SaintGup

With people saying that Bushrod played well early on but has dropped off the last few games, I think that could be said for the team.

AsylumGuido

The Saints cruised through the first two thirds of the season operating like a finely tuned engine. Right about the time of the Miami game the Saints lost a cylinder or two. While the rest of the machine was intact, the missing components adversely affected the total operation. Over the final third of the season the Saints had a series of "cylinder losses" as fast as they could get the earlier ones back up and running. In week 17 Payton finally shut the whole thing down and put it in the shop to get everything back into sync.

What we will see on the 16th in New Orleans will be a fully operational machine running once again on all cylinders. Oh, and don't worry about the loss of Grant ... he was basically tail light. Not integral to the running and easily replaced.

SmashMouth

Right on with most here ... With the benefit of the first round bye, it should give us the opportunity to get healthy, thereby getting help for Bushrod when needed. Getting Eckel back was a help as well. We are missing Heath Evans more then we think also.

spkb25

Absolutely, which is why losing Shock hurt our offense soooo much those two weeks (Dallas, Tampa), cause Thomas has to play FB, and when Shock isn't there....???...

CantonLegend

fwiw.....brown doesnt need the extra help all the time

sean payton must've been reading these boards because he actually started believing that #74 could handle the pass rush by himself.......little did he know that watching actual game footage was the better way to judge how a player is playing

we shouldnt have to help a starting LT in the NFL every single play...but against the cowboys we had to and we didnt

its amazing that we are still talking about the cowboys and not mentioning the beatdown that the buccs gave us or how carolina whooped on us

"deal with it or you can go play the saints and get trounced by 30 and you won't have to worry about it."-colin cowherd

leilung

You're dead on the money here Saintpaul25. Just one or two scrambles for first down can make all the difference in freezing guys a second or two to keep them honest, instead of them pinning their ears back and going for broke.

Bushrod: He was a wall during that Patriots drubbing, but he needs Shockey or the FB of the day to help him out.

Rugby Saint II

I've seen Brees run for it on first down and make a nifty move, but I believe that he will always be a QB that is only thinking about passing the ball. With that said he is pretty evasive in the pocket when he gets pressure on him. He is very accurate on the move, that's why I like him on the roll out.

9thWardDesire

You can thank DeMarcus Ware for shaking up his confidence.