Monday night football thread: Colts look to knock off the Saints

The Indianapolis Colts travel to New Orleans to face the Saints on Monday night. The Saints are currently nine-point favorites, with the total on the game ballooning up to 49. So Vegas is expecting a 29-20 win for New Orleans. Both teams are banged up defensively, so we can expect some points in this one. Also, Drew Brees has a chance to unseat Peyton Manning as the NFL’s all-time leader in touchdown passes. The Saints quarterback has 537, while Tom Brady has 538, and Manning has 539. When Sean Payton knows there’s a record to be had, it usually results in a high scoring game.

The Colts have allowed a league-high 57% completion rate on passes that are 15 or more yards down the field. The only thing that will prevent this game from reaching the 30s’ is the pace of both teams. It may seem odd to call the Saints a slow-paced team considering how many points they scored last week, but they rank 29th overall in pace according to Football Outsiders, while the Colts rank 28th at neutral pace.

T.Y. Hilton is active, which gives the Colts passing game a much-needed boost. Will that be enough? We’ll see.