Saints vs. Bucs Odds
| Saints Odds | +11 |
| Jets Odds | -11 |
| Over/Under | 45 |
| Time | 8:20 p.m. ET |
| TV | NBC |
| Odds via DraftKings. Get up-to-the-minute NFL odds here. | |
The New Orleans Saints will look to keep their minuscule playoff chances afloat on Sunday Night Football in their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Florida.
New Orleans needs gobs of help in order to limp into the playoffs. A loss here isn't necessarily a death nail, but they'll need to win out against the Miami Dolphins, Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons to even have a shot at the postseason.
The Saints still have the No. 5 defense in the NFL — and best rush defense — but have faltered heavily since quarterback Jameis Winston went down with a torn ACL last month. It hasn't helped that Alvin Kamara, their best offensive weapon, has missed a chunk of time as well. New Orleans is 1-5 since Winston's injury and look absolutely lost on offense.
Meanwhile, the Buccaneers have all but locked up the NFC South. Winning out to secure the No. 1 seed in the NFC will be easy against an incredibly Mickey Mouse schedule: Tampa Bay plays New Orleans at home, a home-and-home against the Panthers and the Jets away. Anything but the No. 1 seed would be a let down for this Tom Brady-led side.
With the Saints sputtering — and head coach Sean Payton out with COVID-19 again — the public is absolutely hammering the Bucs' spread at -11. Tampa has about 70% of the total money on this game to win by 11 or more points.
And the public also loves these player props for the Sunday Night Football showdown.
Saints vs. Bucs Most Popular NFL Player Props
- Leonard Fournette to score a touchdown at any time (-170)
- Alvin Kamara to rush for over 55.5 yards (-105)
- Rob Gronkowski to score a touchdown at any time (+130)
The Saints have the best run defense in the NFL, so I'm hard pressed to bet on Fournette's most popular player prop. That, and the fact that touchdown props generally lack value and are a little too variable for my liking.
Feel free to go for it if you think this is going to be a Bucs blowout, which it very well might be. To that end, there may be better value on the spread at -11 (-115).
Fournette has scored a touchdown in six out of 13 games this season, which implies the odds should be somewhere closer to +117.
Kamara had been out for more than a month with a knee injury, but returned last week against the New York Jets with style. The two-time All-Pro back put up 120 yards on the ground with a touchdown and added four catches for 25 yards.
However, the Saints led most of that game and went to the run an absurd amount in the second half to kill clock. Still, for this SNF matchup, New Orleans will look to set the tempo from the ground.
The Bucs are just 17th in the NFL against the rush vs. 5th against the pass. Plus, with the Saints' issues at quarterback, Kamara will be the team's primary source of offense.
Something to note is this will be the first time Kamara and Mark Ingram are playing together in the backfield since November. Undoubtedly, Kamara will lose out on a few carries.
Kamara has rushed for 56 or more yards in five out of his nine games this season.
The third-most popular player prop involves the Gronk, who has fulfilled that player prop in three of eight games played this season. The Bucs will go to the air. And whenever Gronkowski is isolated against a member of the average Saints linebacking corps, you better believe he'll get targeted.
