Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints Prediction & Odds: September 9th 2010

BetUS Sportsbook is back with another set of NFL parlay picks in the Week 1 NFL betting duel between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints from the Louisiana Superdome.

Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints
Game Date/Time: Thursday, September 9th, 8:30 ET
Game Location: Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, LA
TV/Radio Broadcast: NBC, Westwood One, Sirius

Football Odds: Minnesota Vikings (+5) -110 vs. New Orleans Saints (-5) -110: Over/Under 48

The poor Vikings have been all over the board in the preseason. First, Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels thought they were dueling for the starting quarterback job. Then Brett Favre came back to town. Then Sidney Rice was ruled out for the first half of the regular season. Then Percy Harvin suffered migraines that have kept him off of the field for a number of weeks.

Now Rosenfels is gone, Jackson is a backup, and the receiving corps for the men in purple and gold is totally cut and paste.

To Favre’s credit, he is coming off of a season in which he played like an MVP, but odds have it, a preseason with two picks and no TD passes probably doesn’t bode well for another season of less than double digits in INTs.
Inevitably, there is going to be more pressure put on Adrian Peterson this year after the departure of backup Chester Taylor. AP rushed for 122 yards in the postseason defeat last year to the Saints, but that was his only 100 yard rushing game since Week 10 of the regular season.

On the other side of the field, the Saints have done nothing but stay remarkably consistent. They are notably thin at running back after the losses of Lynell Hamilton and PJ Hill in the preseason, but aside from that, they made it out of training camp relatively unscathed.

It looks like a potentially fantastic year once again for Drew Brees, who is working on the heels of a season in which he threw for 4,388 yards and 34 TDs.

You have to go back to Week 15 against the Dallas Cowboys to find the last time that Brees was picked off in a game, and you can bet that he’ll be hard pressed to turn the pigskin over in this one as well.

NFL Insider Tip: The Vikings have covered five straight and seven out of eight spreads in this series, making them great NFL parlay picks dating back to 2001.

That all ends on Thursday, though. Minnesota just has too many question marks coming into this game, particularly offensively, and with the banners being raised on Thursday night for their first championship, the Saints are certainly going to be coming out with guns blazing.

The Saints would make for great NFL parlays picks on Thursday night.

My NFL Predictions: New Orleans Saints (-5) -110