The Los Angeles Chargers face off against the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football. The game is scheduled for 8:15 P.M. Eastern on ESPN.
The Saints enter the game as 7.5-point favorites. The over/under is set at 50.
Saints Without Thomas
The biggest blow for the Saints on Monday night is to play without Michael Thomas. He hasn’t played for the last three weeks after suffering an ankle injury, and now will be out because of disciplinary reasons. However, Alvin Kamara is picking up the slack.
Kamara is the leading rusher and receiver for New Orleans. He has carried the ball 50 times for 236 yards and four touchdowns. He also has 30 receptions for 321 yards and three touchdowns.
Drew Brees has thrown for 1,006 yards, eight touchdowns, and two interceptions so far this year. He has shown times of aging, and other times that he hasn’t lost a step. He’ll need to show he still has something left in the tank for the Saints to win one more Super Bowl with Brees at the helm.
The Saints started the year with an impressive win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but they followed that with back-to-back losses against the Raiders and Packers. New Orleans got back on track in Week 4 in Detroit.
The NFC South is competitive this year, aside from the 0-5 Falcons. Tampa Bay and Carolina are both 3-2, so the Saints can’t afford to drop games such as this one.
Herbert Leads Chargers
Justin Herbert was the sixth pick for the Chargers in the 2020 NFL Draft. The former Oregon Duck is now the starting quarterback for the Chargers.
Veteran Brees had some nice words to say about the talent of the 22-year-old.
“He is definitely a very talented player,” Brees said. “Some of the throws I’ve seen him make over the last few weeks have been pretty impressive and obviously he’s a big athlete who can do a lot of things both with his arm and with his legs — and it seems like they’re asking him to do a lot, which shows his versatility.”
The Chargers have lost three straight, but it has been against tough competition. It took the Super Bowl Champion Chiefs an overtime period to beat the Chargers by a field goal. They also lost to the Panthers and Buccaneers by one possession.
Their one win came in the first week against the Bengals.
Austin Ekeler has been their leading rusher, but a hamstring injury will likely keep him from being the top running back for LA on Monday night.
Prediction
The Chargers have been competitive against some of the top teams in the league. I don’t expect that to change tonight, so I’m taking them at +7.5. Herbert will keep this team in it.
They will have to score to cover. New Orleans has scored at least 24 points in every game, putting up 35 against the Lions in their previous game. Because of that, I will also take the over.
Saints win late, but not by more than a touchdown. Final – Saints: 31 Chargers: 27