Oakland Raiders VS New Orleans Saints Free Pick

Oakland Raiders (51) AT New Orleans Saints -1

The Oakland Raiders travel to New Orleans in a very interesting week 1 matchup against the Saints. The Raiders and their fan base are excited as they feel they can break their long playoff drought. Coach Jack Del Rio did a great job with a young Raiders team a year ago going 7-9 with a difficult schedule that included out of division games against the Bengals, Steelers, Packers and Vikings. With the NFC and AFC South divisions on the schedule this season, optimism is at an all time high for this team. The Saints on the other hand are still in salary cap Hell after years of awful spending trying to snag another ring before Drew Brees is washed up. They have two straight losing seasons and their once mighty home field advantage is gone as the have gone 7-9 at home the last 2 seasons.

Why The Saints Can Cover

1. Well anytime you have Drew Brees you always have a shot. Brees may be 37 years old but he still has some life in that arm of his. Last season he threw for almost 5,000 yards and had his lowest number of interceptions (11) since 2011, to go along with 32 TD passes. Brees isn’t washed up yet by any means.
2. The Saints defense was AWFUL a year ago and the front office did a good job of getting some new players in there to help out. They added Sheldon Rankins, Vonn Bell, James Laurinaitis and Nick Fairley to the defensive side of the ball. Unfortunately Rankins broke his fibula and will definitely miss the first 6 games, but this defense will still be better despite his absence.

Why The Raiders Will Cover

1. The Raiders are ready to take that next step this season. Derrick Carr is the real deal. Throw in Latavius Murray, Amare Cooper, Michael Crabtree and what many are saying may be the best O line in football and this offense is going to make Raider fan think it’s the year 2000 again.
   
2. Speaking of next step, the Raiders defense has the potential to be great. With the Saints offensive roster being so depleted due to not knowing how the salary cap works, the Raiders defense could control this game.

Final Analysis And Free Pick

Opening day in New Orleans always seems to have crazy shootouts. Saints fans will be raucous and do their best to rattle that young Raiders offense into stupid penalties and mistakes. I’m not sure if it’s going to matter. These young Raiders got a lot of their growing pains out of the way last year and are ready to roll. The Raiders offensive line is going to be FANTASTIC this season. Look for the line to open up huge running lanes and for impressive RB Latavius Murray to have a big game, which will give more room for Cooper and Crabtree to hit some deep ones. The Saints offensive skill players leaves much to be desired. Brandin Cooks and Willie Sneed are serviceable receivers but they don’t scare you like past Saints receivers. Look for Khalil Mack and that Raiders defense to put pressure on Brees and create some havoc. The Raiders will win this game outright and fly home 1-0. The Pick: Oakland Raiders Money Line

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