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Tough season finish now not so tough?

As everybody always does, we looked at the schedule for this season before Week 1 and passed comments on how 'strong' it was. As always, this soon becomes a complete waste of time once the season gets underway and we see which teams have got better, which have got worse and who starts getting decimated by injury.

There was one thing that kept getting mentioned time and time again. A 3 game spell in particular, that would ultimately decide the fate of the season, the fate of any potential seeding and would serve as, in many pundits eyes, the nail in the coffin of any playoff run for the Saints.

Week 11 - 49ers@Saints

Week 12 - Saints@Falcons

Week 13 - Saints@Seahawks

I started the season dreading this little run of games. However, through only 3 weeks I am rather looking forward to it!

The 49ers are in absolute disarray at the moment. They have gone from an NFC winning cert (I appreciate some teams may disagree with that but I am taking a pundits look at this) to a complete mess in just 3 weeks. 1-2 is hardly something they cannot come back from but they are already 2.5 games back on the Seahawks and have a horrendous short week this week until they face the Rams in St. Louis who are not going to be a pushover. Their lack of WR options is obvious for all to see and teams have started to get the measure of the read-option and of Colin Kaepernick. Aldon Smith is a player who has gone from potential single season sack record holder to rebel without a clue and is now out indefinitely. Willis is hurting. The secondary is not at all intimidating.

The Falcons look equally horrible right now. Another pre-season NFC Championship game 'cert'. Superbowl or bust they said. Well things are looking more bust than Dolly Parton at a Wonderbra convention right now. Their running game is doing enough to get by but is not stellar. Roddy White is obviously injured and is doing nothing. Tony Gonzalez may have taken it a season too far and Julio Jones cannot continue carrying the team. The O-Line has more holes than a golf course and the defence has no potency and poses little threat. Yes this is a divisional game. Yes it is a rival game. But it's looking like a good time to play the Falcons.

The Seahawks are good. Real good. And they are backing it up. But let's not anoint them as Superbowl Winners just yet. They are the only one of these 3 teams that concerns me and they have so many complete parts in play. We also have to go to their house. But let's look at them through 3 games. A less than convincing win against a mediocre Panthers side. A blowout win against the 49ers who, through 3 games are looking poor. A ridiculous win against a Jaguars team who have all the parts in place to go 0-16. Let's see how they fare against a couple of the better teams just yet.

Suffice to say, any pre-season concerns I had about us hitting 10-6 and assuring a playoff position have been allayed as of right now. I had us penned in as 11-5 for the season and winning the NFC South on tie-break. As things stand, I see it as a 13-3 or better season with the only issue at the moment being whether we get HomeField advantage. I am much more confident than I was.