New Orleans Saints at Green Bay Packers Odds

Betting Odds

Point Spread: New Orleans Saints at Green Bay Packers (-4)
Game Total Line: (47)
(wagering lines available at 5Dimes)

The last two Super Bowl champions kick-off the 2011 NFL regular season this Thursday night when the New Orleans Saints head into Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers. Game time is set for 8:30 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast nationally on NBC.

New Orleans’ 2010 season came to an unexpected and sudden end with a 41-36 loss to Seattle as a 9.5-road favorite in the wildcard round of the playoffs. This spoiled an otherwise successful 11-5 regular season that included a 6-2 record straight-up on the road.

The only significant loss to a Saint’s offense that ended the year ranked sixth overall, was running back Reggie Bush, who is now with Miami. Quarterback Drew Brees posted another strong performance with 4,620 passing yards and 33 touchdown throws to lead New Orleans to the third-best passing attack in the league. The problem was it could not run the ball, finishing ranked 28th in the league with an average of 94.9 yards a game. The addition of former Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram with the 28th overall pick in the draft should make an immediate impact on improving this number in 2011.

Green Bay’s dramatic run to a world title has been well documented including the fact that it had a good portion of its roster on the Injured Reserve list when it beat Pittsburgh 31-25 as a three-point favorite to bring the Vince Lombardi trophy back home. The Packers ended the season with a 10-6 record overall and went 7-1 SU at home.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers is also coming off an impressive season, but he really shined in the postseason. In the four game run, he completed a 68.2 percent of his attempts for 1,094 yards and nine TD’s. He will begin this season with all of his favorite weapons including tight end Jermichael Finley, who was one of those players on the IR list for a good portion of the year. The Packers will also have running back Ryan Grant back after missing almost the entire 2010 season. He looked sharp in the preseason with 83 yards on 18 carries to average 4.6 yards an attempt.

While this game features two of the most explosive offenses in the league, its outcome may actually come down to which side’s defense is able to rise to the occasion. The Saints finished last season with the fourth-ranked defense overall, while Green Bay was ranked fifth. Both squads lost a few starters from last year, but remain pretty much intact heading into the regular season opener.

New Orleans is 5-1 against the spread in its last six Week 1 games and the total has gone ‘over’ in four of its last five road games.

Green Bay is 4-0 ATS in its last four season openers and the total has gone ‘over’ in five of its last six home games.

Head-to-head, the favorite in this series the favorite is 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings. The total went ‘over’ in all five games.

Point Spread Pick

Take the Saints +4 available at 5Dimes. Note: Get -105 betting lines at 5Dimes on game day!