WhoDat

The Saints have a great opportunity here to make a push for the division right now. It's crucial that they win the games they should over the next few weeks. A look at the division schedules shows how nice things look for us. First, here are the standings

Atlanta 3-0
New Orleans 2-1
Carolina 1-1
Tampa Bay 0-3

Our Saints are at Arizona, home against Tampa, home against Minnesota, at Oakland, bye, at San Diego

Some of these games make me nervous. Tampa is a division rival and a bad team and we all know what happens when the Saints play bad teams. Oakland makes me nervous too, but really, the only team we have in our next 5 that's good is Minnesota. The Saints COULD go 5-0 and SHOULD go 4-1. Anything worse than 3-2 would be a big let down to me. That would put our Saints at 5-3 worst or 7-1 best case. That's amazing, but also very important given our second half schedule.

Atlanta looks to be much improved (how 'bout that for all those guys who said just getting Vick back wouldn't make a difference. Still, I'm not convinced they are this good just yet. They are 3-0 against SF, St. Louis, and Arizona. Hardly powerhouse teams. Their next 5 look like this:

at Carolina, Detroit, San Diego, at Kansas City, at Denver.

I'm going to be rooting for Carolina this week b/c right now I think Atlanta is a better team and I want their momentum stopped. With Detroit and San Diego following this week, a win at Carolina could catapult them to 6-0. I don't want the Falcons developing the swagger that comes with that. Realistically though, Atlanta CAN beat every team they have on that schedule. Of course, the COULD lose to Carolina, Detroit, KC and Denver too. I say the go 3-2 making them a very scary 6-2.

Carolina is unknown to me right now but they look to be poised for the fall many of us predicted. at 1-1, their next six look like this:

Atlanta, at Denver, at Philly, San Diego, at Seattle, Oakland.

I hope they beat ATL this week, which would then make their record hopefully look like W, L, L, W, L, W. 3-3 over their next 6 is fine with me. 4-4 at the break with the Saints and Falcons potentially being as far out in front as both teams should be finishes Carolina's season IMO.

Tampa is effectively done already, and I like it! At 0-3 they need to really rip off some wins and I don't see it. They play:

Denver, at NO, at St. Louis (MNF), Chicago, bye, KC.

I love to be able to say that TB COULD be 0-8 if that Saints do their job. All of those games are winable for TB, but most are more losable. My guess is they pick up one or maybe two of those. I just hope that one isn't against us. TB 1-7 at the break! :)

So, the Saints are definitely in a great position to make a push for this division early. They will need to keep pace with the Falcons, who should keep roaring out in front and who unfortunately have the Saints number more often than not. With Vick playing well, Dunn running very well, our poor defense, and their improved defense, I don't like ATL at all unless they start getting beat back down into submission over the next few. Likewise, the Saints HAVE to play up and win. Geaux Saints.