The New Orleans Saints, online favorites against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are riding high on their longest winning streak in five years, matching the five straight games they won at the start of the 2013 season. However, running back Mark Ingram feels that, like Oskar Schindler, he could do more. “Two possessions, we’re about to ice the game, and I sucked,” Ingram said, referring to the two fumbles he lost in the Saints’ 20-12 win over the Bears on Sunday.
- Date: Sunday, 5th November
- Time: 1:05 PM
- Venue: Mercedes-Benz Superdome
- Online sportsbook odds:
Buccaneers +6½ (-110) 51½ (-110) +249
Saints -6½ (-110) 51½ (-110) -305
Breesus is your copilot
“Guys that are hard on themselves are the ones that really care the most,” QB Drew Brees said of Ingram. “There’s not a guy who I care about more on this team than him or that I know is as prideful about what he does than him. He’s the heart and soul of this team.” in other words, he’s “sainsational.”
Meet Tamecia in today's @Saintsations spotlight! #GoSaints https://t.co/fBgU1t2FsX
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 2, 2017
But Drew, maybe Mark has a point. After all, you guys were, entering Sunday, 4-0 SU and ATS in your last four games. You did pick up a fifth straight straight-up win, but you also failed to cover the spread for the first time since week 2. Perhaps if Mark had tried a little harder, now you would be 5-0 ATS as well. Ah, why do we bother? Everybody knows pro football players only care about trends such as that New Orleans is 9-2 SU in its last 11 games against the Bucs, but for those of us who do care otherwise, the Saints are 6-0 ATS in their last six after straight-up win, 8-1 ATS when playing a team with a losing record, 10-2 ATS in their last 12 playing NFC South teams, and 19-7-1 against the online betting spread in their last 27 versus NFC opposition.
Jameis… who isJames?
Tampa Bay QB Jameis Winston, who is expected, even though he has been playing through a shoulder injury, to start against the Saints, believes the Bucs are still trying to figure out who they are. “I think this team has to find its common ground and our team, we’re still learning what that is,” he said. “Last year, there was a point in the season where we found our identity. We’re still trying to develop our identity and use it to get better. Because every team has its own identity and we’ve got to find it.” allows us to help. The Bucs’ identity, so far, has been that of a team that is, having gone 1-5 SU and 0-5-1 ATS, ever so slightly less adept at covering than it is at winning outright. Tampa Bay is, additionally, a team for which, due in no small part to their disastrous pass defense, games tend to go over, 4-2 also in their last six. The Saints often are a force to be reckoned with offensively, and their defense has actually improved this season, and the online betting total has gone under in three of the last four games.