Lions @ Saints

Detroit Rank @ New Orleans Rank
5.5 Spread -5.5
22.0 Implied Total 27.5
24.6 10 Points/Gm 23.2 12
19.4 10 Points All. /Gm 19.5 12
63.0 15 Plays/Gm 62.2 23
61.0 12 Opp. Plays/Gm 60.2 9
39.4% 21 Rush% 37.4% 25
60.6% 12 Pass% 62.7% 8
37.4% 5 Opp. Rush % 40.7% 15
62.6% 28 Opp. Pass % 59.3% 18


17.1 percent of Drew Brees' pass attempts have come from inside the red zone, the highest rate in the league.

In 11 games after a bye week with the Saints, Drew Brees has averaged 355.9 passing yards and 24.3 fantasy points per game with 32 touchdown passes.
He's thrown for at least 330 yards in nine of those games and was a top-6 scoring quarterback in eight of those games.

Alvin Kamara has 18.4 percent of the New Orleans targets, the fourth-highest rate for any running back.

The Saints are the only team in the league that has yet to turn the ball over on the season.

After allowing opponents to score on 13-of-18 possessions (72 percent) over their first two games, the Saints have allowed opponents to score on 3-of-19 drives (15.8 percent) over their past two games.

Over those past two games, the Saints have allowed 5.7 yards per pass attempt after allowing 11.2 yards per pass to start the season.

Matthew Stafford has scored 23.8 and 22.1 points at New Orleans in each of the past two years.



Trust: Drew Brees (the Lions pass defense finally came back down last week and now go on the road to face Brees off a bye), Michael Thomas (has at least five catches for 80 yards in each of his past three games and although Darius Slay will find him on the boundary, Brees is in too good of a spot to have that scare owners), Matthew Stafford (he’s had a month of bad matchups and is dealing with ankle and hamstring ailments, and while the Saints have been strong versus the pass over their past two games, I’m not ready to buy them as a team to avoid pursuing), Golden Tate (he has just 160 yards since posting 106 in Week 1, but his targets aren’t going anywhere and points should be scored while the most exploitable way to attacking the Saints has been through the slot), Alvin Kamara (coming off a season-high 50 percent of the snaps and 15 touches, his snaps and touches are now going to be something we can count on weekly, making him a locked in starting option and Detroit has allowed the fourth most receptions to the running back position)



Bust: Ted Ginn (Snead is back and his targets per route have dropped in every game this season), Eric Ebron (his 1.19 points per target are the lowest mark for all tight ends with 20 or more targets on the season)



Reasonable Return: Mark Ingram (he already had a solid floor, scoring double-digit points in every game, but with Adrian Peterson now gone, that floor should get elevated), Willie Snead (I’d prefer a prove it week on rosters that afford that luxury, but Detroit has allowed five or more receptions to three of the four good slot receivers they’ve faced to start the season), Coby Fleener (Snead returning dampens his outlook, but with Brees expected to do damage, he’s worth a look for needy team against a Detroit team that just allowed Ed Dickson to look like Shannon Sharpe), Ameer Abdullah (just when we thought he was starting to look stable, he loses touches and goal line work, knocking him back down to RB2/flex status in a strong matchup), Theo Riddick (opposing teams target running backs 31.1 percent of the team versus the Saints, the highest rate in the league), Marvin Jones (he’s had one of the worst individual matchup schedules so far on the season while things lighten here and has still averaged 19 percent of the team targets since Week 1)