Well, after taking much crap from my own "Who Dat" nation (my dear wife, Kate) for not giving the Who Dat rundown first, here it is.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few months, you know that the Saints brought home the first Lombardi Trophy in franchise history last season finishing the regular season 13-3 with each of those 3 losses coming in the last 3 regular season games, one of which superstar quarterback Drew Brees didn't even play.
Looking at this season's schedule, I don't see any reason why we shouldn't be mentioning the Saints and playoffs in the same breath come late December. Their division rivals, the Atlanta Falcons, did little to improve their team in the off-season and the Panthers and Bucs had so far to go that what improvements they did make, in my opinion, won't be enough to catch the Saints. Having that been said, I do see the Saints splitting the home and home series with the Falcons which forces us to look outside the division. The key match-ups as I see it will be the opener tonight with the Vikings, the 31 October matchup with the Steelers, the 25 November matchup with Dallas and then the 19 December matchup with a dangerous Baltimore team. Fortunately, the Saints won't have to play the Packers in the regular season and because of that, I think that will be enough to give the Saints in the division (with their overall record) and another ticket to the playoffs come January 2011.
One last deep thought by old JJ before I give you some things to watch for this season with the Saints. Last year the Saint's defense actually was rated as the eighth worst in the league even though they were second in the league for takeaways (with 39) and tied for first in points off turnovers (with 141). They actually allowed 122.2 yards a game last year also, which is pretty bad when we are talking the NFL. How could this happen? I'll tell you how it happens. You have an offense that can routinely score points in the matter of seconds which increases the amount of plays that the opponents offense gets per game and the Saints defense. The Saints defense was not as bad last year as the good 'ol stats seem to show but if the Saints defense suffers any key injuries this season, the alarm should start going off in Coach Payton's and Drew Brees' heads. They will have to change their offensive gameplan somewhat to a more ball control offense to help rest their defense and still control the game. Can the Saints play ball control? Remains to be seen but we shall see.
Some things to watch for this season....
1. The effect of having FS Darren Sharper on the "physically unable to perform list" early in the season and how it impact the pass defense against the Vikings and the Falcons early in the season.
2. The loss of OT Jammal Brown and the impact it has on the pass protection for Drew Brees. To me, this was the biggest loss for the Saints in the off season cause this dude was a hoss.
3. Can RB Pierre Thomas and the defense stay healthy (see above).
4. Will rookie CB Patrick Robinson be ready to help out some this year in some 3rd down situations? He could really help spell some of his compadres in the secondary if he can.
After it's all said and done, I like the Saints to take the NFC South title again this year and two play Green Bay for the NFC Championship. If the defense can stay healthy, I look for them to be playing in the Super Bowl in 2011 and going for the Lombardi trophy once again. WHO DAT?
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