Monday night football has provided us with some great games so far this season. For the final game of week 7 the New Orleans Saints travel to take on the Seattle Seahawks. The biggest story of this game is can the Seahawks stay in the playoff race until the return of star QB Russell Wilson. Here is my full game breakdown, trends, analysis and betting tips
Dave Covers Spreads, NFL Free Picks and game Breakdown 
New Orleans Saints Breakdown:
The New Orleans Saints haven’t been quite as devastating this year as we have seen them in the past. A good reason for this is most likely the loss of one of the greatest QB’s of all time in Drew Brees. Never the less, Jameis Winston is still looking to prove himself as a good starting quarterback.
They won their last game (in week 5) against the Washington Football Team, highlighting the game was the Hail Mary Winston through in the closing seconds of the first half resulting in a 49 yard touchdown. Despite the win, the Saints were bad on defence, giving up 373 total yards including 26 first downs to Washington.
New Orleans is 9th in the league this year in scoring with 25.4 points per game. Star running back Alvin Kamara leads the team with 94 carries as well as 15 catches. I would like to see both of those numbers trend upwards more in the coming weeks. The biggest issue for the Saints is maintaining a moving offense. Jameis is very sporadic and could dominate a game just as easily as throw it away. An important note is the fact that the Saints are coming off a bye week, meaning they have had more time to prepare and recover before this matchup.
Seattle Seahawks Breakdown:
If the Seahawks continue to lose games, you can pretty much count them out of the playoffs. Last week they fell to the Pittsburgh in overtime in a very turnover, boring game. They trailed 14-0 at half before making things interesting by tying the game in the final seconds at 20-20. Geno Smith is now starting quarterback for this Seahawks team as Wilson is out with a finger injury. He has looked okay, he is a veteran and his teammates seem to enjoy playing with him that has to be worth something. So far he has gone 33/49 for 340 yards 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.
The Seahawks are below average on both sides of the ball ranking 18th in points and 21st in points allowed. As well as Wilson being out, the offense has another blow with running back one, Chris Carson out. The Seahawks will be relying on their defence in this one to contain the Saints and keep the game close. To be fair, both teams will be relying on their defence, hence the low total at just 42.5.
Final Thoughts
The Seahawks are at home in this matchup, which has always proven to be a huge advantage. Being without their star quarterback and running back does concern me. This Saints team will need to take full advantage of this fact if they have playoff hopes. Without Wilson, Seattle doesn’t have the firepower to score over this Saints defence, paired with the fact the Saints are coming off a bye week I expect them to come out with a good game plan and produce some nice drives to win this one in a fairly low scoring game.
Consider the Saints and under in this game.
Get my official expert picks for this game here