Preseason ups and downs continue to play out for New Orleans Saints
 

Published: Saturday, August 28, 2010, 8:59 AM
Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune

We all know life in post-Katrina New Orleans is an oft-maddening good-news, bad-news existence.

One day, optimism abounds. The next you wonder whether the city will ever turn the corner.

The same can be said for preseason football.

For every positive sign, there's a contrasting negative one.

In the middle of it all, it's difficult to really tell what you have or where you're going.

After Friday night's 36-21 victory against San Diego, the good news for the New Orleans Saints is the positive definitely outweighs the negative.

With that in mind, let's take a look at the Saints' good and bad, 13 days before the titanic regular-season opener against Minnesota:

Good news. The offense is in midseason form.

After opening the preseason with a pair of three-and-outs against New England, the first-team unit scored five touchdowns and a field goal in its next eight drives. Its seven first-half drives against the Texans and Chargers ended like this: touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown, touchdown, punt and field goal. Oh, and best of all, in 12 preseason series, the first-teamers have committed zero turnovers.

Bad news. The defensive isn't in midseason form.

The takeaway totals are ominously down. The Saints have produced just three takeaways in three preseason games. I know what you're thinking: It's just the preseason. But the defense forced 10 turnovers in four preseason games last year, a trend that carried over to the regular season.

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Preseason ups and downs continue to play out for New Orleans Saints | NOLA.com