Atlanta Falcons vs New Orleans Saints Betting Picks & Predictions

Game outlook

Atlanta is on the road playing New Orleans at the Caesars Superdome stadium on Sunday, 12/18/2022 @ 1:00pm EST. New Orleans -3.5 was the opening favorite and current line is New Orleans -4.

It's Desmond Ridder's NFL debut here in this NFC South rivalry game as the New Orleans Saints host the Atlanta Falcons. Will Ridder take the offense to new heights that Marcus Mariota couldn't? It might not be perfect right away, but Ridder certainly gives the unit a much higher ceiling. In recent weeks, Mariota had been woefully inaccurate, which was holding the passing game back significantly. It has been fun watching Atlanta's offense this year, but only because of its ground game. The ground game should continue to be elite, and the air attack now has a chance with Ridder. If nothing else, the switch should have a big impact on Drake London.

As they've lost a lot of heartbreakers in the final seconds, Atlanta could easily be much better than 5-8. While oddsmakers seem to view the switch from Mariota to Ridder as a downgrade, anyone who has watched every Falcons game will tell you the passing game will never become less explosive. I can't lay more than a field goal on the Saints here, since they have lost four of their last five games and have failed to score more than 16 points in any of those four losses. Since October 9th, New Orleans has won two games, both against teams that were struggling mightily at the time, including the Raiders and Rams.

Atlanta Betting

With a power ranking of 30, Atlanta is ranked #15 in offense (scoring an average of 22.15 per game), #24 in defense (allowing an average of 24.00 points to be scored against them per game) and are 5-8 (7-6 ATS) this season.