Week 13 New Orleans Saints vs Atlanta Falcons Betting Lines, Picks, Odds, Props & Predictions
On Sunday, the Saints (9-2 SU, 6-5 ATS) are traveling a few hundred miles northeast to Georgia to take on the Falcons (4-7 SU, 4-6 ATS) in the rematch of the Week 11 game. Two weeks ago, in the first game this season without Drew Brees, New Orleans dominated Atlanta with a monster defensive performance allowing the opponent only 9 points. The Falcons come into the game encouraged by their display against the Raiders last week and still have slim hopes for the wild card playoff ticket.
Week 13 New Orleans Saints vs Atlanta Falcons Betting Line Movement
New Orleans opened as -3.5 favorites and the line has only slightly moved since, now standing at -3. The total also dropped a bit, from the opening 47.5 to 45 where it stands at the moment.
Notes On The New Orleans Saints
Despite the switch under the center two weeks ago, the Saints haven’t missed a beat notching two wins with Taysom Hill at the quarterback position to extend their winning streak to eight games. Truth be told, New Orleans’ utility player deputizing for Drew Brees didn’t have a lot of passing to do in these two games with the Saints’ rushing and defense handling most of the load. Last week in the convincing win over Denver, Hill completed only 9 from 16 passes for 78 yards but scored two TDs on the ground. The rushing game has been the main attacking weapon for New Orleans this season with both Latavius Murray and Alvin Kamara running for over 500 yards. The defense has allowed only 7 points per game in the last four outings and now ranks 5th in the league in points allowed.
Due to his versatility, Taysom Hill is an intriguing fantasy prospect. Even though his passing ability is nowhere near the best QBs in the league, two running touchdowns in each of his starts make him a value pick. Also, with the Saints turning more to the running game in Brees’ absence, both RBs could score big, with a slight advantage on the side of Latavius Murray who’s been getting more touches in the last two weeks.
Notes On The Atlanta Falcons
After being handled by the Saints in week 11, the Falcons bounced back with probably their best game of the season beating the Raiders last Sunday 43-6. Atlanta is showing some serious improvement under the interim head coach Raheem Morris going 4-2 under his helm. The improvement is visible on both sides of the ball, but especially on defense. Atlanta managed to keep Las Vegas last week to only 9 points allowing 243 total yards with just 40 of them coming on the ground. This week they’ll face a much tougher task in stopping Latavius Murray and Alvin Kamara, and also Taysom Hill, but unlike Week 11, we can expect them to at least put up a decent fight.
The questionable status of Julio Jones leaves us without sure-fire fantasy options on the Falcons team, especially considering that Todd Gurley is also questionable and could be on limited snaps if he plays. TE Hayden Hurst could be a sneaky good pick. New Orleans defense struggles against tight ends and Hurst is a good enough pass-catcher to cause them a lot of trouble.
Week 13 New Orleans Saints vs Atlanta Falcons Betting Pick: UNDER 45
Both teams rely on their defense to win games, and we can expect a very tight game similar to the last matchup between the two that saw only 33 points scored.
