NFL Divisional Playoffs: Arizona at New Orleans

The NFC Top seeded New Orleans Saints host the 2008 conference champion Arizona Cardinals this Saturday at 4:30 PM ET at Superdome.

NFL Betting Odds:
Arizona Cardinals +7
New Orleans Saints -7
O /U 57

Online sports betting fans should know both teams arrive to this game on different paths as the Cardinals are coming off an explosive wild card weekend where they defeated the Packers 51-45; meanwhile the Saints haven’t played winning football in over a month.

New Orleans finished the regular season with NFL League tops rank offense averaging 31.9 points per game. Leading the way was Drew Brees who broke the NFL completion record when he hit 70.6% of his attempts in 2009.

"We know how to play at a high level offensively," Brees said. "The opportunity to get guys healthy — that was huge. We’ve been banged up at times throughout the season."

The key for the Cardinals to stop the Saints offensive juggernaut is their defensive line has to find mismatches in the crunches and take advantage of them. The key matchup will be Arizona’s DE Calias Campbell must outplay LT Jermon Bushrod who always have trouble stopping pressure pash rushes and allows a lot of sacks.

If Arizona manages a way to pressure Brees, expect him to hit screen short passes to either Reggie Bush or Pierre Thomas, who is coming to back to action after sitting out with 3 cracked ribs.

On the other hand on offense the Cardinals will be expecting the blitzes; Ken Whisenhunt and Kurt Warner both loves when the opponents blitz because it allows them to send out a spread offense and usually leaves one of the Cards WRs open.

If the Saints defense starts to play the pass early in the game, then the Cardinals will put the ball in Bennie Wells’ hands; the rookie managed to get 96 rushing yards on 14 carries against a Packers defense, which entered that game as second in the NFL.

It may be virtually impossible to stop both offenses in this one game so expect a high scoring game. The Cardinals have a veteran QB playing as his best with a great set of receivers; and the Saints also have the best regular season QB who does not rely on 1 or 2 WRs but just finds the open man.

Consider these NFL football betting trends: New Orleans is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games and Arizona is 15-7 ATS in its last 22 games. The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Arizona’s last 8 games and in 6 of New Orleans’s last 7 games.

My pick: Take the Cards with the points and the over.