Our staff writers picked their final score predictions for the New Orleans Saints’ away game with the Houston Texans in Week 6. Who do you see coming out on top?
Saints 20, Texans 16
The New Orleans Saints offense took a step in the right direction a week ago, specifically in red zone efficiency. The Saints will continue that trend again this week as they punch in two touchdowns. They won’t quite cross the 20 point threshold, but they will continue to fix their offensive woes inside the 20-yard line. The defense will force the Texans into more field goals than touchdowns, and that will be the deciding factor in this game. These are two talented teams, but the Saints will win the red zone battle and the game. — Darrion Gray
Texans 30, Saints 24
Predicting the Saints to lose had the opposite effect last week, why not roll with the trend. In all seriousness, the Houston Texans have been very streaky this season, but have the talent to keep up with the New Orleans Saints. Nico Collins has been great so far this year, Dalton Schultz is starting to mesh into the system more, and C.J. Stroud has been pretty much everything Houston could’ve asked for in a first-round draft selection. I predict a higher scoring affair as the Saints tend to play down to competition that is not necessarily at the top of their game, which I think leads this to be a trap game where New Orleans ends up losing. — Jeremy Trottier
Saints 24, Texans 13
I’ll take this Saints defense’s odds against a rookie quarterback any day of the week, even though C.J. Stroud has been off to an awesome start for his career. The New Orleans offense is finding a bit of rhythm now and hopefully can keep that up against a fairly average Houston defense that has potential to be a problem. I think the Texans will be great in the near future, but for now the Saints should be able to handle business. — Dylan Sanders
Saints 20, Texans 17
The Saints have been lackluster on offense all season, but exploded in a huge way in last week’s shutout win over the New England Patriots. The question is whether or not that was a fluke and if Pete Carmichael and his group can get some consistency going on that front to pair with one of the NFL’s best defenses. The Saints get the victory here, 20-17. — Crissy Froyd
Saints 23, Texans 17
The Saints run defense must show up again this week against a Texans offense that won’t have Tank Dell, one of the league’s most exciting young receivers. Stroud hasn’t thrown an interception yet but that should change against an opportunistic New Orleans pass defense. Offensively, we need to see it to believe it, but last week’s scoring output was very encouraging and the Saints should clean up some of the errors (like false start penalties) that slowed them down. — John Sigler