the high side was Carolina at Dallas in Week 3.
The posted total for Atlanta-New Orleans is one of the highest bettors will see in the NFL but if the Saints keep scoring the way they have been, it could be a sign of things to come.
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