NFL Week One Saints vs. Vikings: War Of The Rings?

Added on Aug 25, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and the longest month of the year will soon be over. NFL regular season action gets underway on Thursday, September 9^th as the Minnesota Vikings and Brett Favre take on the defending Superbowl Champion New Orleans Saints on national TV in ‘The Big Easy’. The Saints are currently a -4’ point home favorite with the total set at 49.

While it’s still too early to give out an ‘official’ play on this game there’s a few things worth paying attention to. Historically, Super Bowl champions haven’t always fared well trying to defend their title. At one point, betting against the defending champs was a very solid ATS position though it hasn’t been quite as effective in recent years. In fact, three of the last four defending Superbowl champs had pointspread records of .500 or better the following year. The 2008 New York Giants went an impressive 12-5 against the spread. The 2009 Steelers, on the other hand, were a huge money loser for bettors going 5-10-1 against the number.

The Vikings are certainly a ‘live dog’ in this spot, however, but there could be an added incentive for Brett Favre and company. New Orleans has a reputation for big celebrations, and the start of the 2010 NFL football season is no exception. The city is going to ring in the new season and celebrate their Superbowl win with festivities worth of Mardi Gras. For the first time in NFL history, there will be an actual parade leading up to the regular season kickoff– The Krewe of NFL Kickoff Parade will travel through the French Quarter and downtown and display all of the ‘understated good taste’ for which the city has become famous.

That’ll be followed by a concert from the Dave Matthews Band and Taylor Swift. Like the Superbowl halftime performances, the NFL isn’t taking any chances that the show will draw winos and other degenerates that might sully their family friendly image and has sent out a ‘casting call’ for audience members. And if all of that wasn’t enough, the Saints will have a ceremony to present their Superbowl championship rings in the Superdome before the game. I may have lost count, but it sure seems like they’ve been ‘presented’ their rings two or three times already.

And after all of this, the Saints will play a football game against the Minnesota Vikings. Of course Brett Favre and his teammates will play right along with the festivities and graciously let the Saints enjoy their glory. Uh, no they won’t. They’ll use this as motivation for this game and it’s a very good one. While the Saints will spend the day right up to kickoff hearing how great they are, the Vikings will grow more and more determined to spoil the ‘Who Dat’ love fest with an opening night victory.

As I noted at the outset, unless the line starts to move closer to the ‘key number’ of three there’s no real reason to play this game now. For our purposes there’s not much difference from a statistical standpoint between 4’ and 3’ points and with two preseason games remaining for each team there’s just too much that can happen between now and then. Barring injuries or other interceding events, however, we’re going to be all over the Vikings here due in large part to the motivation of having to witness the celebratory orgy glorifying their opponents.