NFL Week 3 odds: Saints, Vikings meet in battle of perplexing teams

Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints will be desperate for a win this weekend as they take on a distracted Minnesota Vikings team at the Superdome as large early favorites on the NFL odds at the sportsbooks.

The Saints fell to 0-2 both SU (straight up) and ATS (against the spread) on the season in Week 2 with a 26-24 loss on the road in Cleveland as 5-point favorites on the betting lines, and they also lost 37-34 on the road in Atlanta as 3-point favorites back in Week 1 of the season.

New Orleans, though, sat as a 10.5-point favorite for their Sunday afternoon game at home against the Vikings on the early betting lines for Week 3, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.

The New Orleans vs. Minnesota matchup on Sunday should attract plenty of attention both for the Saints' struggles and the Vikings' off-field issues. Minnesota reinstated running back Adrian Peterson on Monday, and if that holds he'll be back on the field on Sunday afternoon. With Peterson inactive over the weekend the Vikings were blasted 30-7 at home by Tom Brady and the Patriots, which took away the momentum from their 34-6 win over the St. Louis Rams as2.5-point road underdogs in their opening game of the season.

New Orleans and Minnesota haven't met since December 2011, when the Saints rolled to a 42-20 victory as 7-point road favorites. According to the OddsShark NFL Database, however, that made the Saints only 3-4 SU and 1-6 ATS in the last seven games between the teams.

Elsewhere, the Browns will be looking to build on their win over the Saints when they host the rival Ravens on Sunday afternoon in one of four NFL games that sat as pick'ems on the early lines for Week 3 – the others were Green Bay at Detroit, San Diego at Buffalo, and Chicago at the Jets, which is this week's Monday Night Football matchup from MetLife Stadium.

MetLife Stadium actually has two games on tap for Week 3, as the Giants also host the Texans there on Sunday afternoon. Eli Manning and company are 0-2 both SU and ATS on the season, while Houston has started strong at 2-0 both SU and ATS. For their matchup on Sunday afternoon the Texans sat as 1-point road favorites on the early Week 3 betting lines,according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.

Manning has a QB Rating of just 69.2 on the season, with three TDs and four interceptions.