Saints favored by almost a touchdown over Falcons on Thanksgiving

The opening Week 13 NFL odds favor the visiting New Orleans Saints over the hosting Atlanta Falcons on Thanksgiving, but that means little.

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The New Orleans Saints are headlining the NFL’s scheduled games for Thanksgiving with a rematch against the NFC South-rival Atlanta Falcons in prime-time, at 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC. That tense matchup follows earlier games hosted by the Detroit Lions (against the Chicago Bears at 11:30 a.m. CT) and Dallas Cowboys (with the Buffalo Bills at 3:30 p.m. CT). And according to the opening line from BetMGM, the Saints-Falcons kickoff is expected to be the day’s barn-burner, with the highest over/under of the day.

The Saints-Falcons game has a projected over/under of 49.5, with New Orleans favored by 6.5 points — nearly a full touchdown. That’s higher than what the Cowboys-Bills game is expected to put up (44.5) as well as what the Lions-Bears tilt (39.5). That over/under also projects a final score of Saints 29, Falcons 21.

Saints fans learned that the projected odds mean little the last time these two teams squared off. The Saints were 11.5-point favorites over the Falcons coming out of their bye week, but Atlanta shocked the Saints by sacking Drew Brees six times and holding the New Orleans offense without a touchdown on the day. The Saints have had time to improve since then, but this will obviously be a big test no matter what each team’s record looks like.

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