The NFL Hall of Fame game will take place on Sunday August 5th and will feature the Arizona Cardinals versus the New Orleans Saints. Anyone who thought that there was some kind of logic to choosing Hall of Fame game teams was proven wrong with this selection. The betting sites are still trying to figure out why the Arizona Cardinals are in a Hall of Fame game. The more interesting elements to this game will be the questions that this game could answer and the questions that this game will not answer.
The New Orleans Saints are in for a very long season. With head coach Sean Payton suspended for the season because of the "bountygate" scandal, linebackers coach Joe Vitt will act as head coach for the preseason. The problem is that when the regular season kicks off, Vitt will serve his own six-game suspension when the season starts. Who will coach the Saints for the first six games of the season? New Orleans will have to dig pretty deep to find an assistant coach that can hold the team together while Vitt is gone.
The best online sports betting sites also point out that the suspensions will significantly affect the Saints' linebacker corps as well. Not only will the team lose Vitt as head coach for six games, but it will also lose Vitt as linebackers' coach as well. To go along with that, the Saints have also lost linebacker captain Jonathan Vilma to a full season suspension as well. It is hard to imagine that the Saints could be prepared enough to overcome losing its linebacker coach and best linebacker for the first half of the season.
A 5 dimes review of the Arizona Cardinals shows a team that needed to make a big splash in free agency and did not. The one significant move that the Cardinals tried to make was bringing in quarterback Peyton Manning. When Manning decided on Denver, the Cardinals were forced to apologize to its current quarterback Kevin Kolb with a huge contract extension that pays Kolb a lot more than he is worth. The Cardinals should have worried about its offensive line, running game and defensive secondary in free agency.
What Arizona is left with is essentially the same team that could not win games last year. The sentiment is that Kevin Kolb is on a short leash and could be replaced at any moment by mildly impressive backup John Skelton. But if that happens, then the Cardinals' front office will look even more incompetent for giving Kolb the big contract. The Arizona coaching staff and executives are all hoping that injuries derailed Kolb last season and that his performance this year will make his contract seem more sensible. It remains to be seen.
The Hall of Fame game is going to feature two teams that will probably not do too well in the 2012 season. But the game will offer fans a chance to see how the Saints and Cardinals will look after making all of those headlines this summer.
Click here for more information on the odds for the Saints and Cardinals in 2012.
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