Salisbury (ESPN)
 

Salisbury (ESPN)
...just heard him say that behind the Cowboys, he expects the Saints to be the 2nd best in the NFC (about 4 weeks from now). The ESPN poll asks who's the best in the NFC right now:
Link: www.espn.com

Cowboys
Packers
Giants
Lions

I have no problem with them, since we're only at 4-4. But Salisbury's comment surprised me. After all, he usually props-up the Panthers (rain or shine). I guess you can teach an old dog...

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

This is the kiss of death...
Salisbury knows as much about football as Britney Spears knows about child raising.

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

Everyone thinks they Saints will win the NFC South.

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

If they contiue to play well I say they have a shot at winning the NFC South but the Bucs IMO will be on our heels the rest of the way, it will be very interesting at the end of the season between the two of us.
The Saints MUST beat the Bucs at home, if not we could come out second in the south, (12-2-07, circle it on your calendar)

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

The saints control there own fate in the NFC south. The conference is still up for grabs and they need a lot of help at this point. So like longtime says circle the date 12-2 but make it a little bit bigger to include all 3 division games.

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

This is more power ranking crapola. Win the games in front of us. If we don't we don't make the playoffs. Rams, guys, not Salisbury should be our focus.

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

im with you xan

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

Catching up to the Bucs is not going to be easy, even if we -do- play well the rest of this season.

Has anyone else looked at the rest of their schedule? Not exactly tough. And we're still currently a game behind them, plus the tie-breaker.

ATL
WAS
NO
HOU
ATL
SF
CAR

We absolutely MUST win the next Bucs game.

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

We control our destiny in the division. If we win out, we win the division no matter what the Panthers or bucs do.

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

You all seem to forget how great a backup quarterback Salisbury was. I think he knows a thing or two about winning. *hearty laugh*

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

Did you mean, winning or whinning? LOL:D

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

Actually we're a half game back plus the tie-breaker. Note that both teams have 4 losses. Their bye is this week. Presuming that the Saints take care of business, the records will be tied.

The head to head tie-breaker won't come into action yet because there's another game. Presuming that we can win the second game, then that tie breaker goes out the window. Also it hangs another loss on TB putting them a game behind us.

So each team controls their own destiny and the rematch in December is going to be crucial.

Absolutely. The winner of that game will most likely win the division.

SFIAH

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

But the tie-breaker will most certainly come into play is if we lose to the Bucs again, yet end up with identical records. So the tie-breaker is worth noting.

My main point was the Bucs schedule does not look any harder than ours. If anything, it looks easier. So we have some very serious concerns here.

Anyway, as you said, it all goes out the window if we win the game. But only if we win the game. Yes, we simply MUST win that game. That one in particular.

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

You talkin' to me, Missle? If we win Sunday we're tied with the Bucs. Then if we win head up we take a 1 game lead. Same deal with the Panthers. We control our own destiny.

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

If we lose to the Bucs, we won't make the playoffs.

Failure is not an option.

Absolutely. Our schedule is about the same in terms of strength.
So really the whole season is going hinge on that game December 2nd.

SFIAH

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

There's still the two wildcard slots. But I think you're probably right.

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

The NFC South is probably one and done this season unless multiple teams from the Cowboys, Giants, Lions, Packers, Skins group fall into the crapper the second half of the season.

I've already started thinking about playoff positioning. While obviously the Saints need to handle their business, we'd like for other pieces to fall into place too. The realistic playoff seed for the Saints is #3 at this point with #2 again as a dream. The 5 teams above will have a lot of influence on each other because their divisions play head to head this year. Unfortunately each are playing relatively weak AFC divisions (NFC East vs. AFC East and NFC North vs. AFC West) so there's not going to be a lot of help there (except for the Pats probably hanging a loss on the Giants at the end of the season). So let's look at the contenders:

Dallas: Resurgent this year. Offense clicking on all cylinders. Stout defense. Still can be exploited in the secondary and Romo can be hamstrung by keeping him in the pocket. Dallas will probably be a better spot to play in late January than most of the others. Critical game against the Giants essentially for the division this week if Dallas wins.

New York: Defense found their stride. Dominating front four. Relentless running game and Eli and his receivers have found their explosiveness. Jersey in January is no picnic. As stated above crucial playoff positioning game this weekend.

Green Bay: Defense may be the best overall 11 in the NFC. Favre has reigned it in enough to keep the INTs down. No running game explosive down the field. Don't even want to think about Lambeau in January.

Detroit: Explosive offense has found its running game in Jones. Defense is totally opportunistic with the most takeaways and most points off takeaways this season. Still have 2 head to heads with GB and still face Dallas and San Diego down the stretch. Could win not only the division but home field in their Dome.

Washington: May have the best secondary of the bunch. Portis is coming around. Still young on the offensive side of the ball. Probably won't secure the second seed so playing in Washington isn't likely.

Looking at recent history (Saints over Dallas 42-17, Chicago over Saints 39-16) the best positioning for the Saints in the Divisional and championship rounds would be in warmer weather (or Domes) against defenses with secondaries that can be exploited and front 4s that can be controlled.

So it looks for the rest of the season I'm pulling for Dallas and Detroit and against Green Bay and New York. Washington bothers me, but so does Tampa Bay and the Saints probably would play the #6 seed which could be one of those two teams.

Maybe it would be better to hope that the NFC North totally craps out and that we can again secure the #2 seed.

Wanting Dallas to win. What the hell is wrong with me! :D

SFIAH

Re: Salisbury (ESPN)
 

Word!

Excellent post. Good analysis.