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Football Betting - Will the New Orleans Saints Repeat as NFC South Champions by Mike Marshall
The New Orleans Saints are the pro football betting faves to win the NFC South this season but the underdog Atlanta Falcons can pose a serious threat to the defending Super Bowl champs.
Or…can they?
It all depends on whether or not the Saints come back as hungry this season as they were last season.
Besides the Saints and Falcons, the other two teams in the division, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers, both figure to be improved from last season.
Let's take a look at the NFC South for the upcoming 2009-2010 NFL Betting Season.
New Orleans Saints -150
Even though it's terribly difficult to win two Super Bowls in a row, it might not be all that difficult to win two divisions in a row.
This is especially true regarding the New Orleans Saints who didn't suffer through too many changes during the off-season. The Saints resigned free safety Darren Sharper and running back Pierre Thomas. Those two starters were immensely important to the Saints' Super Bowl run last season. The defense might actually be better with linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar finally getting the start over Scott Fujita. The 25-year old Dunbar is definitely ready to get some things done at the linebacking position. LDE Alex Brown taking over for the ineffective Charles Grant is another plus for the D and both coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees work better than any other coach/QB combo in the league.
Atlanta Falcons +200
The team should be better this season then they were last season because QB Matt Ryan will have had another season under his belt and should be 100% healthy. The wide receivers are good, Roddy White is actually becoming one of the better wide-outs in the NFL, and nobody can deny that running back Michael Turner knows what he's doing in the backfield. The only real issue with this team is on defense where Atlanta's defensive backfield just might not be good enough to tackle an offensive team like the Saints. CB Dunta Robinson never developed into the shut down guy that the Houston Texans expected. The Texans allowed him to go in free agency.
3.
Carolina Panthers +600
Out of the 3 contenders in this division (let's not kid ourselves regarding the Buccaneers!), the Panthers are the ones going off at the best NFL to win division betting odds in the sportsbook. The Panthers made the single most important decision out of all 4 teams in the NFC South during that off-season. That was to unload QB Jake Delhomme and put their faith in QB Matt Moore. With a sterling group of running backs at his disposal and a decent offensive line, Moore could excel in 2010. The defense will need to step it up some but waving bye-bye to Julius Peppers might have been a good move because Peppers can be a slacker out there from time to time. I believe the Panthers have a decent chance to upset both the Saints and Falcons in the division.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers +2000
The Bucs have no shot of winning the NFC South unless Drew Brees, Matt Moore and Matt Ryan get hurt. Even then, they'll have to hope that everybody else's defense finds a way to play well below expectations. The Bucs do have building blocks with Josh Freeman at QB and Aqib Talib at cornerback but that's all they've got, building blocks.
Curtesy of BetUS.com |
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