just imagine
 

if we wouldn't have come out and stunk up the joint vs. baltimore, we'd be 7-1 and tied for home field advantage throughout the playoffs, thus far throughout this season.... for all of those that said that loss was "ok", it was a "good loss", it wasn't a big deal, well.... guess we'll have to settle for 6-2..... we'll get some help next week with either the bears or the giants losing, but we have to take care of business first and then hope that later on in the season they can start losing some more games....

RE: just imagine
 

we're in good position for home field, but again, we have to take care of our business and have more games like this past weekend and less like the baltimore game.... our schedule, at second glance, is favorable to winning 4 or 5 of our last 8 games.... i think that atlanta and carolina, for now, would be losses to me and we'll drop one other game that will infuriate me to the brink, but still i will not give up on 'em, like i've been accused of in the past... the next couple of weeks should tell the tale for wash and dallas, as far as their approach for the rest of the season....

Re: just imagine
 

Well let's dream a bit, shall we?

The Saints are rooting for the Giants in the Bears matchup. We play the Giants. We do not play the Bears. Under the presumption that we beat the Giants, they'll effectively be 2 games behind us since we win the head to head tiebreaker.

You may laugh, but a potention trap game for the Bears may also be, dare I say it?, Tampa Bay. Grossman has been exposed as a QB who makes mistakes when he is rattled. So even though the TB defensive backfield scheme is soft, if the front 7 gets after you like Arizona and Miami did, and hopefully the Giants will, Grossman may make enough mistakes to make the game interesting.

Of course the Bears still have New England on their schedule too.

At the end of the day, the Saints worst problem is their own schedule. We're lucky that the AFC North has seemed to have fallen off. Both the Bengals and the Steelers, who seemed formidable at the beginning of the season, seem to both have soft exploitable defenses now. Both Palmer and Rothlisburger seem to be mistake prone. It takes a lot more to rattle Brees, though the Baltimore game shows that it can be done.

We still have to finish the NFC East. Both Dallas and Washington seem to be up and down, worldbeaters one week, chumps the next. Finally we have to finish up against the rest of our division, with a sweep of the Falcons and a split with Carolina critical to secure the division. We have them both in our rearview, and in those games we need to make sure they stay there.

I predict that the NFC #1 seed is going to end up 13-3 or 12-4 with it possibly coming to a tiebreaker. For the Bears to get there, losses against the Giants, NE, or possibly TB, need to occur.

So I agree we need to handle our business. We also need to learn to be productive against tough defenses, which is our achillies heel this season.

Just some dreaming...

SFIAH

Re: RE: just imagine
 

Well that's simply not going to cut it. 11-5 or 10-6 may win you the division, depending on where those wins fall. But you'll be a #3 or a #4 seed and be travelling to a divisional game in January to either New York or Chicago.

You have to critically analyze the Baltimore game. Simply put 5 turnovers equals a loss. That's the end of the discussion. But let's look at those turnovers:

1) Bush Fumble: it happens. It happened in the middle of the field. That score belongs to the defense.

2) Bush Interception: Stupid play call. Bad rookie judgement. So let's blame that one on the combo of a rookie coach (though not a rookie playcaller) and a rookie players. Let's presume that neither Payton nor Bush will repeat their mistakes.

3) Stecker interception for Pick-6. Yes it was Stecker's though Brees gets the INT. It's a tip drill. It happens.

4) Brees interception for pick-6. This was Brees worst mistake of the game. Would have been better off taking the safety.

5) Brees final INT. killed a drive. However, no additional points resulted from the mistake.

Now the followup with TB. No turnovers.

So after 8 games, you're saying that you expect the Saints to have 3-4 more mistake filled, turnover prone games, when frankly only one of the 8 games they've play so far fits that mold? (technically 2 if you take the 1st quarter of the GB game into account).


Evidence? We totally owned Atlanta in the first game. They looked terrible against Detroit. If they lose to Cleveland, who has been playing much better as of late, they'll fall apart just like they did last year down the stretch.

Atlanta's defense can't defend against the Little Sisters of the Poor, much less a fully stocked Saints offense with the extremely capable Brees at the helm.

The game may be a shootout if the Atlanta receivers can catch the ball, but a loss? Don't see it. The Saints will be highly motivated to sweep the Falcons out of the playoff race.

Too early to discuss the Carolina game. Completely different outcomes if the #1 or #2 is locked in, vs fighting for a bye, vs. playing for the division championship or a playoff berth period.
Which one? Why? It seems that you're hedging your bets simply not to get burned.

At this point the Saints are who we think they are.
Ultra talented offense coupled with a smart but less gifted defense, that's in the top 10 in the NFL in both total defense and scoring defense BTW.

Baltimore is a top 5 defense in the whole league. No other team we play this regular season is rated above them. In fact only the Giants (scoring) and Dallas and Pittsburg (total defense) are the only defenses left on our schedule that are rated ahead of our own defense.

Games are not just won and lost on feelings. The way teams play and the matchups go a long way to determining who wins and loses. The Saints have problems with tough defenses. There's only 3 left on our schedule, and one of them is coupled to a team (Pittsburg) that makes so many offensive mistakes that their defense cannot make up for it.

SFIAH

RE: Re: RE: just imagine
 

whoa.... what's up with the attack on my opinion?! i was simply doing what everyone else here does, but i get torn apart b/c i voice my opinion..... wtf? i'm being realistic to the fact that we aren't going 8-0 to finish out the season, and that's misconstrued as "hedging my bets"? wow... anything i say is taken as "he's down on the saints" or "doom and gloom", when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.... i'm so proud of how they came out and played after that attrocious loss to baltimore, and really i was proud how they never gave up vs. the ravens as well.... i'm tired of being misinterpreted here... it's total bullsh!t.... no one else get the unfair treatment i get and its time it stops....

RE: Re: RE: just imagine
 

if you notice, i always said "to me" or "in my opinion" or whatever.... you don't have to agree, but to attack me on the issue of my opinion, that's lame... i know it sounds like alot of complaining, but how would you feel if everything you said was misinterpreted and judge wrongly.... even your opinion?

RE: Re: RE: just imagine
 

If the gaints beat the bears and we beat the gaints we have the tie breakers over the bears from commen opp.

RE: Re: RE: just imagine
 

ya know whats funny....we havent even made the playoffs yet and we are talking about 1st round byes and what not....what a difference a year makes, last year we were making up scenarios for us to pick #1, now we are doing scenarios for playoff bye.......i could care less, i just want the playoffs, anything can happen in the playoffs......one game at a time

Re: RE: Re: RE: just imagine
 

If I had a dollar, everytime someone thought they were the only one's being treated unfairly around here, I could afford to buy that hooker for Halo....

You posted your opinion, he is trying to argue your points, and you claim you're being attacked. Did you put a skirt on today??? wth??? There is a difference between someone arguing points to your post, and, oh, I don't know.....calling someone a moron. That's an attack.

Moron.



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