The 13th season of the Monday Night Ticket Score (MNTS) began with a new weekly prize structure which paid off nicely for a third year fan as the New Orleans Saints beat the Houston Texans in one of the most entertaining Monday night games in recent history.

Congratulations go to cathil, whose 30-27 prediction of the Saints' 30-28 win was the best of the week thanks to one of the most egregious mistakes you'll ever see in an NFL game (more on that shortly). She and the rest of the top four fans - cshird, jodstr0317, hanna and pamwynn2 - split $50 in free tickets, with cathil receiving $12. Last year she would have won just $5. Those credits are valid immediately toward any tickets in our marketplace.

But the outcome swung wildly in the last minute of the game. With 37 seconds remaining in the 4th quarter, the Texans scored a touchdown to tie the game at 27. They missed the extra point, which had only a 6% chance of happening. The Saints, however, made an even rarer mistake - they roughed the kicker on a kick that missed! That gave the Texans another chance, and when they took the 28-27 lead, fan johil was atop the leaderboard with more than 200 points thanks to a steep 5x multiplier since only 7% of fans picked the Texans to win.

Alas, in the NFL, 37 seconds can be an eternity. Sure enough, the Saints ran five plays, gained 35 yards, and kicked a 58 yard field goal to win to make a first time winner out of cathil. She also takes a small lead in the 2019 Mega Pool, although the relatively low weekly winning point total probably won't guarantee her a berth among the 10 fans who will play for $10,000 during the Super Bowl.

Related: Week 1   Season   Week-By-Week   All-Time   How Credits Work

How it Compares to Other Games
Since 2006, 30 is the 13th most frequent NFL score and the 13th most frequently picked by fans. However, fans overpick 28, which is the 15th most common score but the 7th most common prediction.

It wasn't a particularly difficult week, with median and average differentials that rank among the easiest 25% of games in the pool's 13 year history.

According to NFL Scorigami, this was the NFL's 38th all-time game ending 30-28.

For these and similar statistics and analysis, follow @themegapool on Twitter.

Make your week 2 prediction now!