Jacksonville put up 32 points against the defending Super
Bowl champions last wee. Will they be able to put up similar numbers against
the Saints, or will New Orleans play their starters more and blow out
the Jaguars?
Jags fade after hot start
Against
the Giants last week, Jacksonville got on the board first with a nice drive led
by Blaine Gabbert. After that, it was all downhill. The Jags gave up four
straight scores to the Giants, and ended up being down 24-7 by the end
of the first half. However, they did end up winning the game.
The Jags
will be measured this season by two things. First, if Maurice Jones-Drew
finally ends his holdout. Even if it happened today, it wouldn't affect this game because Jones-Drew wouldn't play. Don’t expect
him to report any time soon.
Second,
is the growth and improvement (or lack there of) of Blaine Gabbert. Gabbert
looked good on the Jags' first TD drive last week; last
season, Gabbert was painful to watch. While that one drive was nice to see if
you were a Jaguars fan, I will have to see more from him if I'm to back any
Jags lines in the regular season. Gabbert completed only one pass after that
first drive and was pulled for Chad Henne after the second drive.
Saints: to try or not to try
Neither the Saints nor the Patriots looked like they gave two shakes of a
tail about their first preseason game against one another. Drew Brees and Tom
Brady each played but two drives. Brees was 1-4 with four yards; now, if that’s any
indication as to how the bounty scandal is affecting New Orleans, run as fast
as you can away from them.
While I
know it’s the first preseason game, one would think that a touchdown drive from
the Saints against the Patriots would be a foregone conclusion. For what it’s
worth, the Pats didn’t play so well, either, as Tom Brady was sacked once and
went 4-7 for 30 yards.
The Sharp Pick
While
the big spread in a preseason game should be a bit of a concern, if any team can
blast another in the preseason, it’s the Saints. They beat the Cardinals
in their first preseason game by seven points, and I suspect now that they are
in their third preseason game, this will be the one where the starters play for
most of the first half.
I find no reason to believe the Jags can keep up with the
Saints’ first unit. In the last three years, New Orleans has won all of their
third preseason games by an average of over 24 points. Plus, they put up 36 or
more points in all three of those games. It seems that the third preseason game
is where the Saints pretend it’s real, and that’s all I need to recommend
laying the six and one half points with the Saints.
My
Pick: Saints -6 ½