Vikings vs. Saints Prediction: Back Kirk Cousins With Vikings Playing Across the Pond
By Josh Yourish
We’ve got our first London Game of the year with the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints making the trip across the pond to play an American Football game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
If Kirk Cousins was going to flee the country, I would have thought it would have happened after his Monday Night Football performance in Week 2, not coming off a game winning touchdown pass against Detroit.
Vikings vs. Saints Odds, Spread and Total
Vikings vs. Saints Odds, Spread and Total Movement in NFL Week 4
This game opened in most books with the Vikings as 1.5 point favorites, but it has jumped up to 2.5 and even 3 in some books. Now, three is a crucial number in gambling on football, so a jump through the field goal would be very impactful.
Vikings vs. Saints Best Bet and Prediction
Everyone forgot about primetime Kirk Cousins until he gave us a fantastic reminder in Week 2 on Monday Night football in Philadelphia. Cousins still wasn’t great last week only completing 24 of 41 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns. This isn’t a bad stat line by any means, but it was a very Kirk Cousins statline. He was unwilling to push the ball down the field and Justin Jefferson had another rough week, settling for 14 yards on three catches.
The New Orleans secondary is not the same unit it was a year ago with Marcus Williams, Malcolm Jenkins and Chauncy Gardner-Johnson in the defensive backfield. Now Marcus Maye, Tyrann Mathieu and company are a bit more susceptible downfield. That weakness hasn’t shown up as much against Carolina or Tampa Bay, but I think Kevin O’Connell and Cousins can take advantage of it this week.
Jameis Winston is playing with an injured back and he looked hurt against Carolina. Winston only led the Saints to 14 points, all of which came in the fourth quarter when they were down and decided to air it out to Chris Olave downfield. Olave finished with nine catches and 147 yards last week and looks like a star, but a rookie receiver isn’t enough to make up for New Orlean’s deficiencies.
The Saints are 1-2 and Dennis Allen is now 9-30 as a head coach. Sean Payton is looking like a bigger and bigger loss everyday. With Kirk Cousins as far away from primetime as he can be this week, the Vikings will win big in London.
Pick: Vikings -2.5 (-110)
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