San Diego Chargers at New Orleans Saints Odds

The San Diego Chargers travel to face the New Orleans Saints on NBC’s Sunday Night Football in Week 5. This will be their first meeting since a 37-32 home victory for New Orleans back in 2008. Drew Brees was spectacular, throwing for 339 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Saints to victory. Philip Rivers kept pace, throwing for 341 yards and three scores with one interception for the Chargers.

Oddsmakers have installed New Orleans as a 3.5-point home favorite over San Diego with a total set of 52.5 points.

New Orleans

The Saints have been the biggest disappointment in the league to this point. They are one of two winless teams through the first four weeks of the season. Drew Brees and company will be going for their first victory when they take on the Chargers inside the Superdome Sunday night.

New Orleans (0-4) is coming off a 27-28 loss to the Green Bay Packers on the road last week. Brees threw for a season-high 446 yards and three touchdowns, but it simply wasn’t enough. He has not thrown a touchdown in 48 consecutive games, and one more will break Johnny Unitas’ record set back in 1960.

The Saints are certainly playing better than their record would indicate. All four losses have come by single digits, including the last two by a combined four points. They are just making critical mistakes late in games, kind of like the holding penalty that negated Garrett Hartley’s field goal that would have given the Saints the lead against the Packers with only a few minutes remaining.

Marques Coltson caught nine balls for 153 yards and a touchdown against the Packers. He has caught 22 of the 114 touchdown passes that Brees has thrown during this streak, which is the most of any receiver. He’ll be up against a San Diego defense that has allowed exactly one passing touchdown in each of its last seven contests.

San Diego

The Chargers are the only team since 1992 that has started 0-4 and come back to make the playoffs. They are off to a great start in making the postseason by opening 3-1 in 2012. That includes a pair of road victories over the Raiders and Chiefs. Their only loss came at home against unbeaten Atlanta.

San Diego is coming off a 37-20 road victory at Kansas City last Sunday. It took a 27-6 lead by halftime and really never looked back. The defense forced six Chiefs’ turnovers, including a 21-yard interception return for a touchdown by Donald Butler just before intermission.

The offense only managed 293 total yards, but time and time again it was set up with short fields thanks to the defense, and Philip Rivers and company certainly took advantage. Rivers finished 18 of 23 passing for 209 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Jackie Battle rushed for 39 yards and a touchdown, while also catching 4-yard score from Rivers.

The Chargers should have their way with a New Orleans defense that is allowing a league-worst 463.3 yards per game. That’s 40 more than the next-closest team, and the stop unit is giving up 32.5 points per game. Opposing quarterbacks have a 107.0 rating while only getting sacked six times. Rivers could be in for his best game yet after averaging just 224.3 passing yards per game through the first four contests.

Betting Trends

The Chargers are 6-0 ATS in their last 6 vs. a team with a losing record. The Saints are 9-2 ATS in their last 11 home games.

The Over is 33-14-4 in Chargers last 51 road games. The Over is 8-1 in Saints last 9 games overall.

About the Author: Jack Jones has been ranked in the Top-5 on the Overall Leaderboard for almost all of 2012 here at Betfirms. He has climbed as high as No. 2 while competing against roughly 80 of the best handicappers in the world. He finished as the No. 6 Ranked Basketball Handicapper from 2011-12, which combines pro and college hoops. His $1,000/game basketball players cashed in $22,310 last season. Head on over to Jack's premium pick page to see what he has in store for tonight!