NFL Football Betting Picks: New Orleans Saints at Green Bay Packers

Added on Sep 08, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

The National Football League season will begin on Thursday night as the New Orleans Saints take to the road to challenge the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. This is the traditional opening night matchup and the league will milk all of the hype and publicity possible out of the event. At the end of all of this, however, there is a football game to be played and the first NFL betting opportunity of the year.

New Orleans Saints at Green Bay Packers
September 8, 2011 5:30 PM Pacific

Credit to the NFL’s scheduling for putting together a great competitive matchup of the two previous Super Bowl champions for the opening game of the NFL season. In fact, these are a couple of the teams that could make it back to the ‘big game’ in Indianapolis this year. Defending a Super Bowl championship is a tough proposition, but the Packers will give it a good shot behind Aaron Rodgers who is a superstar quarterback just now hitting his prime.

From a betting standpoint, however, there may be better wagering opportunities on Sunday. Everyone knows that betting against the defending Super Bowl champion throughout the season is usually a profitable strategy. Week 1 of the season is an exception–the Super Bowl winner is currently on a 11-0 SU/7-3-1 ATS in the opening game of the year. New Orleans may have the mental edge–Saints’ quarterback Drew Brees organized practices for the players during the lockout while the Packers didn’t have any similar sessions.

In terms of ‘X’s and O’s', both teams upgraded their rosters during the offseason. The Saints were in great form prior to their upset by Seattle, having won six straight. These are a couple of exceptional teams that we fully expect to be seeing in the mix for the championship at the end of the season. For now, however, we view this as a competitive ‘toss up’ and have to think that the line on the Packers is a bit inflated. This is a game that could come down to the final possession with both teams’ quarterbacks capable of coming up big. For that reason we’d rather have the points with the visiting Saints. We also expect for both quarterbacks to put points on the board and thus also want to play this game Over the total.

Bet New Orleans Saints +4′ over Green Bay Packers
Bet New Orleans/Green Bay Over 47′