Report: Bettors are praying on the Saints' downfall more than any other team
And that's a possibility bettors are buying in on. While the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants are also in the mix for teams expected to very, very bad this year, it's New Orleans drawing the most attention on the betting market. Per Mike Florio of NBC Sports, who cites data from DraftKings, "The Saints have drawn 46 percent of the bets and 52 percent of the handle. The Browns, in contrast, have 12 percent of the bets and 13 percent of the handle. The Giants, at 6-1, has 11 percent of the bets and 12 percent of the handle."
Saints general manager Mickey Loomis is a proud man. The teams he's built have never lost enough games to pick first overall, and New Orleans hasn't picked top-five since 2006, after the Hurricane Katrina-impacted 2005 season ended with a 3-13 finish. His squad has only picked top-ten three times in his 22-year tenure as GM. But this year's forecast is dire. Kellen Moore is unproven as a head coach. Spencer Rattler didn't win any of his seven games last year but has clearly been a better option to start than 26-year old rookie Tyler Shough. The defense Dennis Allen built looked old and slow last season, and D.A. isn't around to call plays anymore.
And the Saints face an exceptionally difficult start to the season. Their first four games include a road contest with the Buffalo Bills, Super Bowl favorites in the AFC, as well as three tough NFC West teams: at home against the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers, with a coast-to-coast trip to see the Seattle Seahawks. A 1-3 or 0-4 start isn't unlikely. Mathematically, very few teams start 0-2 and qualify for the playoffs. Losing most or all of those first four games might mean digging too deep of a hole for the Saints to climb back out of. And as we've seen here, a lot of bettors are counting on that being the case. It's on Moore and the team he's assembled this summer to prove them wrong.
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