You sir are incorrect. St. Louis was in the top 10 in both total defense and scoring defense. In fact they were #4 in scoring defense.

Not in scoring. They were 6th that year.

You can get all types of info like this from

http://www.profootballreference.com

Every rank of every team for every year...

No disagreement there. I think the key is going to be keeping Romo in the pocket. He's most dangerous when he rolls out and gets time to scan downfield.

SFIAH

Sorry if you're O is in the top 10 and your D is in the top 10... then you damn good. You don't have to be number one to win a SB but you have to be up there though.

I knew they weren't #1 in defense, wasn't sure about position. Point was with the number one offense, if we can squeeze at least #10 defense outta these guys, I like our chances. Losing Thomas isn't going to help though.

Romo has moves. I agree on the roll outs. This game is going to be interesting to say the least.

#1 offense don't alway bring home a victory.

I'm not saying we have a great defense but it really bits my butt to listen to comentateors say our Saints have NO DEFENSE. For them to hold ATL, Dunn and other "great rushing teams" to low yardage speaks volumes to me. Yea, they could be a little more dominating but all in all I'm happy with 'em.

Euph,

Your point was my old signature. The last SB winning team that finished the regular season outside the top 10 in scoring defense was the 1983 Raiders, who were 13th.

The stat is so predictive it's scary.

January/February football is about running the ball and stopping the run. If you can't do those two things, you are not going to get to the top of heap.

SFIAH

8-4, out of those eight victories, how many were college teams? None, all are members of the NFL. Out of 32 teams in the NFL, only 8 are 8-4 or better, we're 1st in our division, and 2nd in the NFC, i know you can find someting positive out of that.

I know it doesn't happen often but I agree with Euph on this one..
We realy need to beat Dallas this Sunday for the simple fact that they are the talk of the NFC by every network and sportswriter in the 50 states.
(almost no mention of us and we lead the div by 2 games)

Look at it this way....you gotta beat the boss to be the boss.
Besides, if Seattle can go 3-2 without thier 2 franchise players we should be able to beat the Cowboys with the injuries we have...
IMO.

Or in the words of the Immortal Ric Flair "To be da Man, you gotta beat da Man! You gotta walk that aisle!! Woooo!!!" 8)

These words ring true enough, but enough is quite enough already. I've always maintained that every week this team has to revalidate its legitimacy to the rest of the skeptical league bloggers, largely due to the stigma of our past failures. So we go out and win. Then someone says something like "...but the team they beat wasn't ________(your excuse here)".

Frankly, I'm tired of feeling like the fargin' Rodney Dangerfield's of the NFL. Trying to prove your worth gets old, especially this deep into the season. By even the most optimistic, dope-smoking, Saint's fans standards, this team has OVER achieved in dramatic fashion this season. At the beginning of the season, NO ONE thought they'd be where they are now in week 12, so why not sit back and enjoy the ride!
And Oh, WHAT A RIDE!!!!! :D

Yeah we can argue all day that all that matters is the Win / Lose columns but when the skeptics sit down and really look at a team on paper, look at the talent and look at the numbers... you'll even start to see a contridiction in the Stats and the win/loss record of the Saints. hince the reason we get no respect. We don't go out there and win by dominating... our Defense looks bad, hell horrible at times. We can't stop the run, we can't stop a drive when we have to. We are consistant on offense as long as we don't shoot ourselves in the foot.

So the question is posed... 'are we that good', and you can see its argumentative because if you look at everything and base 'that good' as whatever you want - realistically you can say we are not that good! vice versa... we have a long ways to be a champion but at least we are going in the right direction.

With all that said we are in a situation were we have to beat the Cowboys. They are hottest team in the NFC right now is the Cowboys. Early in the season you beat teams that are suppose to be good and turns out there records are average at best then you beat an average team. Now we get a win this weekend all eyes are on New Orleans.

I find it very strange that this year more than any other looks like our best chance at getting into the Superbowl.

Yo, everybody out there, our boys are really that good. I'm mean, nobody else went out there and won those eight games but us, nobody. What do they have to do to get respect, you say they have to win, eight games thru the first twelve, i would consider that winning. Do you think the Giants, Eagles, Rams, Panthers, Falcons, Packers, Steelers, Buccaneers, Dolpins,( just to name a few) would love to have our record right now? You can nic-pic every team on top of their division, and you will find that none of them are without their own flaws. We're not where we want to be right now, but you got to love where we're at, and that's 1st place in the division, 2nd place in the conference, it don't matter what nobody say, I'm extremly proude of the job they've done so far. GO 1ST PLACE SAINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!