New Orleans Saints vs Houston Texans Prediction: Orleans expected to battle to a flawless preseason performance

Monday's action in the NFL preseason comes from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and features a matchup between the New Orleans Saints and the Houston Texans. The Houston Texans' record in the preseason thus far stands at 1-1, with victories over the New England Patriots and a loss to the Miami Dolphins. As for the New Orleans Saints, they started the preseason with a victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, and then on the previous Sunday, they powered out a road victory over the Los Angeles Chargers by a score of five points.

The Kansas City Chiefs were the first team the New Orleans Saints played in their preseason schedule of exhibition games. The New Orleans Saints won 26-24 despite being behind 17-7 at the half. The victory was attributable to touchdown passes thrown by Jameis Winston, Jake Haener, and Derek Carr, as well as six receptions by AT Perry for 70 yards and a touchdown. At halftime of their game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, the New Orleans Saints held a 13-10 lead over their opponent. The New Orleans Saints won the game 22-17 after scoring another nine points in the second quarter. In the victory, Jameis Winston threw for 169 yards on 13 of 21 attempts, and Kendre Miller led the team in rushing yards with 23 yards and a touchdown. Shaquan Davis gained an additional 63 yards by catching three passes.

The Houston Texans began their preseason schedule with a game against the New England Patriots, which took place away from Houston. During their victory by a score of 20-9, Houston scored in each of the final three quarters. In the victory, quarterback Case Keenum threw for 79 yards and a touchdown, and running back Davis Mills tallied 99 yards and a touchdown of his own. With five receptions for 65 yards and a score, Nathaniel Dell led the team in receiving yards and points. In the second game of the season against the Miami Dolphins, Houston struggled a little bit more. The Houston Texans entered halftime trailing by a score of 21-3 and ended the game with a scoreless loss by a margin of 28-3. In the game where they lost, Mills threw for 94 yards while completing only 10 of 22 passes. Mike Boone led the receivers with 35 yards on four receptions.

Since the New Orleans Saints have a better chance of winning this game than any other team, I'm going to continue to back them to prevail. However, a significant portion of this might be attributed to the Houston Texans' lackluster performance in their most recent game against the Miami Dolphins. The Houston Texans were only successful in converting two of their 12 third-down opportunities, contributing to a lackluster total of 186 yards of offense (154 of which were through the air). After limiting the New England Patriots to just 78 rushing yards in the first game of the season, the Houston Texans allowed 205 rushing yards to be gained by the other team. The New Orleans Saints were able to pull off a victory on Sunday, although it wasn't exactly a pretty game for them. The New Orleans Saints gained only 61 yards on the ground, had 13 first downs, were only 5 for 17 on third down, and committed an astounding 14 penalties. However, the Los Angeles Chargers were only able to convert three of fifteen third-down opportunities, and the Chargers turned the ball over three times thanks to a top-notch performance from the Saints' defense. I believe that the Saints offense will be able to turn things around and build up some positive momentum in time for the start of the season.