Sport Spies: Monday Night Football Betting Preview - 9/20

[Sport Spies]

Sport Spies previews an NFC clash between the World Champions and a team that is looking to bounce back after a blowout loss in the season opener.

It is very hard to make an argument for backing the San Francisco 49ers (0-1) when they host the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints (1-0) on Monday Night Football. The 49ers were expected to compete for the NFC West division title this season but instead laid an egg with a disappointing 31-6 loss in their opener at Seattle last Sunday.

Now San Francisco hosts a team that has won the last five meetings, including the last three by an average margin of almost 20 points. New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees is 4-0 during his career against the 49ers and figures to be a good bet to go OVER the amount of passing yards since he has averaged over 305 yards and 2.5 touchdown passes in those games.

The Saints have been off for 11 days following their season-opening 14-9 victory against Minnesota on September 9 and did not perform well offensively outside of the first drive of each half in that game. They scored their lowest amount of points in a win since head coach Sean Payton took over in 2006, but Brees still performed well against the Vikings, completing 27 of 36 passes for 237 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

Meanwhile, the 49ers barely showed up against the Seahawks and will need to improve on both sides of the ball in order to have any chance of beating New Orleans. They allowed Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to complete 18 of 23 passes for 170 yards with two touchdowns and face a nightmare matchup against Brees, who threw for 363 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-17 win the last time they met two years ago in New Orleans. In the last meeting at San Francisco the previous year, he threw for 336 yards and four touchdowns in a 31-10 victory.

49ers quarterback Alex Smith struggled mightily against the Seahawks, failing to lead a touchdown drive after the team went 4-0 in the preseason. Smith completed 26 of 45 passes for 225 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions while former All-Pro running back Frank Gore was held to only 38 yards on 17 carries.

San Francisco managed only two field goals, and part of the problem for Smith was his communication with offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye. The issue became public after the game, as Smith had difficulty hearing the offensive plays relayed through his headset from Raye, who took full responsibility later in the week for the offensive problems. Raye has vowed to fix those problems against the Saints, but the bigger problem could be trying to stop them on defense.