NFL Preview: Broncos Face Colts With Heavy Hearts

After the death of Kenny McKinley in midweek, it will be tough for Denver to focus on Sunday’s meeting with Indianapolis.

Tragic week for Denver
Irrespective of what happens this Sunday, this is a sad week for the Denver Broncos. The tragic death of wide receiver Kenny McKinley, a special-teamer who had been placed on injured reserve, shocked the whole Broncos organization. Now Josh McDaniels and his team are faced with the unenviable prospect of going back to work on a public stage just days after McKinley’s passing.

From a strictly Football perspective, this is a tough game for Denver. The Colts come into this game on the back of a big home win over the Giants and look ready to plough through most of their opponents in 2010. Denver meanwhile is still in rebuilding mode. A 31-14 win over Seattle last weekend showed that Denver’s passing game is in good health but the run game needs a lot of work. This is a big problem considering the Colts’ only major weakness is run defense. If the Broncos can’t move the ball on the ground there’s little hope for Denver.

Indianapolis knows the AFC South will be a tough fight this year so it’s important the Colts don’t make too many slip-ups outside of divisional play. I expect an efficient, business-like performance from Peyton Manning and friends. Bet on the Colts as -6.0 favorites with Sports Interaction.

Time to shake off the rust
The Saints’ offense has looked far from the explosive unit that ran roughshod over the NFC en-route to its triumph in February’s Super Bowl. Much of that is forgivable. The 14-9 win over Minnesota was a meeting of two teams looking to get their offenses back in gear. New Orleans followed that up with a Monday Night Football performance that wasn’t stellar but still represented a big step forward.

Against the 49ers Drew Brees played efficiently and had little trouble finding any of his receivers. The running game however still needs work and I expect this week’s match-up with Atlanta will see more than the 50 yards New Orleans had on the ground against San Francisco. Atlanta, for its part, is another work in progress. Sure the talent is there but Tony Gonzalez has barely featured for the Falcons so far. Last week’s comfortable victory over a poor Arizona team will certainly help Atlanta’s confidence but now it’s time to keep up that momentum against a quality opponent.

NFL betting fans should pay close attention to how much success the Saints defense has in forcing turnovers in this game. That was the key to victory in San Francisco and it may well prove to be the case this Sunday as well. I like the New Orleans offense to step up this week and do enough to win. Bet on the Saints at -4.0 with Sports Interaction.

XLI: Gabriel Morency previews the weekend’s NFL action

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