Who will win Monday Night Football

The New Orleans gruesome 0-2 start brings to mind William Shatner. Not for his Captain Kirk role on Star Trek, nor as the sex-crazed lawyer on Boston Legal. Instead for his role on VH1, “One hit wonders”.

Sean Payton was the next great genius coach coming down the pipeline last season, if he were to lose to Tennessee tonight in the home opener at the Super Dome; he might start to take on the look of Chumbawumba from 1997 for its one hit song “Tubthumper”.

New Orleans has been torched for 72 points in first two games and has been outscored by exactly 48 points. That might work in Buffalo; however they didn’t play in a conference championship game last season. “We’ve got to stay the course but play together,” Payton said in typical coach speak. “The big thing is that they [the players] don’t sense panic. Our job as coaches is to make them relax so they can just play.” One of the staff’s first jobs is get the ball more to Deuce McAllister, who has two less carries than Reggie Bush.

This is not a good development since the Deuce is the foundation of the offense. The more and better he runs the ball, the better the Saints offense is. He sets up all the other elements of the Saints game, allowing Payton to be creative in play-calling.

What has been most noticeable is the ease of which the Saints secondary has been torched, looking more like a five alarm fire giving up 11.5 yards per pass attempt. Every member of the defensive backfield has been pathetic, yet they have received no help from the players up front. New Orleans defenders have yet to register a single sack this season. The only good news is Tennessee prefers to transport the football by way of the running game.

The Titans are top rushing team in the NFL at 211 yards per game, at 5.1 yards per carry. The unlikely duo of Chris Brown and LenDale White is leading the way with Vince Young a wonderful supporting compliment. Young continues to show improvement as a passer, thou the fact remains he probably will never be a great thrower of the pigskin. What he is showing already in his young career is an ability to be competitive and win games.

That ability will carry any team a long way and help job security for a coach. Offensive coordinator Norm Chow also deserves a great deal of credit assembling game plans that work more efficiently with the talent on hand.

A large surprise for the Titans has been the play of the defense, holding opponents’ running games to 76 YPG and 3.8 yards a carry. A subtle but highly effective change has been moving defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch from the right side to the left end position, next to defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. This gives coach Jeff Fisher great flexibility to run stunts with these two players and places Vanden Bosh in more one on one situations where he can really rush the passer. Ultimately this frees up linebacker Keith Bullock to make more plays at the point of attack.

New Orleans is a four point favorite at Bookmaker.com down from opening number of 5.5. Playing the Saints as a home favorite is as uncomfortable as listening to Right Said Fred one hit, “I’m Too Sexy”, with 3-10 ATS record the last three seasons. Tennessee is perfectly fitted for a game like this with 12-3 ATS record as an underdog the last couple of seasons.
With this being a Monday night contest, the Saints have the worst record in the history in the NFL at 7-15 (7-14-1 ATS). The Titans are not in the best spot either, since teams playing two Monday night games both on the road like Tennessee are 12-30-1 ATS.
The bye weeks start in Week 4 and each team will have one next weekend. From a system standpoint, this favors New Orleans because any team that allowed 28 or more points in last game and has a bye next is 14-5-1 ATS in this contest.
Kickoff is set for approximately 8:30 Eastern.

Selection: Titans +4