NFL Sunday Betting Totals Roundup and Best Bets for Week 2
The fact that the New Orleans Saints (0-1) scored 40 points in Week 1 is not surprising at all. But scoring 40 points and losing is another story, and something New Orleans hopes to fix on the defensive side of the ball before Sunday's home matchup with the Cleveland Browns (0-0-1).
The Saints lost 48-40 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-0) as 10-point home favorites last Sunday, and they are nine-point home chalk this week, with the OVER/UNDER set at 49 on the NFL Week 2 totals at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The big question is, can Cleveland do what Tampa Bay did and attack the New Orleans secondary in another high-scoring affair? The Browns do not have the same kind of offensive weapons as the Buccaneers, but the betting trends in this matchup against the Saints do suggest there will be a lot of points again.
The OVER has cashed in five of Cleveland's last seven road games in the month of September, according to the OddsShark NFL Database. The OVER has also gone 5-1 in the past six home games for New Orleans, with an average combined score of 58 points during that stretch.
The OVER in the Browns-Saints game is the best totals bet of Week 2, but there are a couple others worth wagering on this weekend.
The UNDER 45 points in Sunday's AFC Championship Game rematch between the New England Patriots (1-0) and Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0) also looks like a solid bet considering four of the previous five meetings have finished below the total. New England's last three road games have gone UNDER the total too. The Patriots are 1.5-point road favorites in the game.
Tampa Bay's offense was incredible in its upset victory at New Orleans, but this week the team hosts the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles (1-0). The Buccaneers cannot play any better offensively than they did versus the Saints, and the Eagles shut down the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL season opener last Thursday with an 18-12 win.
The UNDER is 5-1 in Tampa Bay's last six home games, so look for the offense to struggle to score touchdowns, and the total to end up below 44 points.
