NOLAmite

FOX Sports on MSN - NFL - New Orleans Saints Team Report


This caught me a litlle bit by suprise... at the very bottom for season predictions...

PREDICTING: 2007 regular season record, 11-5 (1st in NFC South); win Super Bowl XLII.

I think thats the first time I've heard anyone predicting us actually winning the Big Dance...


Also I must say watching the Saints and LSU playing at the same time was pretty friggin cool... it was a bit like watching a tennis match with the games on opposite sides of the bar... any lingering neck strain was worth watching both teams serve up shutouts though...

I think Pierre Thomas proved his place on the roster over Pittman... And that Reis kid was on fire last night...

six more days... I can't wait...

phatoosdey

good find
thought i'd help out and paste it here




Team Report: Inside Slant

Inside Slant | Notes and Quotes | Strategy and Personnel
The Saints did an outstanding job of burying their past in 2006, shaking off a 3-13 record the year before, winning the NFC South title with seven more victories than the previous year and advancing all the way to the NFC Championship game before falling to the Chicago Bears.

There's no reason to think they can't get at least that far again this year as they return all 22 players that started in the NFC title game -- including all but one player (Joe Horn) from an exciting offense that led the NFL in total yards.
Some added depth and a couple of new starters at two key positions should help the defense improve, giving the Saints what they need to get over the hump and make it to the Super Bowl for the first time in club history.

While they can draw on their experiences and success of a year ago, they certainly won't dwell on it. Second-year coach Sean Payton made certain that his team won't come down with a case of complacency when they buried the 2006 season in a fitting ceremony in mid-June.

After concluding their Organized Team Activities, Payton and his team buried the 2006 season -- literally and figuratively -- in a makeshift black-and-gold casket. Into the large box went replicas of 18 awards won by the team -- including Payton's coach of the year awards and general manager Mickey Loomis' award for being named the NFL Executive of the Year.

A minister and a jazz band helped give the memorabilia from their magical season a proper New Orleans sendoff, which was the idea of assistant head coach/linebackers coach Joe Vitt. Payton signed off on the funeral after he tried to come up with a way to put some closure to the finest season in the 40-year history of the franchise.

"As soon as he brought it up, the thought of what we wanted to do was immediate," Payton said. "It was a real good idea. The symbolism of moving forward and on to the next season was something the players all understood. This was a good way of drawing more attention to it.

"All that stuff went in this casket and we buried it," he said. "It was time to move on. I think 50 years from now, somebody's going to come across it and think it's a time capsule. But it's not really."

At first, left guard Jamar Nesbit thought the ceremony was a little strange. But the message came across loud and clear: each of them had to leave the past behind and look to the future.

"It drove home the point that each moment happens," Nesbit said. "Once it happens, it's in the past. We had a great season, and that's all it was -- one season. You can remember it and draw on it, but you can't dwell on it."

That's good because the expectations are certainly higher than ever. The Saints are viewed by many as legitimate Super Bowl contenders with so many returnees on offense and defense.

Yet, they realize it doesn't mean anything going forward. As a result, All-Pro quarterback Drew Brees said they have to pick up where they left off and work even harder.

"Just because we finished where we did last year, it doesn't mean that anything's going to be given to us," he said. "We have to go out and work harder.

"Once you reach that level of success, human nature is to just relax. But, we're trying to take things to the next level. That is our No. 1 priority, our No. 1 goal."

COACHING: Sean Payton, 2nd year, 2nd with Saints (11-7).

REMEMBERING: 2006 record: 10-6 (1st in NFC South); lost in NFC Championship game to Bears, 39-14.

PREDICTING: 2007 regular season record, 11-5 (1st in NFC South); win Super Bowl XLII.

N.O. food....N.O. music....N.O. Life!!!

LongTimeFan

I predicted the Saints finishing the season at 11-5 going into preseason...
Not sure about the Super Bowl just yet but it feels good to read of others predicting them to win the SB

teter

new 'round here... just peeking about & found all y'all

on this topic i thought i'd share a link my bruddy sent to me (he lives in indy)

07 predictions with a star wars twist

papz

Thanks man and welcome to the board.

JOESAM2002

Welcome to the board teter. Hope you enjoy it.

teter

thanks a bunch.

on the black and gold topic...

was able to take my boy to his first game last week.

he was given a saints field ball before the KC whoopin'

the best part was...

he just thought it was fun to yell "who dat" at everyone. we had to explain that it ain't nice to visit a persons house & call em out like that

Cassady37

Welcome to the fold! By the way, do they call you 'teter salad'?? LMAO! I crack myself up!

teter

usually end up with "totter"

NOLAmite

Welcome abord Teter... is that like a weeble wobble... "we teters teter but we don't fall down"... (I hope I didn't offend) anyway great, if not brilliant link...

Geaux Saints....