BoudinSandwich

This is our year.

I think both teams are equal in their ability to win it. Would it hurt me to lose to the Colts? No. Would it suprise me if we win? No.

WAR BLACK AND GOLD!

WhoDat205

Have any of you guys used the Fan2Fan thing to post on other team's sites? I tried to login and talk trash on the Indy site but it's down. I take that to mean they're scared.

papz

Indianapolis Colts Talk - Unofficial Indianapolis Colts Fan Forums

There ya go.

hagan714

pressure up the gut is key. forcing manning into grant and smith. got get your hands in his face and keep the WR infront of you

SaintFanInATLHELL

I'm not so sure. The reason is defense.

The cream of the crop last year had one consistent theme when playing the Saints:

Defense.

This year's schedule is probably more favorable to our team than last year's. Consider the differences:

Division: The Saints went 4-2 in the division last year. Every team in our division except for us has serious questions at the QB position. Also TB and Atlanta did nothing significant to improve their defense. That leaves Carolina. Payton has had two cracks at the apple with Carolina, coming close in the significant game in Carolina and conceeding the last game in New Orleans. Both games are significant this year. I predict at least a split. So it's likely the team will go 5-1 or 6-0 against the division. That'll pretty much wrap up the South.

AFC South vs. AFC North: The North last year had two top 10 defenses and two top 10 offenses. The South has only one top 10 defense (Jacksonville) and only one top 5 offense (Indy). The team has shown they can compete against top offenses as long as the corresponding defense is lacking. That's exactly the case in Indy. It's likely that instead of 1-3 like last year that the count here will be 3-1 splitting the two games against Indy and or Jacksonville.

NFC West vs. NFC East: Philly was a top 5 offense last year. The team took them twice. Dallas was completely dismantled and at the time they were a top 10 defense though they were never the same after the Saints' beatdown. The NFC West is a defenseless division except maybe for San Francisco. It's likely that the Saints may lose one in a shootout with either the Cards or St. Louis, but unlikely to go less than 3-1 in this group.

Chicago vs. Green Bay: The game may be meaningless by week 17 for both teams. If not, then the Saints are well aware the implications of having to play Chicago in Soldier Field in late January. Payton will have learned his lesson about abandoning the run. It'll be a tough fight.

Philly vs. San Fran: The Saints beat Philly with and without McNabb. They beat Philly with McNabb when he was having a MVP type season. Philly hasn't done any significant upgrades on the defensive side of the ball. In fact they have let both Jones (who we have) and Trotter go. No reason to think that they'll have a significant advantage this year.

The Saints will probably pick up 3 games over last year's schedule because the teams weakness is sound defenses. There are only 3 of them on the schedule this year (using last year's numbers): Carolina, Jacksonville, and Chicago.

And let's not forget that even with Freddie "GameShow" Thomas getting toasted all over the field that the Saints' finished 11th in total defense last year. We've brought in better players (David, Simmons) that will start sooner or later and have former starters
(Siminou?, Thomas, Dhani Jones, KK) that will bolster the defense.

Payton and Gibbs did not sit on their heels in the offseason on defense. They will play better and the offense having a year under their belt will make life even easier for the defense.

Tweaked the offense how? Adding Johnson at the TE position? Starting Henderson? Neither really matter because Brees has shown that if you're on the field, you're going to get the ball. We have 6 quality receivers, 3 quality TE, and 4 quality RBs, and starting quality backups on the OL. The only dropoff is at the QB position after Brees.
There are simply too many weapons, too good a field general in Brees, and too good a playcaller in Payton to expect anything other than total offensive domination over everyone except the very best NFL defenses.

The defense only has to do three things:

1) Not give up the big play.
2) Stop the run consistently.
3) Generate more turnovers

I think that the combination of David, Harper, and KK will help with the first. Clancy will be starting in the middle eventually to help with the second. KK and David are ballhawks. Not sure about Harper yet.

The defense is going to be better. And they don't need to be very much better in order for this team to be very successful this season.

If the Colts can somehow recreate the defense they generated during the playoffs I may agree with you. But they have lost their starting corners, LB (June), tackle (McFarland), and pro bowl LT from last year. They are going to be a completely different team. They are going to need time to gel defensively and somewhat offensively.

The Saints have none of those issues. The first team offense is already clicking at a midseason form, even with backups in key positions. The defense will be good enough to make some stops. And that's all they need to do.

I expect the Saints to take the Colts by 10 points or more. This isn't the same Colts teams you saw leaving the field in Miami. But it's a better Saints team than you saw leaving the field in Chicago last January.

SFIAH

Super Bowl Championships: New Orleans Saints:1, Carolina:0, Atlanta Chokers: STILL ZERO

Only Atlanta choked in an unchokable situation... Life is definitely good.

Budsdrinker

Man, that sure does sound convincing to me. Ever thought of being a politician?

Euphoria

Its about Manning!!! What happens when the Colts D isn't doing that great... Manning has to open it up and that isn't good for any team. As soon as we line up in a man 2 man we are going to get toasted. Sean has got to have something up his sleeve. I think we ill fair better than past games vs the colts but we have to eat the clock and score a lot of points. This could be the highest scoring game of the year.

SaintFanInATLHELL

Maybe I'm drinking the KoolAid. Our offense is better than theirs. Our defense is better than theirs. Brees outperformed Manning last year over a 16 game season. We have our All Pro left tackle. Tarik Glenn as gone fishing. We have a starting SB corner. Oh yeah, we got him from the Colts, who lost both corners to free agency.

The Colts defense can't stop the run at all. They were decimated over the offseason.

Hell, even our kicker has the stronger leg.

I'd be disappointed if the Saints didn't come away with the W. The Colts are overmatched, Manning or no Manning.

SFIAH

Super Bowl Championships: New Orleans Saints:1, Carolina:0, Atlanta Chokers: STILL ZERO

Only Atlanta choked in an unchokable situation... Life is definitely good.

bmismith

I agree with a couple of the posts on here, that we need to get pressure up the middle forcing Peyton Manning out of the pocket and not be able to step up in the pocket. By having pressure in the middle, This will flush Peyton out and that play into our strength on the dline when Will and Charles can have chase.

Saints have to keep the Colt receivers in front of them. Make sure that we hold them to field goals in the red zone.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Saints need to come out like the Steelers did a couple of years ago and have silent counts so the crowd is not a factor. Maybe throw some type of trick play first or second play, like a flea flicker.

with all that said, I still think our Saints come up a bit short because the Saints' secondary will need time to grow with one another.

Dan the Man

Yeah, no one thought we could beat the Eagles last year the first time we played them either, when they were the team to beat. And look what happened. And yes, they were the cream of the crop when we played them the first time.