Sunday night NFL game preview

NBC continues striking it rich with another superb Sunday primetime matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings. The opening kickoff from U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis is slated for 8:20 PM ET.

The NFL odds at 5Dimes currently (10/26) shows New Orleans as a 1.5-point road favorite in this contest. This point-spread opened with Minnesota being a 1.0-point favorite. The point-spread bets made to this point have been evenly split according to Bookmaker.

Why New Orleans Covers
The Saints will be playing with big time revenge. New Orleans opened last season with a Monday night 29-19 loss at Minnesota. They returned to Minneapolis once again during the NFC Divisional Playoff Round. They seemingly had that postseason game won but ultimately were defeated 29-24 in gut wrenching fashion. They now return to the scene of the crime for a 3rd time in 14 months. That certainly can be construed as a NFL scheduling quirk when considering these teams don’t even play in the same division.

New Orleans enters this week on a red-hot 5-game win streak, and that includes covering in each of their previous 4 contests. The Saints are also a perfect 3-0 SU&ATS this season in away games. Since 2016, New Orleans is an unscathed 4-0 ATS as a non-division away favorite, and they won by an average of 19.7 points per game.

You just can’t play quarterback in the NFL any better than Drew Brees has this season. Brees is completing a mind boggling 77.3% of his pass attempts while throwing for 13 touchdowns and has yet to be intercepted. It’s no wonder that New Orleans has scored 33 points or more in 4 of their 6 games and reached the 40-point plateau on 3 separate occasions.

Why Minnesota Covers
Minnesota has established one of the strongest home field advantages during recent seasons. The Vikings are 30-11 straight up and 31-10 ATS (75.6%) through its last 41 home games. Furthermore, throughout that identical time frame, Minnesota is 18-1 SU&ATS in non-division home games when their point-spread is +2.0 to -11.0. The Vikings enter are 3-0 SU&ATS in their last 3 games overall. and 2 of those contests took place on enemy turf.

Minnesota has failed to create a turnover in each of their 2 losses this season. Conversely, their opponents coughed the ball up 12 times during their 4 wins. The Vikings must find ways to create takeaways against a New Orleans team that’s turned the ball over just 6 times in 6 games.

Minnesota shelled out a boatload of money to sign free agent quarterback Kirk Cousins during this past offseason. Early returns indicate that money was well spent. Although Cousins doesn’t have eye popping numbers like Drew Brees possesses, he’s been extremely good in his own right. Cousins is completing an impressive 70% of his throws while tossing 14 touchdown passes and he’s been intercepted just 3 times.

Final Take
Looking at this game from an NFL betting standpoint, I see it as a tossup. I’ll most likely sit this one out and enjoy watching what should be a highly entertaining game. Both defenses have been excellent against the run of late. Whichever stop unit performs better against the pass, and what team wins the turnover battle, will serve as key elements for who covers the point-spread.

Ross Benjamin is a top sports analyst and one of the sports industry's most respected handicappers. Follow him on Twitter: @RossBenjamin1 or visit his website at RBWins.com