Cowboys at Saints
December 18, 2009
The Saints continue their march towards an undefeated season on Saturday night, hosting the suddenly floundering Cowboys. New Orleans owns a 13-0 mark, the best start in franchise history, while trying to secure home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. Dallas is just playing for its postseason lives, coming off consecutive losses to the Giants and Chargers.
New Orleans is chasing history, attempting to become the second team since the expansion to the 16-game schedule in 1978 to complete a perfect regular season. The Patriots accomplished that feat in 2007, but fell short of a 19-0 mark and Super Bowl victory with a 17-14 loss to the Giants. The Colts are currently one step ahead of the Saints, thanks to Indianapolis' win at Jacksonville on Thursday to move to 14-0.
The Saints own the top offense in the league, averaging 35.9 ppg, while racking up 426.1 yards a contest. The lowest point total New Orleans has accumulated this season was in a 24-7 victory over the Jets, where the Saints scored two defensive touchdowns. New Orleans began the season cashing tickets left and right, covering six straight games. However, that number has steadily declined, as the Saints are 2-5 ATS the last seven contests.
In this stretch, New Orleans has been favored by nine points or more six times, but the Saints are 6-0 ATS this season when laying eight points or less. The Saints have been involved in eight games with a total of 50 or higher, but have finished 'under' the total five times.
Dallas' December woes are not overblown by the media; in fact, they are very accurate. The Cowboys are 5-10 SU and 2-12-1 ATS since 2006 in December. That timeline parallels Tony Romo's stay in Dallas, which includes a 1-5 SU/ATS mark the last two seasons.
The Cowboys began the season 2-2, but pulled off four consecutive wins to take control of the NFC East at 6-2 in mid-November. Dallas stubbed its toe at Green Bay in Week 10, falling to the Packers, 17-7. The Cowboys went through a two-week stretch scoring a total of 14 points, as Dallas edged Washington, 7-6 in Week 11. Following a convincing Thanksgiving victory over Oakland, the Cowboys dropped two straight, now sitting one game behind the Eagles in the NFC East.
Wade Phillips' team hasn't been terrible away from home, compiling a 3-3 SU and 2-4 ATS mark. Two of the victories came at Tampa Bay and Kansas City, who own a combined four wins on the season. Dallas' most impressive victory away from the Lone Star State came in Week 9 at Philadelphia, beating the Eagles, 20-16, in the Cowboys' sole game as an underdog this season.
This series has been owned by the Saints in recent years, with New Orleans claiming each of the last five regular season meetings since 1998. The last matchup came at Texas Stadium in 2006, when the Saints demolished the Cowboys, 42-17, as 7 ?-point road 'dogs. Drew Brees tossed five touchdown passes, while Reggie Bush racked up over 100 yards receiving and a touchdown. The last time the Cowboys traveled to the Superdome was back in 2003, as New Orleans held off Dallas, 13-7. To show you how long ago that game was, the starting quarterbacks in that contest were Aaron Brooks and Quincy Carter.
Capper Joe says the Cowboys may not be finished with a loss, "Dallas closes with division games the final two weeks and although this team is heading in the wrong direction, a loss here would not necessarily eliminate playoff hopes, as the Giants have not exactly inspired confidence in their ability to grab the final wild card spot."
With New Orleans' struggles ATS recently, Joe believes the line is spot on, "The Saints have failed to cover in five of the last seven games which will help keep this line in check. The Saints have been dominant at home this year and facing a team like the Cowboys will get the team's attention after a couple of marginal performances that still resulted in wins against Washington and Atlanta the last two weeks. Both of those games came on the road and at home the Saints have won every game by at least an eight-point margin."
Joe feels the Cowboys' late-season woes aren't ready to change anytime soon, "Dallas has failed to cover in four of the last five games and although the December curse for Dallas is overblown, this will be a tough scheduling spot after failing in a critical game last week. The only impressive road win for Dallas all season came at Philadelphia and that was a tight game that could have gone either way. Statistically, Dallas looks like a much better team than its record indicates, but the reality is the Cowboys have found ways to lose and the pressure will be immense on the team as the media coverage of another collapse grows. In its two biggest home games of the season, against the Giants and against the Patriots, the Saints delivered dominant blowouts and a similar result may be in order again this week."
Randy Scott, the sportsbook manager at BetED.com says the public jumped on the undefeated Saints early, "The line opened at -7 and was quickly bet up to -7 ? early in the week. But since then, the line has dropped back to -7. The majority of the early action is on the Saints at approximately 65%. But we've been seeing steady action on Dallas as of late."
As far as the total is concerned, Scott believes the number will continue to take a nice leap, "The total is steadily being bet up in this one. We opened at 52 ? and it's now at 54."
The Saints are currently listed as seven-point home favorites, with the total set at 53 ? at most spots.
December 18, 2009
The Saints continue their march towards an undefeated season on Saturday night, hosting the suddenly floundering Cowboys. New Orleans owns a 13-0 mark, the best start in franchise history, while trying to secure home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. Dallas is just playing for its postseason lives, coming off consecutive losses to the Giants and Chargers.
New Orleans is chasing history, attempting to become the second team since the expansion to the 16-game schedule in 1978 to complete a perfect regular season. The Patriots accomplished that feat in 2007, but fell short of a 19-0 mark and Super Bowl victory with a 17-14 loss to the Giants. The Colts are currently one step ahead of the Saints, thanks to Indianapolis' win at Jacksonville on Thursday to move to 14-0.
The Saints own the top offense in the league, averaging 35.9 ppg, while racking up 426.1 yards a contest. The lowest point total New Orleans has accumulated this season was in a 24-7 victory over the Jets, where the Saints scored two defensive touchdowns. New Orleans began the season cashing tickets left and right, covering six straight games. However, that number has steadily declined, as the Saints are 2-5 ATS the last seven contests.
In this stretch, New Orleans has been favored by nine points or more six times, but the Saints are 6-0 ATS this season when laying eight points or less. The Saints have been involved in eight games with a total of 50 or higher, but have finished 'under' the total five times.
Dallas' December woes are not overblown by the media; in fact, they are very accurate. The Cowboys are 5-10 SU and 2-12-1 ATS since 2006 in December. That timeline parallels Tony Romo's stay in Dallas, which includes a 1-5 SU/ATS mark the last two seasons.
The Cowboys began the season 2-2, but pulled off four consecutive wins to take control of the NFC East at 6-2 in mid-November. Dallas stubbed its toe at Green Bay in Week 10, falling to the Packers, 17-7. The Cowboys went through a two-week stretch scoring a total of 14 points, as Dallas edged Washington, 7-6 in Week 11. Following a convincing Thanksgiving victory over Oakland, the Cowboys dropped two straight, now sitting one game behind the Eagles in the NFC East.
Wade Phillips' team hasn't been terrible away from home, compiling a 3-3 SU and 2-4 ATS mark. Two of the victories came at Tampa Bay and Kansas City, who own a combined four wins on the season. Dallas' most impressive victory away from the Lone Star State came in Week 9 at Philadelphia, beating the Eagles, 20-16, in the Cowboys' sole game as an underdog this season.
This series has been owned by the Saints in recent years, with New Orleans claiming each of the last five regular season meetings since 1998. The last matchup came at Texas Stadium in 2006, when the Saints demolished the Cowboys, 42-17, as 7 ?-point road 'dogs. Drew Brees tossed five touchdown passes, while Reggie Bush racked up over 100 yards receiving and a touchdown. The last time the Cowboys traveled to the Superdome was back in 2003, as New Orleans held off Dallas, 13-7. To show you how long ago that game was, the starting quarterbacks in that contest were Aaron Brooks and Quincy Carter.
Capper Joe says the Cowboys may not be finished with a loss, "Dallas closes with division games the final two weeks and although this team is heading in the wrong direction, a loss here would not necessarily eliminate playoff hopes, as the Giants have not exactly inspired confidence in their ability to grab the final wild card spot."
With New Orleans' struggles ATS recently, Joe believes the line is spot on, "The Saints have failed to cover in five of the last seven games which will help keep this line in check. The Saints have been dominant at home this year and facing a team like the Cowboys will get the team's attention after a couple of marginal performances that still resulted in wins against Washington and Atlanta the last two weeks. Both of those games came on the road and at home the Saints have won every game by at least an eight-point margin."
Joe feels the Cowboys' late-season woes aren't ready to change anytime soon, "Dallas has failed to cover in four of the last five games and although the December curse for Dallas is overblown, this will be a tough scheduling spot after failing in a critical game last week. The only impressive road win for Dallas all season came at Philadelphia and that was a tight game that could have gone either way. Statistically, Dallas looks like a much better team than its record indicates, but the reality is the Cowboys have found ways to lose and the pressure will be immense on the team as the media coverage of another collapse grows. In its two biggest home games of the season, against the Giants and against the Patriots, the Saints delivered dominant blowouts and a similar result may be in order again this week."
Randy Scott, the sportsbook manager at BetED.com says the public jumped on the undefeated Saints early, "The line opened at -7 and was quickly bet up to -7 ? early in the week. But since then, the line has dropped back to -7. The majority of the early action is on the Saints at approximately 65%. But we've been seeing steady action on Dallas as of late."
As far as the total is concerned, Scott believes the number will continue to take a nice leap, "The total is steadily being bet up in this one. We opened at 52 ? and it's now at 54."
The Saints are currently listed as seven-point home favorites, with the total set at 53 ? at most spots.
