OK I will start the obligatory "What do you predict our record to be next year" thread
 

As we stand right now how do you think we fair. I for one think we have not done anything to get better and have obviously taken a step back. Our division is going to be the toughest in the NFL. We don't have a first round pick, and we will likely lose some picks due to Gregg Williams stupid ass. Hopefully we were so ahead of the curve last year that we will be ok. On the bright side we were one blown coverage away from winning it all last year (We would have beaten the Giants in my mind) and I am really encouraged and thankful we will have Spags.

I want to know our team before I start making record predictions

Its hypothetical as of now.

hypothetically with or without Brees?

1,000 wins- 0 losses!

With. Brees will not hold out.

Thats a good question. Don't know really

Based on today (with Brees), I'd say we'd stuggle to win 15 games.

I don't agree. I expect 13-3 regular season and 16-3 overall.

Championship!!

I want to see what the NFL dishes out. For Bounty Gate. Then I'll say 11 - 5

We have one of these every month or so during the off season.

I don't think our record really matters.

Its win the SB or we fail. There is no excuses this is the year we want to win it or we might as well start rebuilding... sooner than later I say.

11-5/10-6... same prediction every year.

Way to early to tell imho.

12-4 We come out head hunting more than ever causing more turnovers!Hit em where it hurts D,hit em where it frikkin hurts!(Legally Of Course)

I have a feeling Coach Payton is gonna go all out balls to the wall again this year!No Mercy

10-6 if our D can't gel in Spags system.I'll take either with a :smile:

Too many variables with bountygate - uncharted territory...

Got see Free Agency, Draft, Drew's contract (H word) and Bountgate (S word) and such play itself out first...

I wasn't including the playoffs.:)

If they take away all our draft picks and we don't sign anyone(except Drew) I'm picking 12-4. Last year after our 3rd preseason game I predicted 13-3. We just need a little(whatever)__________ to get more wins.

I see us playing 13 Feb 2013 in New Orleans...

The rest is moot.

I think this year goes backwards. 6-10.

1-5 in division, we beat kc, oak, sd and GMEN.

Going backwards fast. Brees' salary and limited cap room hoses us for two years. No draft picks, no meaningful FA signings and injuries kill us.

We have too much present proven talent for that... Maybe in a year or two...

I guess we've done about as well as can be expected at this point. Kept a couple of key guys. Brought in Grubbs. Spaggs is going to be huge. We haven't improved at LB (why is Shanle still employed?) and DT is pretty pathetic. Losing any draft picks could kill us.

I can agree with this statement. Our offense is too deep AND too polished to lose that many games.

We can win 7 to 9 games any given season AND FOR NO GOOD REASON.... EVEN IF OUR DEFENSE IS DEPLETED!

SO HERE IT COMES

9-7 or 10-6

Wildcard, home field

Saints march away in the playoffs and have to march their way home for the Superbowl.

:bandg:

Chip on Shoulders
 

I have a sneaking suspicion that BountyGate may actually backfire on the league. The NFL has seen what can happen when New Orleans plays with a chip on their shoulder, and I can actually see this motivating our team in the long-run; the chance of hosting a Superbowl won't hurt either.

Last year was a bad year for the Saints in terms of officiating. I'm pretty sure that the league has to come-out and admit bad calls on a couple of occastions. If we thought last year was bad, the 'conspiracy theories' that will surround every questionable call could make this a very long season.

I am not going to predict a record (too early to say) but just a couple of weeks ago I met some tourist dudes from out of town in my corner bar, who asked me about my Saints prediction for next year, and all I said was that IF the Saints get into November/December with 8, 9 or 10 wins, they will smell the playoffs and Super Bowl in their own house, and turn into an unstoppable juggernaut the likes of which has rarely been seen on earth. I still find this scenario very likely, in spite of the changes and the "Gregg Williams Bountygate" mess. It will come down to the end of the season, finish strong.

If Payton is suspended, you know he will spend ALL of that absent time at home watching film, game-planning and scheming for the remaining games when he returns. It's gonna be crazy. I think if he has to sit out, he will be fired up and mad, he'll turn on the burners and take his playcalling to absolutely insane levels. So I could definitely see a late run happening, getting back to that reputation of being the one team that other teams don't want to have to play against...and that's right where we want to be.

The offense is coming back the same, if not better. Grubbs= Nicks. Meachem loss, zero effect. We played games down a WR last year and won.

We have decent players on D, a different scheme may be all that is needed. Change 5 of the 15 dropped picks and 5 of the 50 non-effective blitzes into positive plays and we might have gone 16-0.

So we might lose picks- big deal. Our PS players and guys hidden on IR last year can make up for a week draft.

We will win at least 11 regular season games

i don't see us losing picks there might have been a bountygate but theres no proof of intentional harm on tape. it has to be suspension of coach payton only. it should not punish organization, which is owned by benson which knew nothing about G.W'S SCHEME. that could'nt buy a sack seems like.

Bounty gate stiffles us 11-5

Benson did know, and told Loomis to stop. And if Goodell has a 5000 page document on the investigation, there is definitely a record of 'reward to harm'

Thats where you are dead wrong. They have a record of us paying players incentives, which is against the CBA. Two of those incentives were to harm another player. Unless they have proof of that actually happening, all they got is a violation of CBA. They have to be able to prove "intent", which would be impossible. Incase you haven't noticed, football is a rough game.

How am I 'dead wrong' ?? You wrote:
They have a record of us paying players incentives, which is against the CBA. Two of those incentives were to harm another player.
sounds to me like you are arguing against your own point

Or as I said before, they could have hard evidence of cash incentives and then circumstantial evidence of the injury incentives, and then chose to loop them all together. Also, just because there is 50,000 pages of email documentation doesn't mean there aren't 49,500 lunch plans, political/scientific hoaxes, and cat pictures.

Thanks Xan for that positive, glass is half full ray of sunshine

I see improvement coming
Bountygate could lite the fire that is needed
19-0

This needs to be "quoted for truth" and said AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN -- the ridiculous amount of pages and emails that the league says they looked at, only means that they asked for everything and the Saints gave them everything. They include that info to make it *sound* like the investigation was thorough, or that they have more evidence than they really have. That part of it is a ploy, and nothing more. The actual memo that was circulated to the teams was four pages long. The huge number of pages/emails they claim they reviewed as "evidence" is what they LOOKED AT, not all of it is related to the Gregg Williams bountygate. This is the kind of thing that prosecutors and lawyers do all the time. People need to get that straight.