NFL Underdog Pick for Week 12
November 27th 2009 - Special K            

New England Patriots (+3) at New Orleans Saints

The PylonPicks pollsters have voted and have chosen the New England Patriots (56%) over the New Orleans Saints (44%). That's a good enough reason for me to take the Patriots this Monday Night. Since we set our line at Saints -3 in the middle of the week, the current point spread has dropped down to the Saints -1.5. Money is being dropped on the Patriots.

Did you know that the Patriots have won 17 straight regular season games against the NFC? Bill Belichick and the Patriots have completely dominated the NFC. The last regular season loss to an NFC opponent came against the Carolina Panthers in week 2 of the 2005 season.

While it is really difficult to find anything wrong with a Saints team who are a perfect 10-0, I think Tom Brady will find some success against the Saints secondary. I watched Marc Bulger throw for almost 300 yards and a pair of TD's against the Saints and the Rams have below average wide receivers. The edge in the passing game goes to Brady over Brees.

There are a lot of interesting things to watch for in this game. The Patriots defense usually like to take an opponents favorite option out of the game. It will be interesting to see who the Patriots focus on stopping since the Saints have so many offensive weapons. If the game is close in the final minutes, I'm really curious to see if the Saints can close out a good team. With the exception of the Panthers game, the Saints really haven't been challenged or felt the pressure of a close game all year. Finally, do you think Mercury Morris and Don Shula are actually pulling for the Patriots to win?

Take the Patriots to win straight up