(VOR News) – Oddsmakers believe that the Eagles-Saints matchup in New Orleans on Week 3 is one of the most evenly matched.

The majority of bookmakers like the Saints by less than a field goal, even though they defeated Dallas and Carolina in Weeks 1 and 2.

After blowing a late lead against Atlanta at home on Monday Night Football in Week 2, Philadelphia is now 1-1. After two weeks, the Eagles—who lost late in the season following a 10-1 start and a change in offensive and defensive coordinators—remain a difficult team to figure out.

Eagles vs. Saints on FOX at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Eagles vs. Saints odds

Below are the spread, moneyline, and total odds for the game on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles have made expensive mistakes this year, but they have also displayed glimpses of the talent that made them one of the league’s best teams in 2022 and (most of) 2023.

In Week 1, the Eagles defeated the Green Bay Packers 34-29, while Jalen Hurts’ two interceptions and fumble cost them the turnover battle 3-to-1. Though Saquon Barkley has been all Philadelphia could have hoped for since signing, he failed to complete a critical pass late in Monday night’s loss to Atlanta.

Barkley is a proficient receiver and rusher. In two games, he’s grabbed six catches for 44 yards and ran 46 times for 200 yards and two touchdowns.

This offence has been reasonably effective under new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, even without star wide receiver A.J. Brown in Week 2. The Philadelphia offensive has enormous potential when Brown is healthy, but his hamstring injury will keep him out of action for at least a week.

In the first two games, Philadelphia’s run defence has been vulnerable, giving up 84 yards on 16 carries to Josh Jacobs of Green Bay and 97 yards on 14 carries to Bijan Robinson of Atlanta. That’s unfortunate for the Saints, who demolished Carolina and Dallas, this coming Saturday.

The Philly defence might have trouble stopping a feeble pass rush. Kirk Cousins had plenty of time to throw after Atlanta’s thrilling victory on Monday, particularly during the game-winning drive in the last two minutes.

In order to make a run at the playoffs, the Eagles will need to win high-scoring shootouts almost every week if they don’t make any quick defensive adjustments.

NOLA Saints Live Scores, Previews

Many undervalued the opponent’s abilities, which led to the Saints’ Week 1 rout. Carolina’s 2-15 record from the previous year seems worse. Even still, it’s hard to outshine anyone in the NFL 47-10, and New Orleans should have received more recognition for their dominance in Week 1.

Last Sunday, the Saints overcame the Cowboys 44-19 to allay concerns about their ability to play against more formidable opponents. Given how undervalued their defence was the previous year, New Orleans’s success this year is not shocking.

Still, the Saints’ offensive has been a revelation. The New Orleans offensive line has been outstanding even though it was among the worst in the league coming into the season. Has any position group in the NFL performed better than the Saints’ offensive line after two weeks?

completed 39 passes for 443 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception while Alvin Kamara and the running game are blazing.

If they had such a strong start to the season, we’d take them seriously as a 2024 Super Bowl contender. Still, the majority of pundits wonder if the Saints are real and why nobody saw this coming.

In 2024 preseason futures odds, New Orleans was favoured at least 4-to-1 to win the NFC South, which was dominated by Tampa Bay and Atlanta.

Eagles vs. Saints Forecast: Top Picks

Surely, Carr and the Saints have to come back to Earth? This weekend, oddsmakers predict that Philadelphia will defeat New Orleans on the road.

Since the line gives the Saints such little credit for their performance thus far—even in Week 2 against a strong Cowboys team—we advise against taking this spread.

The safest option is to support the Saints offensive, which has earned the benefit of the doubt and is playing against a vulnerable Eagles front seven, with another huge day.

We would like New Orleans to start strong at home and surpass their team total as well. It makes sense to wager on the Saints in the first quarter or half as they were 17-0 and 30-3 against Carolina and 14-3 and 35-16 versus Dallas at the half.
SOURCE: NW

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Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first elimination race of NASCAR’s playoffs will pit a three-time Daytona 500 winner against two past Cup Series champions.

The trio is also among NASCAR’s greatest stars in a 16-driver playoff field that includes popular racers Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, and Bubba Wallace who did not qualify.

So this year’s field is rather depleted, but Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., and Harrison Burton are all below the cutline heading into the first elimination race of the playoffs. The bottom four drivers from Saturday night’s race will be removed.

So, what is the plan?

Hamlin, a four-time champion at Bristol, has a simple ambition.

“I’m coming here to win,” Hamlin declared Friday. “That plan will remain unchanged unless the scenario in the race changes. I’m going to go on offense straight away, and I’ll be fine regardless of the outcome.

“I just know, that over 500 laps here, things will work themselves out.”

A Trio Of NASCAR Stars In Danger Of Playoff Elimination At Bristol Cutoff Race

Joey Logano is the only driver who has already qualified for the second round after winning the playoff opener in Atlanta. This leaves the remaining 11 positions available, with the bottom four in the most jeopardy.

The Atlanta race and the road circuit at Watkins Glen last week were new sites on the 10-race playoff schedule, which is how Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner, 2012 champion Keselowski, and 2017 champion Truex ended himself in this position.

Both circuits are unpredictable, and Keselowski finished 19th at Atlanta, the highest of the three drivers in both races. Truex, who finished 20th at Watkins Glen, was furious after the race about the lack of respect among drivers in the field.

He’s retiring from full-time competition after the season, and he decided it’s probably too late to become a dirty driver. He stated that he was unsure whether he would be willing to compromise his ethical views to advance to the next round of the playoffs.

“I honestly don’t know. “I believe it will just depend on the situation — what we find ourselves in and what is going on,” Truex stated. “But most likely not.” I’ll probably race the same way I always do, and maybe we’ll be good enough to finish the job that way.”

Hamlin clarified that the contract extension handed to Wallace earlier this week does not indicate that 23XI Racing is close to signing NASCAR’s charter agreement.

When NASCAR issued a deadline two weeks ago to accept its last offer, 23XI was one of only two holdouts. Wallace has agreed to a multi-year contract deal, according to the organization.

“Nothing has changed on our side on (charters),” said Hamlin, the team’s co-owner alongside Michael Jordan and Curtis Polk. “We’ve said for awhile that we plan on racing next year and we’re sticking to that.”

That was the message Hamlin delivered this week at a sponsor summit held by 23XI Racing for its partners.

“We were quite clear in our messaging that nothing was changing. “The battles we have off the track are over ownership,” Hamlin stated.

Driver exchange
Spire Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing announced Friday that they will swap drivers beginning with next week’s race at Kansas Speedway, marking a rare in-season team trade.

Corey LaJoie, who had already been informed that he would not be returning to Spire next season, will start racing for Rick Ware Racing next weekend. Justin Haley, who has previously driven for Spire, will return to his former squad to replace LaJoie.

Haley’s seat is secured until 2025, while LaJoie is virtually on trial with Rick Ware Racing for the next two months of the season.

LaJoie is regarded as the leading contender for the full-time driver position at RWR, but he needs establish himself in the next seven races of the season.

Haley has driven partial schedules for Spire throughout numerous seasons and earned the team’s only Cup Series victory in July 2019 at Daytona.

NASCAR transactions are unusual because sponsorship contracts are normally connected to a car or a certain driver.

A Trio Of NASCAR Stars In Danger Of Playoff Elimination At Bristol Cutoff Race

“It’s unique, it’s unconventional,” RWR president Robby Benton explained. “Driver swaps and player trades are very different from what we do (in NASCAR).” But I want you to know that everything is friendly.”

Kurt Busch switched to Furniture Row Racing for the final six races of 2012, while Jeff Burton joined Richard Childress Racing with 14 races remaining in 2004. The closest driver trade occurred in 2003, when Jeff Green and Steve Park switched rides.

Is Dale Jr. finally gone?
Dale Earnhardt Jr. thinks that Friday night’s Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway would be his last until at least 2026.

JR Motorsports’ agreement with sponsor Hellmann’s Mayonnaise required the Hall of Fame driver to drive the vehicle at Bristol. That clause does not exist in 2025.

“I’m not planning on racing in the Xfinity Series next year,” Earnhardt added. “I’ll be foolish to say I’m never going to run again because I don’t know well enough to stay away from it, and I’ll probably miss it next year and be absolutely willing to sign up for anything that might be beneficial to JR Motorsports.”

Earnhardt, who turns 50 later this year, says he will miss racing in the series next year and “terribly regret that I didn’t race and probably in 2026 find me somewhere that I can go compete in the Xfinity Series again.”

“If a partner comes together with a package that helps one of the other cars fill out multiple races that we have some inventory, I’m absolutely on board to do a race for that reason alone,” according to him.

Earnhardt will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet at Bristol, which Connor Zilisch won in his Xfinity Series debut last weekend at Watkins Glen.

Earnhardt stated that JR Motorsports had not ended conversations on potentially fielding a Cup team.

“You just never know that when the phone rings what’s going to be on the other end of that call these days especially,” he told me. “There’s a lot of fresh interest coming into the sport, and with the new (charter) agreement, it’ll churn a bunch of potential partners who have been looking at the sport and waiting for that deal to happen to see where the monies end up.

“We may be able to capitalise on some of that momentum and those events. We may not. If it doesn’t happen, I’m not sure if I’ll have a huge regret.”

SOURCE | AP

McLaren leads Red Bull in the Formula One constructors’ race. It is now up to Lando Norris to put pressure on Max Verstappen for the driver’s title.

Oscar Piastri’s victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last week propelled McLaren to the top of the teams’ rankings — the key to F1’s lucrative prize money — but teammate Norris only cut into Verstappen’s lead.

Norris overcame Verstappen late in the race to finish fourth, but the Dutch driver leads by 59 points going into the Singapore Grand Prix.

This week in F1, the spotlight has been on McLaren’s seemingly flexible rear wing, which could aid at high speeds. Piastri stated Thursday that it is lawful and not a “magic bullet” for their current success.

McLaren And Lando Norris Seek To Pressure Red Bull In F1’S Singapore Grand Prix

F1 looks wide open right now, with Ferrari and Mercedes both vying for victories. McLaren will still have to fight hard even if Red Bull isn’t in front on a track where Verstappen has never won.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fastest in Friday’s first practice, albeit only by 076 seconds over Norris. Carlos Sainz Jr. was third fastest in the other Ferrari, with Verstappen fourth.

In the second practice, Norris edged Leclerc by 058 seconds, ahead of Sainz, in a session that finished with George Russell sliding his Mercedes into a barrier. Verstappen was only 15th fastest, citing a lack of grip in low-speed bends.

Last year, Red Bull failed to win at only one track: Singapore. The team was unable to establish a competitive setup, and Verstappen remained significantly off the speed throughout the weekend, as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. claimed victory.

Red Bull left Azerbaijan with the hope that it had resolved at least some of the balancing issues caused by its attempts to enhance the car this season. Verstappen, who has now gone seven races without a win, was dissatisfied with the car in Baku but emphasised that it was down to a poor configuration choice more than underlying performance.

However, Singapore is slower than Baku and presents a more difficult circuit for Red Bull.

“Our car is generally not very good on bumps and curbs, which is obviously what you have around here, so we need to try to stabilise that a little,” Verstappen said Thursday in Singapore.

Street circuits suit Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez, who has been quick in Baku in search of a podium result since April. However, colliding with Sainz meant that all of those efforts were in vain.

After Singapore, Red Bull and its second-team RB are anticipated to decide whether to keep Daniel Ricciardo as RB or recall Liam Lawson. Ricciardo stated that “decisions will be made” before the next race in Austin, Texas, on October 20.

Hamilton’s Criticism
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s attempts to reduce cursing have caused the latest feud between drivers and the regulatory body.

Ben Sulayem’s unfavourable reference to “rap music” attracted condemnation from seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, F1’s sole Black driver. He stated that Ben Sulayem’s “stereotypical” language contained a “racial element.”

McLaren And Lando Norris Seek To Pressure Red Bull In F1’S Singapore Grand Prix

While Hamilton believed there was probably too much swearing in F1, Verstappen suggested that TV should be more conscientious about which radio clips are aired. “That will help a lot more than putting bans on drivers,” he told me. Verstappen was reprimanded on Friday for using an obscenity at a broadcast news conference the day before.

Sweat it out.
The heat and humidity of Singapore’s street circuit make it one of the most challenging events of the year for drivers. Even their water can get extremely heated, making it difficult to drink.

Mercedes driver George Russell revealed that he began specific training at the mid-season break a month ago, going for a run in three layers of clothing to mimic racing in fireproof dungarees in the Singapore heat.

“We lose almost four kilogrammes (8 pounds, 13 ounces) of fluids in in an hour-and-a-half race, so it’s a pretty good weight loss program if that’s what you’re chasing,” Russell told me on Thursday.

SOURCE | AP