New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Danny Cox Week 2 San Francisco 49ers Vs. New Orleans Saints: preview and what to watch for

~ New Orleans Saints Vs. San Francisco 49ers

~ Monday, September 20 2010 at 8:30 PM Eastern on ESPN

~ Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California

So it's been a few (few?) days since the New Orleans Saints played in their last regular season game and yes, we are just talking about between weeks one and two of the 2010 year. San Francisco on the other hand probably wishes they had a little bit longer until having to step onto the field with the defending Super Bowl champions. Tight end Vernon Davis is more than ready though.

“I strongly believe we have the better team going into this game,’’ the 49ers tight end said. "It’s exciting because we know that they’re competitive. But we’re not worried about them being Super Bowl champion or anything like that.”

Asked about the prospect of being covered by Pro Bowl strong safety Roman Harper, Davis continued, “Is that No. 41? No, I don’t think he can check me man-to-man, one-on-one.”

Davis wasn't the only one who had things to say about the game though. Coach Mike Singletary knows that his team could do nothing last week to stop Matt Hasselbeck as the Seattle Seahawks' quarterback shredded the 49ers in a 31-6 loss for the boys in maroon and gold. Singletary was very short when answering questions, but confident.

He was asked how they planned on stopping Drew Brees, and Singletary responded, "We will not try to stop Drew Brees, we will stop Drew Brees." Fair enough.

When asked how his offense would do after such a poor showing in Seattle, he responded with, "We will not try ... we will move the ball and we will score."

Someone either has an awful lot of faith in a team that severely underachieved in week one or he is just trying to instill confidence in his team and not show them that he is afraid. I'm one of those guys that is a firm believer in teams always believing that they will win the games they go to play. If you don't believe you can win, then why play the game at all? Perhaps Singletary is of that very same logic, but he's surely got a lot of courage to come right out and say it like that instead of just letting it be known in the locker room.

Good for him. Let's see how it works against a vastly improved defense and an offense that is going to bounce back and be as explosive as last year. My gut feeling tells me it will be week two.

What to watch for on Monday night:

The Saints have won the last five meetings against their former NFC West foes. New Orleans is also looking to go 2-0 in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history.
Reggie Bush isn't going to be bothered by all this stuff going on with him and the Heisman Trophy. He is going to be focused on the game and knowing that time has gone by now and things are over. USC may be suffering and being punished now for incidences that possibly went on years ago, but nothing can be done about it now. Bush's mind is on the 49ers which is evident when he said, "It's at their field, home field advantage. The crowd's going to be behind them and anybody who knows Mike Singletary knows how fierce of a competitor he was."

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