New Orleans Saints Super Bowl Favorites Entering NFL Playoffs

Posted on: January 2, 2019, 12:24h. 

Last updated on: January 2, 2019, 12:24h.

The New Orleans Saints (13-3) finished the regular season tied for the best record in football, and enter the NFL Playoffs as the odds-on favorites to win Super Bowl 53 when it’s played on February 3 in Atlanta, Georgia.

New Orleans Saints NFL odds playoffs
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees became the NFL’s all-time passing yards leader on Sunday. (Image: Scott Threlkeld/The Advocate)

The Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas has Drew Brees and company at 2/1, or implied odds of 33.33 percent. A $100 bet and the Saints winning their first Super Bowl since 2010 would net $200.

The Kansas City Chiefs (12-4) and Los Angeles Rams (13-3) are next at 9/2. A $100 bet and one of those teams winning the Vince Lombardi Trophy nets $450.

The New England Patriots (11-5) are at 6/1, and the Chicago Bears (12-4) at 10/1 round out the top five.

The Philadelphia Eagles (9-7), the defending Super Bowl champions, snuck into the postseason with a week 17 win. But they have the longest odds of the 12 teams in the NFL Playoffs at 40/1. Should Philly find a way to win it all again, bettors who take those odds will be rewarded $4,000 for every $100 wagered.

Las Vegas oddsmakers enter the NFL postseason fresh off a prosperous week 17 finale. SuperBook director John Murray told ESPN, “We had our best Sunday of the season. The season-long stuff all seemed to go our way.”

“We needed the Vikings to miss the playoffs. We needed the Ravens to win the AFC North. And we wanted the Broncos to finish under seven wins – and we got them all,” Murray explained.

Wild Card Round

This Saturday and Sunday, four games will be played that will dwindle down the Super Bowl field to eight teams.

The Indianapolis Colts (10-6) are slight 1.5-point underdogs playing against the Texans (11-5) in Houston. The Saturday night game pits the Seattle Seahawks (10-6) at the Dallas Cowboys (10-6) where the home team is again favored by 1.5.

On Sunday, the Los Angeles Chargers (12-4) are being spotted 2.5 points when they play in Baltimore against the Ravens (10-6). The final game of the Wild Card weekend puts the Eagles as 5.5-point underdogs against the Bears in Chicago.

The Chiefs and Patriots scored the two byes out of the AFC, while the NFC honors go to the Saints and Rams.

Brady Suffers Loss

Tom Brady has his Patriots in the postseason for the 10th consecutive year. It’s also the eighth straight year that New England has been afforded a Wild Card week bye to automatically advance to the Divisional Playoffs.

The Pats’ 38-3 win over the New York Jets clinched the first-round bye, but Sunday wasn’t a total celebratory day for the five-time Super Bowl champion Brady. Under the terms of his latest contract, Brady receives $1 million each for finishing in the top five in the league in passer rating, completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdown passes, and passing yards.

But a down year for the 41-year-old superstar kept him outside the top five in each of those categories. He finished seventh in passing yards, 10th in total touchdowns, 12th in passer rating, 13th in yards per attempt, and 18th in completion percentage.

However, don’t expect to come across a GoFundMe page for the future hall of famer. Despite missing out on the bonuses, the Patriots still paid Brady $15 million in 2018.