Read this elsewhere this morning

THE SCHEIN NINE
New Orleans Saints will pound Robert Griffin III, plus upset picks

Did we just witness Tony Romo 's best? Are we about to witness Robert Griffin III 's worst?

Plus, a team will score 50, two upset specials, a survivor pick and a relationship that could be even rockier than a Kardashian marriage -- all in our Thursday edition of The Schein Nine.

1) The Saints will march all over RG3 I feel terrible for Robert Griffin III . He will never forget his NFL debut . The New Orleans Saints are going to crush Griffin and the Washington Redskins . This game was over months ago.

Don't misinterpret. I love RG3. I think he's going to have a great rookie season and become entrenched as a star in Washington, D.C., with his play, leadership and personality. He's just walking into a hornet's nest Sunday at the Superdome.

No team in the NFL needs the season to start as much as the Saints . They are hot. They are angry. Every single player, every single resident of the state believes they were wronged by Roger Goodell and the NFL with the "Bountygate" suspensions. Sean Payton won't coach a game this year and can't communicate with the team. Goodell successfully ended bounties forever in the NFL with the penalty. The Saints don't see it that way. Heck, there was a "Free Sean Payton " banner flying over MetLife Stadium for the NFL Kickoff game on Wednesday night .

Jon Vilma won't play a down on Sunday -- or, at this point, the rest of the season. General manager Mickey Loomis won't be found near the game, serving an eight-game suspension. Joe Vitt is the interim coach, but he's beginning a six-game suspension of his own. So, enter Aaron Kromer as the interim to the interim. The built-up anger will give this game a playoff feel. The Saints need to hit someone. RG could easily stand for Roger Goodell as the Saints see it.

By the way, New Orleans is good and vastly superior to the Redskins .

I don't want to pooh-pooh the importance of Payton, a great play caller who seemingly shares a brain and a feel for the game with Brees. Payton will be missed. But Brees is a star. He will be out to prove he can still dominate sans Payton.

Pete Carmichael Jr. will call the plays this year. You can bet he will do his best Payton impression and be super aggressive, throwing the ball over the middle to the unstoppable Jimmy Graham , down the field to Marques Colston and in the flat to jitterbug Darren Sproles . Washington's defense will have no response.

Lost in the Bountygate shuffle this offseason: The Saints ' smart upgrade of Steve Spagnuolo at defensive coordinator. He's a masterful guru, a great designer of pressure. The reason Spags isn't the interim head coach is so he can solely focus on running New Orleans' defense. He will blitz RG3. He will confuse RG3. The Saints will pound RG3, legally, with no money exchanging hands, of course. Loomis made a savvy pickup by signing Curtis Lofton to fill Vilma's void at linebacker.

I think the 'Skins compete all year and win seven games. I think Griffin III competes for Offensive Rookie of the Year, falling short to Andrew Luck . I think RG3 has no chance on Sunday. In fairness to him, most quarterbacks -- most teams -- couldn't beat the talented and angry Saints in Week 1 after this offseason.
Good luck in Week 2 against the St. Louis Rams , Robert. You're already 0-1.

This kinda irks me, because people always say stuff like this, that "the Saints make rookie quarterbacks look like Hall of Famers" or "we always lose to the rookie quarterbacks" on Saints message boards and it's just plain old NOT TRUE. Or not entirely true.


The ONLY times that rookie or unknown or "nobody" or backup quarterbacks ever looked really good against the Gregg Williams Saints D, was when the QB on the field wasn't the same QB that the team prepared for during the week (Seattle playoffs, Titans game), or else when the QB was changed mid-season a week or two before and there wasn't a lot of film on them (Arizona, Cleveland and the Rams all made a major QB change only a week or two before the game, for example).

When the QB on the field is WHO THE SAINTS ARE EXPECTING TO BE THERE, rookie quarterbacks tend to look okay at best ,but certainly not great, if the Saints were prepared for them and not somebody else. Josh Freeman (38-7 blowout), Cam's first game against the Saints, and Matt Stafford in the '09 opener for example. I believe Sanchez was also a rookie that first year in '09 for the Jets, and he looked so-so and got completely ineffective and frustrated by the end of the game. I actually broke this down with more games and teams, I can't remember all of them now. And it's just NOT true to say the Saints play bad against rookie QB's. It's when the rookie or backup QB is not expected, or changes the Thursday before the game, THAT'S when it's a problem.

State hell! Who Dat nation's much, much larger than the state of Louisiana. And we are all pissed!

Got any numbers?

Within our Division:
Matt Ryan - 1st win v Detroit
Cam Newton - 1st win v Jacksonville
Josh Freeman - 1st win v Green Bay