2008 · Week 2

Final

Saints

New Orleans

QB Drew Brees

24·29

Commanders

Washington

QB Jason Campbell

FedExField · outdoors · grass · 90°F · wind 6mph

Closing spread

WAS -1

Total

43.5

Model margin

+0.7est.

WAS perspective

Push chance

2.2%est.

Win probability

  • Commanders
  • Saints

How each play moved the game.

Commanders winsSaints wins

Matchup

Where the edges are

Season-long league percentiles for both sides, mirrored. The saturated side of a lopsided row holds the edge.

Saintsedge mapCommanders
  • +0.120EPA / play-0.032
  • 48.7%Success rate42.3%
  • +0.213EPA / dropback+0.004
  • -0.043EPA / rush-0.080
  • 9.2%Explosive rate7.5%
  • +2.69CPOE-1.49
  • 49.2%Third-down rate36.0%
  • 65.5%Red-zone TD rate55.0%
  • 2.42Points / drive1.37
  • 2.4%Turnover rate1.6%

Bar length is league percentile, already oriented so longer is better. The saturated side of a lopsided row holds the edge; rows within ~12 points are washed as even.

The rivalry

All square 6–6 since 1999

Meetings average 55 points. WAS are 7-5 ATS in the series.

Previous meetings
SeasonMatchupScoreWinner
2024 · W15WAS @ NO2019WAS
2021 · W5NO @ WAS3322NO
2018 · W5WAS @ NO1943NO
2017 · W11WAS @ NO3134NO
2015 · W10NO @ WAS1447WAS
2012 · W1WAS @ NO4032WAS
2009 · W13NO @ WAS3330NO
2006 · W15WAS @ NO1610WAS

Box score

Individual performances

Saints

Passing

PlayerC/AttYdsTDINT
Drew Brees22/3321612

Rushing

PlayerCarYdsAvgTD
Reggie Bush10282.80
Deuce McAllister2105.00
Drew Brees199.00
Pierre Thomas681.31

Commanders

Passing

PlayerC/AttYdsTDINT
Jason Campbell24/3632110

Rushing

PlayerCarYdsAvgTD
Clinton Portis21964.62
Santana Moss12727.00
Ladell Betts6254.20
Jason Campbell310.30

Where this game is likely to land

  • Model
  • Smooth (normal)
  • Betting line

Probability of each final margin. Football scoring clusters — the spikes at 3 and 7 are real, and a smooth model misses them.

line +12.6%4.3%2.9%7.3%7.4%3.0%4.5%2.8%

Positive margins favour Commanders; negative favour Saints.

Half-point at risk

2.16%

outcomes that flip if the line moves 0.5

Model home win

50.9%

Expected total

44.8est.

Model

Where the number comes from

Each component is additive, in points of expected margin.

  • Team ratings (opponent-adjusted EPA)-2.04
  • Home-field advantage+2.49
  • Quarterback adjustment0.00
  • Rest differential+0.24
  • Expected margin+0.68