The New Orleans Saints will host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football this week, and it promises to be an exciting game between a road-tested Saints squad led by a backup quarterback, and a red-hot Cowboys team that’s laid waste to some of the worst teams in the NFL. Something has to give.
That said, expert picks collected by NFL Pickwatch don’t favor the Saints: just 14% of observers from around the league are taking the home team, overwhelmingly backing the insurgent Cowboys. It’s worth noting that early returns on this week’s picks are souring, with 90% of experts calling for the Green Bay Packers to hold off the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday Night Football (they didn’t).
And that streak of spiked expectations goes back a week, as far as the Saints are concerned. They faced even tougher odds against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3, with only 4% of experts giving them a shot on the road in rainy conditions at CenturyLink Field. But the Saints overcame it anyway, rallying around backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to at one point lead 27-7, before Russell Wilson went to work in garbage time and narrowed the score.
We’ll see very soon whether the Saints have what it takes to upset two favored opponents in as many weeks, but it’s not a stretch to think they’ll beat the experts’ expectations again.
