Thursday Night Football showcases two teams who lost in Week 6. The New Orleans Saints host the Denver Broncos as Sean Payton returns to his former city for the first time since leaving in 2022. It is time to continue our NFL odds series with a Broncos-Saints prediction and pick.
This will be a fun game to watch as Payton coaches against the Saints for the first time since being a head coach there from 2006-21. His current Broncos team has been solid this season, however, they just fell to the Los Angeles Chargers at home for the first time since 2018. The Broncos are 3-3 and that places them 3rd in the AFC West Division.
The Saints started the season hotter than satan’s toenails. Winning their two first games by easy fashion, the Saints would proceed to lose four straight to fall to 2-4. What happened? Well, the defense has been terrible. Derek Carr is out, and now potentially Chris Olave being out doesn’t help either. The Saints must win this game to put themselves back into a position to contend. If they lose, they will likely be out of it before Week 8.
Here are the Broncos-Saints NFL odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
NFL Odds: Broncos-Saints NFL Odds
Denver Broncos: -1.5 (-114)
Moneyline: -132
New Orleans Saints: +1.5 (-106)
Moneyline: +112
Over: 36.5 (-120)
Under: 36.5 (-102)
How to Watch Broncos vs. Saints
Time: 8:15 ET/5:15 PT
TV: Prime Video
Stream: fuboTV (Free Trial)
Why The Broncos Could Cover The Spread/Win
The Broncos played one of the worst first halves of football you will see this season against LA. They didn’t even cross the 50-yard line as Bo Nix threw an interception, followed by three punts and a fumble, turning the ball over again. The offense wouldn’t score till late in the contest as the game was pretty much over at halftime. To make matters worse, star cornerback Pat Surtain II suffered a concussion very early in the game. He will be questionable to play on Thursday and on a short week, it’s unlikely he will play. That is a tough loss to a defense that has the potential to be really good.
The Broncos offense needs work. They have yet to find an identity and have trouble running the ball. Javonte Williams carried the ball six times for 23 yards and Nix led the team with 61 yards rushing in the loss last week. That needs to change. Jaleel McLaughlin is an elite backup back as well, and he carried the rock just three times. The Broncos must find a way to pound the rock against the Saints, whose defense is giving up points left and right.
Why The Saints Could Cover The Spread/Win
New Orleans has had a tough schedule this year, facing the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys (who they easily beat), Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs, and then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The schedule gets easier. If they can beat the Broncos, they will be 3-4 as they prepare to face the Los Angeles Chargers, the Panthers again who they beat by 37, and then the Falcons and Cleveland Browns. There is light at the end of the tunnel for the Saints. Although, they must find a way to get past a Broncos team that is always tough to beat. One thing to note, the Broncos beat the Buccaneers 26-7 earlier this year, whereas the Bucs just scored 51 against the Saints.
Carr will be out again this week so Spencer Rattler gets his second go at a start. His first start had some ups and downs but enough positives for the team to be confident this week. He passed for 243 yards and one touchdown but did have two interceptions. It was hard for the Saints to establish a run game as they were trialing 14-0 very early. New Orleans battled back and found a way to score 27 second-quarter points but did not score again the rest of the contest. If Rattler doesn’t turn the ball over then the Saints have enough talent on offense to score enough points to win this game. The Broncos are not capable of scoring 51 and the Sainst defense will play much better against Nix.
The Saints will likely be without Olave this week as he suffered a concussion against the Buccaneers. Also, Rashid Shaheed has a knee injury and his status is up in the air as well.
Final Broncos-Saints Prediction & Pick
There are a lot of injuries in this game. The status of each injured player is still up in the air, so it’s best to wait to bet on this game until you hear the game-time decisions an hour before the contest. I don’t expect it to be high-scoring, but the over-under at 36.5 is low. I’m taking the Over to hope that 4-5 touchdowns will be scored in this game. Take Denver to win as well.
Final Broncos-Saints Prediction & Pick: Broncos ML (-132), Over 36.5 (-120)