It’s a marquee all-NFC showdown on Sunday Night Football in Week 3. The Green Bay Packers (2-0) visit Mercedes-Benz Superdome to take on the New Orleans Saints (1-1) with an 8:20 p.m. ET kickoff on NBC and NBCSports.com.
Our Sunday Night Football betting breakdown gives you the best picks for the moneyline, spread and over/under between the Packers and Saints.
The Week 3 matchup between two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees is sure to get plenty of action with the Packers and Saints being very public teams with a national audience on Sunday Night Football.
Packers at Saints picks: Moneyline
The undefeated Packers come into Sunday Night Football as underdogs for the second time through two road games thus far. Typically beneficiaries of one of the greatest home-field advantages in football, the Saints will play without an audience at the Superdome for the second time this season. It didn’t hurt them in Week 1, as they beat the NFC South-rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers 34-23, but they’re coming off an ugly 34-24 road loss against the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday Night Football.
Green Bay has comfortably beaten NFC North rivals in the Minnesota Vikings (43-34) and Detroit Lions (42-21). They were 1-point road underdogs against the Vikings and 7-point home favorites against the Lions.
Both teams are at risk of not having their top receiver in Week 3. Saints WR Michael Thomas missed the Week 2 game due to an ankle injury. It was initially expected to keep him out multiple weeks, and he should be considered doubtful for Sunday Night Football. Packers WR Davante Adams is dealing with a hamstring issue. He has 192 receiving yards and two touchdowns through two games.
The Saints’ passing game struggled against the Raiders with Thomas out. Brees completed 26 of 38 passes for 312 touchdowns but just one touchdown. RB Alvin Kamara was the leading receiver with nine catches for 95 yards, while WR Tre’Quan Smith added five receptions and 86 yards. No other player had more than three catches or 25 yards. TE Jared Cook caught Brees’ lone touchdown pass.
A rejuvenated Rodgers has been the better of the two quarterbacks early in the season and Adams can be considered more likely to play than Thomas. Take the value of the plus-money on the Packers without needing to worry about a hostile road environment.
Packers at Saints picks: Against the spread
The Packers have covered the spread by double digits in each of their first two games, once as underdogs and once as favorites. The Saints have been favored in each of their first two games and are 1-1 straight up and against the spread. The Week 3 spread opened last week with the Saints as 5.5-point favorites but was tightened based on the differing results of the team’s Week 2 games and the resulting betting action.
Saints head coach Sean Payton has his team 25-20 against the spread with a rest disadvantage since assuming the head coach role in 2006. New Orleans has won those games by an average of 3.3 points per game and covered by an extra 0.9 PPG. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur is 2-1 ATS with the rest advantage in his much smaller sample size since taking over from Mike McCarthy for the beginning of last season.
Packers at Saints picks: Over/Under (total)
Both the Packers and Saints are 2-0 against the Over/Under to start the season. Green Bay has topped the point projections by 22.5 points per game and New Orleans has played 9.5 points above the line through two games. The Week 3 SNF total is just the fourth-highest projection of the week.
Despite these early trends, the Week 3 total hinges on the availability of either or both of Adams and Thomas. If both are ruled out, we lean towards the Under. Both receiving corps are rather underwhelming without their three-time Pro Bowl top options.
Take the Over, so long as one of the two is active Sunday night. It’s just a lean for now until more is known about their respective injuries later in the week.
