D24pick

RUN THE BALL

For us is the key. Keep it more run, and West Coast style of play. Keeps the Colts D on the field, and tired and that keeps Manning off the field. If it comes down to us playing possy w/Indy. I wont be worried w/Reggie, Henderson, and Colston's Big play ability

Saintsfan4ever

There`s no doubt Manning is hard to beat. He is a master at sizing up the defense and making adjustments before the snap and making DB`s bite on the run and then burn them for huge chunks. Sean Payton knows this and I expect he has a few surprises for Mr. Manning. If our defense can out-scheme and short-circut Manning's playbook and hold Indy to 24 pts, we get the W.

FireVenturi

saints 38-colts 31

lumm0x

I personally don't predict this will be the shootout everyone else sees it may be. I see a 24-17 game. I think we'll start slow, look a little ineffective early, but our D comes up with some big drive stops and we get out of the 1st quarter with a 7-3 lead. Make that 17-10 for us at the half and we play back and forth ball for the rest to steal a win. I think the Colts will appear complacent celebrating in their home opener and simply get out planned by a team hungry to prove something. I really think our defense will be the difference maker in this game. I have a hunch things are coming together for the unit.

SaintFanInATLHELL

What do you base that on? In the last 4 preseason games, the #1/#2 offense has walked the ball right down the field. And you best believe that Coach Payton isn't just going to line up in a I formation and hand the ball to Deuce in the red zone once the regular season starts. Everyone will be on the field and every play will be available in the red zone.

I figure that the Saints will get 17-21 points in the first half. The real question is the following:

If the Saints D comes to play, I think the Colts are in trouble. Gibbs is going to play the risk/reward game of pressuring Manning. I think Will Smith will generate enough pressure to force Manning into errant throws. I almost wish that Gibbs would throw the screwball and come out with a Cover 2 style zone look and force Manning and his receivers to march the ball down the field. Not his style though, so I hope that the secondary can keep Harrison, Wanye, Gonzalez, and the TE in front of them.

I agree. I really don't think that the Colts D is going to be prepared to play championship defense on Thursday. Hell it took that team 17 weeks last season to figure it out. And they are starting over with a ton of new players on defense.

One more thing: Eric Johnson will have a monster receiving game. Cato June, who was the LB linchpin of the Colts Cover 2 scheme is now in Tampa (which means we'll see him twice a year for a while). June kept the TE under control in the middle of the field. I haven't heard anything about June's replacement, but I figure that Johnson will get open in the middle and the seam. And we all know what happens with open receivers when Brees is in the pocket.

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.

iceshack149

I suspect that they'll keep one TE in the whole game dedicated to helping
their rookie left tackle against one of the best defensive ends in the business. That takes out one of their weapons for most of the game if not the whole game.

teter

my gut tells me...

saints 27
colts 20

my bruddy has been livin' in indy for enough years that the smack talkin' is gettin' pretty ramped-up...

he is my little bruddy thou. his b-day is game day. i went ahead and got him a very nice manning jersey for his birthday. wasn't thinking thou. i should have got him the blue cuz tears wouldn't show up so bad on it.

side note for the ponies game... may have been seen here already but i'll share anyway...

from nola.com
Starship Saints

ssmitty

hey, it's all good.......................................
that's what makes discussions interesting.............
i see things one way, others see em different......
throw stats out the window and let's look at what we really see.
i'm on my knees praying we flat out kill em in every way......
but i don't see this as the atlanta opening a yr ago....
please saints.........prove me wrong...........
this is a game of coaching........
and the colts took the superbowl with that coaching and the
qb, manning, stepping up, to prove they were capable....
i think we all can agree that the saints need to prove themselves
capable, can't we? that last yr was'nt a fluke?
that we can rise above the rest and prove we deserve it?
this is the starting point and all i'm asking is they prove it.........smitty

spkb25

yeah not to sure what you were seeing there with brees smitty. this is a tough game. their offense is as good as always. we will have a tough time stopping them. a very tough time. their d should be worse this year. i think we can run on them and pass on them. i think we can eat up the time of possesion. we have a good shot at beating them. they are home though and it is opening night. that does help them. this game could go either way but we for sure have a good shot.

saintsrule

I like hearing about the Saints running the ball against the Colts. I hope the try to run it, and succeed. I hope the Colts also forget about Karney, the way the Cowboys did last year, in another primetime game.